Genre-bending games I’d love to see

Popular franchises crossing over to other genres is not at all a strange thing.

Mario went from jumping on platforms to racing in go-karts – then he became a doctor in a match-three fun-fest. Resident Evil started out as a claustrophobic survival horror title, and ended up as a more action-centric shooter-type affair.

Final Fantasy stepped away from its JRPG roots and even dabbled in a cross-universe beat-em-up in the form of Dissidia, and Fallout went from isometric-view turn-based RPG to an FPS rather comfortably.

So genre-bending isn’t really an alien concept in gaming – but what other games could take a leap into new territory?

Here are some ideas I had. Feel free to lambaste me for them in the comments and forum – but some of these ideas may not sound too far out if you consider we live in a world where goat simulator exists.

Silent Hill as a point and click adventure

Silent Hill (at least the good titles) has always been more about the feeling of sheer horror and psychological anguish than the rather clunky combat – so it’s a title that could do well in a different genre, like maybe even a turn-based RPG as in the header above.

As survival horrors often do, though, a lot of the non-combat gameplay in Silent Hill revolves around finding keys and solving ridiculous puzzles – something that adventure games of old feature quite prominently. So it’s a match made in heaven.

Interestingly enough, the concept of Silent Hill as an adventure game is not that far-fetched. Anyone familiar with Yahtzee’s Chzo Mythos will no doubt be familiar with what level of horror this genre can convey.

Sort of like: the Chzo Mythos series

Assassin’s Creed as an RTS

Assassin’s Creed is no stranger to genre-bending – you can already play the title as a “trading card game” in Recollection, and the main series features quite a few mini-games, such as the tower (den) defense. It even has a hand in sailing.

But with so many factions, and different periods in history, this could totally work as an RTS.

From period to period, you could build up or repair well known cities and locations, then, either as Templars, Assassins or a neutral, dominant force of the time, crush the opposing forces to rule that time period.

Managing resources, expanding influence and using abilities unique to each faction – this is something I could buy into. The Assassin’s Creed titles touch on these aspects on a very superficial level in the main series – why not make it a core spinoff?

Sort of like: Age of Empires

Bayonetta as a rhythm Bemani-style game

It was between Bayonetta and Devil May Cry for this one – I chose the former because its battles are probably the most insane.

If you’ve never played Bayonetta before, it’s a balls-to-the-wall smash fest in a similar vein to the aforementioned DMC and games like God of War and Dante’s Inferno. Only way crazier.

Loads of enemies, flashy effects, and outrageous combos and killer moves – things get chaotic pretty quickly.

Now imagine killer riffs and crazy music, and timing the action to the frantic mashing of buttons (which you already do anyway). Not quite as simple as a succession of quick time events – think Through the Fire and Flames, but instead of tears and mad props, you’re piling up a massive damage combo.

Heck, make it compatible with the now-pretty-useless Guitar Hero controller, and we’re onto something great!

Sort of like: Gitaroo man

Gears of War as a JRPG

You know what Gears of War really needs? A splash of colour. You know what has a lot of colour? Japanese RPGs.

Okay, fine, we can keep it brown – but I insist the RPG elements stay.

JRPGs have broken the traditional mage, warrior, rogue mold before – as a prime example, Resonance of Fate used different types of guns to denote classes – so to implement something similar with Marcus and the gang would not be such a far stretch.

No one is saying give Marcus and Dom a big spiky ‘do – but formalising class roles, introducing super moves and level progression, and strategic turn-based / active battle mechanics (as well as increasingly massive and challenging bosses) would be pretty cool.

Sort of like: Resonance of Fate

Pokemon as a mobile free-to-play title

We probably shouldn’t be promoting this kind of thing, but the mobile free-to-play model is here to stay, so we might as well embrace it, right?

Anyone who’s played Pokemon knows that it’s all about the grind. There’s something oddly addictive about the rather repetitive battles and going on the hunt for rare monsters, but there are only so many Zubats I can handle.

With hundreds of creatures to capture, and a relatively basic battle mechanic, the title lends itself rather well to a model where you can, dare I say it, pay to win. Or at the very least speed things up a bit.

I can feel your loathing from here, Pokemon fans, but if it was packaged similarly to Brave Frontier (see below), I would definitely climb on board.

Heck, there’s already a Pokemon Trading Card game in real life that follows a similar model. It’s almost a no-brainer.

Sort of like: Brave Frontier

Some bonus bends

Fallout as a table-top figurine board game
Monopoly as city management simulator
Mass Effect as an MMORPG
Tekken as a sandbox
Kim Kardashian Hollywood as a beat-em up

What do you think? Have I finally gone insane? Which games would do well in a genre bend? Share your thoughts (and idea bashing) on the forums or in the comments below.