There is an important school of thought that establishes our industry is in a standstill point right now. AAA productions are in an economical edge. Big budgets have to be recovered through well-settled mechanics. There is not space in these productions to introduce experimental gameplay features.
Trans-category products are the new black in the videogames market. The lack of new ideas and huge inversions impose a model that mixes different genres instead of creating fresh forms of playing. The present and the future are in this movement: feign the creation, take advantage of some trendy polished mechanics and put everything together.
Rocket League
Psyonix has created the sleeper of this year (Ex aequo personal denomination with the wonderful Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide). This enjoyable game was cooked using football and cars mechanics and the result is a must multiplayer title.
The perfect example of something that would not work in the drawing board, but works perfectly in the real test: the multiplayer encounters. Rocket League is here to stay for a long time.
Open Worlds
Open worlds allow developers to reimagine rusty franchises, although sometimes these productions are too ambitious and fail in some aspects. Metal Gear Solid V offers a deep tactical espionage operations game. Speaking about the gameplay, the Kojima’s work is the ultimate espionage action experience.
Capcom expanded the Dead Rising idea to Dead Rising 3 and its open world. The result was nice, but the game lost part of its identity in this conversion. Dying Light is another example of the tendency: open world, parkour movements and spooky creatures. Mirror’s Edge Catalyst is another victim.
Sandbox titles bring together a lot of different mechanics inside one game. Grand Theft Auto is the king in the sandbox methodology. Microtransactions could provide a new way of play. The idea would be to introduce slots in the game and the money to win would be the money introduced by microtransactions for the whole community that want to participate in these mini-games.
Adventure-Puzzles hybrids
Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure is an underestimated puzzle-platform game for DS. In the upper screen you play this demanding title as a platform. The touch screen develops a witty puzzle product. What you do in one screen affects the other. The key to beat the game is handled both alternatives better than your own hands.
This is the perfect case of trans-category game, because of is perfectly balanced.
