| ---Aim direction limit: 2 | obsolete, use aimdirlimit and tag note |  | 1986 / 2010 | 22 games |
| ---Aim direction limit: 4 | obsolete, use aimdirlimit and tag note | | 1983 / 1996 | 3 games |
| ---For 4 players | Designed for exactly 4 players. |  | 2004 / 2010 | 12 games |
| ---seamless/Transitionless | After the game reaches the point where the player can actually play, there are no transitions (usually involving area loading) between playable areas. | | | 0 games |
| 1 life (No extra lives) | Player has no extra lives nor continues. | | 1980 / 2012 | 710 games |
| 3+ factions[3 or more factions] | There are 3 or more factions in the depicted conflict. | | 1988 / 2012 | 61 games |
| 360 degree aim | Player can aim in full 360 degrees instead of being limited to 2, 4, or 8 directions. | | 2007 / 2011 | 4 games |
| 4 or more resources | There are 4 or more resource types you need to harvest, process and/or generate. | | 1995 / 2010 | 26 games |
| A taste of Power | Early on player gets to use some endgame level abilties, spells, etc. to get a taste of what they will eventually have in their use. |  | 1993 / 2011 | 27 games |
| AAA (Triple A)[Triple-A] | Produced with exceptionally high budget and expected to sell well. | | 2007 / 2011 | 50 games |
| Ability cooldown[skill cooldown;spell cooldown;magic cooldown] | Player must contend with largely inexplicable artificial moderation on ability, skill or spell usage. | | 2005 / 2011 | 20 games |
| Ability dependencies (Skill dependencies;Research dependencies) | Abilities, skills, research subjects, etc. have dependencies on other such before they can be made available (e.g. shield charge requires the character already can do shield bash). | | 2005 / 2012 | 18 games |
| Accessibility (Help features) | Any and all features that help players familiarize themselves with the game, protect from mistakes one wouldn't make in real life and otherwise progress in it. | | | 0 games |
| Accuracy: Motion (Movement;Moving) | Moving from place to place affects accuracy one way or another; does not include turning about on the same spot. | | 1998 / 2011 | 47 games |
| Accuracy: Pinpoint | Projectiles strike exactly where the gun points, there's no random spread or anything. | | | 1 games |
| Accuracy: Posture | Standing, crouching, being prone, etc. affects accuracy in one manner or other. | | 2003 / 2011 | 39 games |
| Accuracy: Turning | Turning about affects accuracy one way or the other. | | 2005 / 2010 | 20 games |
| Achievements (Trophies) | You're given rewards for accomplishing something exceptional or impressive. | | 2003 / 2012 | 341 games |
| Action camera | Camera jumps to scenes of intense action, often from alternate angles with slow motion to show something Awesome happening. | | 2008 / 2011 | 10 games |
| Action chaining | Certain actions can be performed only as follow-ups to others. | | 2006 / 2009 | 6 games |
| Action points | Turn-based system that uses a point system to simulate more real-time system. | | 1992 / 2012 | 30 games |
| Active ability set[skill subset;ability subset;spell subset] | Player has access to only a small subset of their total skills, abilities, spells and so forth when adventuring, requiring the player to return to some safe haven or similar if they wish to use something else. | | 2000 / 2012 | 14 games |
| Active gameplay | In contrast to passive gameplay, these still require constant vigilance from the player, but not so much as to challenge them physically. | | | 0 games |
| Active healing | Player is required to actively participate in the healing process in some manner, either simply pressing some button down until healing is done or working in some minigame, usually blocking normal gameplay for the duration. | | 2005 / 2010 | 16 games |
| Active Time Battle | A semi-real time time progression system designed by Hiroyuki Ito for combat sequences. | | 1997 / 2006 | 3 games |
| Advancement (Character advancement) | | | | 0 games |
| Advancement: Redistribution (Reallocation;Character reset;Respec;Respecialization) | Player can, under certain circumstances, re-allocate any points, xp, or whatever else describes their advancement to try a different kind of character without having to start over and play as far as they're now. | | 1994 / 2013 | 10 games |
| Aerial warfare | Player commands some military air force(s). | | 1986 / 2012 | 48 games |
| Aim assist (Assisted aiming) | Automatically adjusts aiming a bit to help players hit their targets. | | 1993 / 2012 | 86 games |
| Aim dead zone (View dead zone)[aiming dead zone] | An area where you can aim around without affecting your heading. | | 1994 / 2010 | 29 games |
| Aim direction limit | Player can aim in a very limited number of directions (usually in range of 1 to 8). | | 1983 / 2012 | 42 games |
| Aim mode (Aiming) | Besides shooting from hip, you can also raise the weapon up and aim with the scope, iron sights, or whatever else. | | 1990 / 2012 | 142 games |
| Aiming | Any tags related to aiming. | | | 0 games |
| All Your Base Are Belong To Us (AYBABTU) | Refers to the opening scene of Zero Wing, and especially its bad english translation. | | 1991 / 2010 | 31 games |
| Alternate attack (Alternate fire mode)[alt fire;altfire] | Weapons have an alternate attack (mode). | | 1998 / 2012 | 56 games |
| Alternate campaigns (Alternate storylines) | Offers different storyline depending on which character or faction the player chooses, each with a different ending. | | 1986 / 2011 | 37 games |
| Alternate failures (Non-standard gameovers) | Player can fail in their overall objective in non-standard way, such as personally activating a doomsday device you're supposed to disable, joining the antagonist or helping them achieve their victory, etc. | | 1986 / 1994 | 2 games |
| Alternate solutions | Despite the game genre suggesting there are no alternate solutions to problems, there are. | | 1981 / 2010 | 5 games |
| Alternating protagonist | The protagonist changes between chapters or other events completely outside of player's control. | | 1986 / 2012 | 98 games |
| Alternative Solutions Allowed | Alternatives means of solving key challenges are notably designed into the game. | | 1982 / 2005 | 11 games |
| Ambidextrous | Player character handles objects and tools equally well with either hand, automatically switching hands as situation requires or offers a method to quickly switch between them. | | 2005 / 2010 | 7 games |
| Ambient temperature | Player interacts with environmental heat and/or cold. | | 2002 / 2009 | 9 games |
| Ammo reload: Keep partial | Reloading a weapon before it is empty causes the partial magazine to be kept as is, causing some later reload to give only partially full magazine even if you have plenty of ammo left in total. | | 2005 / 2006 | 2 games |
| Ammo reload: Lossy (Discard partial) | Reloading a weapon before it is empty causes the partial magazine (and remaining ammo in it) to be discarded. | | 2000 / 2011 | 9 games |
| Ammo reload: Realistic | Upon reloading a weapon, the previous magazine is discarded or stored back as partial magazine instead of filling the current magazine with the number of missing bullets. | | 2000 / 2011 | 11 games |
| Ammo reload: Refill | Reloading a weapon with partially depleted magazine acts as if the partially depleted magazine is refilled from a stock rather than the magazine being swapped in any manner. | | | 0 games |
| Ammo warning (Reload warning) | Somehow warns the player when they're low on ammo, either in current magazine or overall. Possibly also suggesting reloading your weapon. | | 2009 / 2011 | 10 games |
| Animated Surface | Interaction with a deforming shape of a surface is a gameplay element. | | | 0 games |
| Antagonist designing | Player can design their antagonist. | | | 1 games |
| Anticipatory sightings (Anticipatory dialogue)[foreshadowing] | Player catches glimpses of future dangers. | | 1998 / 2012 | 40 games |
| Anxiety (Fear) | Simulates anxiety and its effects on the player character, their friends and/or minions. | | 1994 / 2012 | 25 games |
| Appearance shifting | The appearance of something changes according to one or more factors such as alignment and character attributes. | | 2001 / 2011 | 13 games |
| Arbitrary rewards | Any tags relating to how rewards are gained from things that really shouldn't give any such. | | | 0 games |
| Army of One [One Man Army] | The protagonist deals death as if he was a whole army company. | | 1992 / 2012 | 104 games |
| Artificial difficulty | Any tags that increase difficulty in a way that the player can not counter or work around of. | | | 0 games |
| Artificial limitations (Artificial restrictions) | Any tags describing limitations or other restrictions that wouldn't apply if it was reality. | | | 0 games |
| Artificial restrictions | Any tags describing restrictions normal person, creature or whatever the protagonist is, wouldn't have in the same situation. | | | 0 games |
| Assistive technologies | Any tags that describe assistive technologies, techniques or such. | | | 0 games |
| Asymmetric dual wielding | Player can wield simultaneously two unrelated weapons or tools - such as a sword and a gun - both of which are controlled separately. | | 1995 / 2012 | 19 games |
| Asymmetric factions (Unique factions) | The factions have asymmetric gameplay. | | 1981 / 2011 | 59 games |
| Asymmetric resources | Some factions use resources others have no use for, or their resource model is simply quite different. | | | 1 games |
| Ataxx | Games and clones based on Ataxx / Infection. | | 1988 / 2006 | 13 games |
| Attack methods (Attack styles) | Slash, stab, thrust, hack, etc. these have effects besides different name. | | | 1 games |
| Attribute-based equipment | Items, even trivial ones, can't be used unless you meet certain basic and often quite arbitrary attribute limitations. | | 1996 / 2011 | 20 games |
| Auto-attack | Character unusually (for the genre) automatically keeps attacking without player having to signal each attack themselves. | | 1998 / 2012 | 40 games |
| Auto-cast (Auto-use) | Some abilities, spells, etc. are optionally automatically used, removing the need to micromanage them in most circumstances though may still be used manually for greater control. | | 1998 / 2012 | 19 games |
| Auto-follow | Player can initiate auto-follow for targeted character, vehicle or anything else that moves about. | | 2000 / 2010 | 3 games |
| Auto-move | Allows somehow to automatically move somewhere, such as toggle for walk forward. | | | 0 games |
| Automatic aiming (Auto-aim) | Aiming is (almost) completely automated with player only needing to press attack button to successfully and accurately hit their opponents. Commonly includes target lock functionality to offer greater control. | | | 0 games |
| Automatic difficulty adjustment (Adaptive difficulty;Dynamic difficulty) | The AI adjusts itself to better match the player's skill level, becoming easier if the player's faring poorly and harder if better. | | 2006 / 2010 | 4 games |
| Automatic priorities | Units, characters, etc. automatically prioritize certain tasks or targets instead of doing them in first come first served or closest one first, usually hard-coded to prioritize tasks or targets they're most efficient with or against. | | 2006 / 2009 | 4 games |
| Automatic running | Player character and others automatically run or jog. | | 1997 / 2011 | 38 games |
| Autopause | Automatically pauses game when certain conditions are met. Usually so the player can re-evaluate the situation and change orders as seen necessary. | | 2003 / 2012 | 4 games |
| Autopause: Dialog | The game automatically pauses during dialogs, or imparts immortality on plot vital things such as the protagonist, so they do not become surprisingly harmful without intending to be so. | | | 0 games |
| Autopause: Inventory | The game automatically pauses when player accesses their inventory. | | | 0 games |
| Autopause: Lost focus (Defocus)[unfocus] | The game automatically pauses when it loses focus. | | 2010 / 2011 | 2 games |
| Autopause: Menu | The game automatically pauses when player opens up a menu of any kind (except for the "game menu" which usually contains save game and exit options as it's normal for them). | | | 0 games |
| Autopilot | Player can initiate auto-pilot or similar feature that automatically moves themselves, their vehicle or anything else to designated location. | | 2003 / 2010 | 3 games |
| Autosave points (Checkpoints) | Automatically saves the game progress at certain locations or when certain events occur. | | 1994 / 2012 | 310 games |
| Autozoom | The game automatically zooms in and out depending on location, situation, or such. | | 1993 / 2011 | 20 games |
| Awareness | Any and all tags that help with player's awareness. | | | 0 games |
| Awareness distortion | Any and all tags that hinder player's awareness while possibly conversely also improving it or immersion. | | | 0 games |
| Background progress (Offline progress) | The game plays out even when the player is not logged in or running the game. | | 1989 / 2010 | 11 games |
| Backported | Certain features, fixes, or other improvements from a later port have been added to an older version of a game. | | 2008 / 2009 | 2 games |
| Backtracking | Involves significant amount of backtracking. | | 1995 / 2008 | 12 games |
| Ballistics (Projectile physics;Bullet physics) | Models projectile physics by allowing them to bounce off and penetrate certain materials as well as drop due to gravity, possibly including effects of wind and others. | | 1983 / 2012 | 167 games |
| Base income (Guaranteed income) | Player is provided with a basic income they get regardless of anything else. | | 2007 / 2012 | 4 games |
| Blank protagonist (Uncharacterized protagonist) | The protagonist (almost) completely lacks characterization of any kind, leaving everything for the player to decide or fill in. | | 1994 / 2011 | 54 games |
| Blind mode | Is playable as is, or includes an option that makes the game playable, by people who are blind. | | 1995 / 2011 | 5 games |
| Blind Start | Is not made for the visually impaired yet it notable begins game(s)/level(s)/sequence(s) with no visual feedback or visual cues to orient the player. | | 1999 / 2009 | 6 games |
| Bloodless | Despite characters getting shot, stabbed, or otherwise mutilated, there's no blood. | | 2000 / 2012 | 39 games |
| Bloodmist (Blood clouds) | So excessive blood splatter that it appears as large-ish mist or cloud-like phenomena. | | 2007 / 2009 | 2 games |
| Body morphing | The bodies of characters change, growing fat when overfed, skeletal when starving, and so forth. | | 2004 / 2011 | 8 games |
| Bonus stages (Bonus levels;Bonus rounds) | | | 1981 / 2011 | 41 games |
| Boss battles (Raid bosses;End level boss battles) | Includes one or more battles with enemies who are significantly more powerful than anything else thrown at the player prior, usually found at the end of a level. | | 1981 / 2012 | 827 games |
| Boss rush | Features at least one battle or mode where the player must face multiple bosses back-to-back without interruption. | | 1985 / 2007 | 11 games |
| Botching (Disastrous results;Dangerous results) | Characters are capable of botching whatever they tried, often to catastrophic or even fatal outcome. | | | 1 games |
| Budget (Value) | The opposite end of AAA games where the production values are exceptionally low, often used for prototyping or experimenting with game concepts or simply to produce income without much effort. | | 1996 / 2011 | 149 games |
| Builders | Building anything requires people, robots or such that build them. | | 1994 / 2012 | 69 games |
| Bunny hopping (Strafe-jumping) | Players can reach much higher speeds by repeatedly jumping while running in any direction, used for the speed benefit as well as to make targeting harder for the opponents. | | 1997 / 2011 | 17 games |
| Burning | Things, especially characters and other creatures, catch on fire and burn for a time. | | 1997 / 2012 | 68 games |
| Burning: Realistic | Shooting already burning targets with incendiary weapons or such does not increase the damage the targets take unless the new incendiary weapon is stronger than the earlier. | | | 0 games |
| Buy undo (Sell back) | Shops fully refund your purchases, but usually only if you "sell" the item back to them before leaving the store. | | | 0 games |
| Cairo Pentagonal Tiling Grid (4-Fold Pentille Tiling) | A tiling pattern made of bilaterally but not radially (pentaradially) symmetrical pentagons. Or, hexagons made of 4 pentagons. | | | 0 games |
| Card-based | Uses cards specifically designed for use in this game (series) in gameplay. | | 1993 / 2011 | 80 games |
| Carry capacity: Slots | Carry capacity is limited by the number of available slots. Some items may take more than one slot and some items may be stacked within single slot. | | 1986 / 2012 | 121 games |
| Carry capacity: Stacks (Carry capacity: Groups) | Within an inventory, some items may be (or are are automatically) stacked or grouped. | | 1992 / 2011 | 18 games |
| Carry capacity: Volume | Carry capacity is limited by the volume of carried items. | | 1992 / 2006 | 8 games |
| Carry capacity: Weight | Carry capacity is limited by the weight of the items. | | 1992 / 2012 | 41 games |
| Chain reactions | An user generated action (usually an explosion) can spawn more uncontrolled similar reactions. | | 1980 / 2012 | 127 games |
| Challenge mode | Includes separate game mode that plays significantly differently to normal, such as limiting player to the most basic equipment, allowing them to progress in only one manner, and so on. | | 2005 / 2011 | 16 games |
| Changing goals (Altered goals) | Somewhere along the line your actual goal changes to something unrelated to the first, either because the original becomes impossible or the new one is more important. | | 2010 / 2011 | 6 games |
| Chapter replay (Level replay) | Player can choose which chapter to play, usually limited to chapters, levels or segments they've already played through so they can trivially replay their favourite parts. | | 2004 / 2012 | 43 games |
| Chapter skip (Level skip) | Offers a way to skip a chapter, level, or segment of the game. Usually there in case the player can't solve it and wishes to still see the rest of the game. May include a recap of previous chapter to cover the skipped story non-interactively. | | 2008 / 2012 | 8 games |
| Character advancement: Deeds (quests;tasks;missions) | A method of character advancement where character abilities or statistics are grown when they complete certain tasks. | | 1985 / 2008 | 19 games |
| Character advancement: Experience distribution | A method of character advancement in RPGs and other games where experience points are used to "buy" stats, skills and such as soon as gained or through external intermediaries. | | 1988 / 2012 | 33 games |
| Character advancement: Intermediary | Charterers must visit a specific person(s) or station(s) to facilitate some or all types of advancement. | | 1985 / 2012 | 39 games |
| Character advancement: Limited | Character advancement is limited somehow, usually by preventing gaining levels over certain criteria (e.g. can gain only up to level 10 in chapter 2). | | | 0 games |
| Character advancement: None | Offers no method of character advancement even though it is an RPG. | | 1992 / 2011 | 4 games |
| Character advancement: Objects | A method of character advancement where character abilities or statistics are grown when the player finds certain objects, or certain number of said objects. | | 1982 / 2011 | 35 games |
| Character advancement: Perks | A method of character advancement where the player gains or chooses one perk at every few levels. Usually these are additional traits or capabilities. | | 1997 / 2011 | 52 games |
| Character advancement: Plot progress (Game progress) | A method of character advancement where they become more skilled, powerful, knowledgeable when the plot/game progresses. | | 1993 / 2011 | 11 games |
| Character advancement: Point distribution | A method of character advancement in RPGs and other games where arbitrary points are used to "buy" stats, skills and such as soon as gained or through external intermediaries. | | 1993 / 2012 | 186 games |
| Character advancement: Static | A method of character advancement where character abilities or statistics are grown - when levels are gained - outside of player's control. | | 1985 / 2012 | 166 games |
| Character advancement: Undefined | Uses some undefined method of character advancement. | | 1990 / 2012 | 57 games |
| Character background | Player can designate a background for their character which essentially covers what they were prior to the beginning of the game or prior to entering training in their chosen profession. | | 2003 / 2010 | 11 games |
| Character control switch | Player can and likely must switch control between several characters to progress, leaving the other character(s) unattended to behave autonomously or waiting for you to swap back to them. | | 1987 / 2011 | 78 games |
| Character flaws (Negative character traits) | Characters have one or more flaws, such as allergy, bad gait, gluttony, etc. In case of games with RPG elements, character creation may involve designating such. | | 1996 / 2011 | 3 games |
| Character scaling difficulty (Character level scaling difficulty) | Difficulty and/or type of opponents/challenges scales according to the character level or similar measure of ability. | | 1991 / 2011 | 26 games |
| Character switch (Character swap) | Player controls only single character, but can switch it to another at any time, with the old disappearing somewhere until swapped to again. | | 1993 / 2011 | 22 games |
| Charged actions | One or more actions can be charged for greater effectiveness. | | 2008 / 2011 | 7 games |
| Charged attack | Includes "charged" attack, usually performed by holding down the fire button for a longer period of time to unleash a more powerful attack. | | 1988 / 2012 | 87 games |
| Charged jump | Player can charge up the jump power to control how far or high they jump. | | 1990 / 2011 | 15 games |
| Charged throw | The distance of thrown objects, usually grenades or similar, is determined by how long the throw button is held (charged). | | 2005 / 2012 | 6 games |
| Chase sequence (Tailing sequence) | Includes a sequence where the player needs to catch up to someone moving away from them or maintaining a distance with them without losing sight of them for too long. | | | 0 games |
| Chatter | The protagonist and/or their friends randomly chat with themselves or others, occasionally pointing out their observations about the environment, people they see, and other things. | | 1995 / 2012 | 7 games |
| Cheat codes | Player can input codes, when there's no prompt for such, that alter game behaviour in a way considered that can be considered to be cheating. | | 1993 / 1995 | 3 games |
| Cinematic camera (Cinematic mode) | Offers a cinematic camera mode where the camera jumps around showing more or less interesting happenings in the game world from supposedly interesting angles, attempting to give cinematic impression of the events. | | 2006 / 2012 | 5 games |
| Cinematics (Cutscenes) | | | | 0 games |
| Circadian dangers (Daily dangers) | Includes dangers (such as enemies) that are only present during a certain period of a day, such as the night. | | 2011 / 2012 | 11 games |
| Clairvoyant pursuers | When pursued by enemies for any reason, they somehow know exactly where you are even though there's absolutely no way for them to do so realistically. | | 2006 / 2007 | 3 games |
| Clans (Clan support;Player organizations;Player guilds) | Has in-built support for clans or similar large groups of people. | | 1999 / 2011 | 41 games |
| Class-based equipment (Class restricted equipment) | All or certain (specialist) items, tools and such can't be used at all unless the character is of certain class. | | 1990 / 2012 | 84 games |
| Classless (No character classes) | Lacks character classes or similar specializations that lock out a large portion of possible skill, ability, or similar choices. | | 1994 / 2012 | 28 games |
| Clear Game | After completing a regular game, player may continue playing around in the game world as they please. Usually to allow them to find all the secrets, beat any challenges, finish side quests, and so forth. | | 1987 / 2011 | 27 games |
| Clothing changes[Dress changes;Attire changes;Costume changes] | Over the course of the story the protagonist changes his or her clothing outside of player's control. | | 1997 / 2011 | 29 games |
| Collectibles | As a non-mandatory side objective you can collect certain items, possibly gaining rewards for finding certain number of them or being rewarded for each one individually. | | 1997 / 2012 | 76 games |
| Color of allegiance | Whose side a person is, is denoted by [i]color[/i] they wear or use for insignia. | | 1992 / 2011 | 9 games |
| Combat | | | | 0 games |
| Combined effort | Two or more characters, vehicles, or such can combine their effort to perform at a single task better than they could alone. | | 1990 / 2012 | 5 games |
| Combo bonuses | Player gains bonuses (either substantially increased score or some more tangible rewards) for performing combos of any kind. | | 2005 / 2012 | 18 games |
| Command transfer | Players can transfer control of characters, buildings, and other units to allies. | | 1999 / 2009 | 7 games |
| Commercialized | Originally a free game modification, standalone game or some other similar thing but later turned into commercial product. | | 2000 / 2011 | 8 games |
| Complex actions | | | | 0 games |
| Consequences (Repercussions) | The choices, actions or lack of action of the protagonist has future consequences that may or may not be immediately obvious. | | 2007 / 2012 | 9 games |
| Consistent damage (Constant damage) | Any damage dealt or received is constant with no arbitrary fluctuation. | | 2010 / 2011 | 2 games |
| Constant velocity | Player character's movement speed is a constant, there's either full stop or the defined speed with no variation between. | | | 0 games |
| Context actions | Performed action changes with context, or player is provided actions in certain contexts that they can not perform elsewhere. | | | 1 games |
| Context actions: Similar | Context actions are similar to the base action that triggers them. | | | 1 games |
| Control loss | Player may under certain circumstances (in normal play, not in cinematics) lose control of the protagonist to some degree. | | 2010 / 2011 | 7 games |
| Control malfunction (Altered controls;Inverted controls) | Under certain circumstances player's controls may malfunction or behave unexpectedly, commonly as a product of drunkenness, confusion status effect, or similar. | | 1985 / 2012 | 29 games |
| Control: Groups | Player controls primarily groups of characters rather than their individual members or even lone characters. | | 1993 / 2011 | 45 games |
| Control: Individuals (Singular units) | Player primarily controls individuals. | | 1992 / 2012 | 115 games |
| Controls | Any tags referring to [i]how[/i] a game is controlled (not with [i]what[/i]). | | | 0 games |
| Coup de grâce | Player may kill other characters/creatures outright when they're incapacitated (unconscious, paralyzed, etc.) and may be suspect to this themselves. | | 2006 / 2011 | 14 games |
| Crafting: Armor (Armorsmithing) | | | | 0 games |
| Crafting: Jewelry | | | | 0 games |
| Crippled port or conversion | Certain gameplay elements (such as game modes or activities) have been removed from the port/conversion. | | 2009 / 2011 | 2 games |
| Cross-world characters (Cross-server characters) | Same character can be played with on multiple worlds/servers without losing the things they take from the others. Likely goes unexplained in-mythos. | | 1996 / 2012 | 26 games |
| Crouchjump | Players can jump higher by crouching at the height of the jump. | | 1998 / 2008 | 3 games |
| Cruelty potential | Has plenty of potential for the player to express cruelty, even if this has no effect on gameplay. | | 1993 / 2012 | 24 games |
| Cube Grid (Hex Volume Grid) | Uses a 3D grid made of cubes. | | 2010 / 2011 | 7 games |
| Custom scenarios | Player can create custom scenarios to play in. Unlike level editors, these usually have few attributes to be tweaked and the game world is randomly generated from player given parameters. | | 1984 / 2009 | 21 games |
| Custom triggers | Player can place triggers of one sort or another and connect them to various things. | | 2004 / 2012 | 13 games |
| Customization | | | | 0 games |
| Damage flicker (Damage flash) | Things flicker transparently or some (possibly opaque) color, usually red or white, when taking damage. | | 1991 / 2012 | 17 games |
| Damage info (Damage floats) | Shows how much damage anything did, either in a log or as floating numeric/textual information or similar. | | 1999 / 2012 | 30 games |
| Damage over time (DOT) | Includes forms of damage that applies itself over time rather than instantly, commonly caused by burning, acid, poison, and so forth. | | 1997 / 2012 | 51 games |
| Damage types[resistances;immunities] | Damage is split into various types that may or may not be unrelated to each other. | | 2000 / 2012 | 58 games |
| Deadly borders | Going beyond the game world border, off screen, or similar has fatal consequences. | | 1995 / 2011 | 25 games |
| Death barriers (Death zones) | Player's progress is hampered by zones that instantly or almost instantly cause them to die, usually with no way of preventing that death and therefore forcing them to seek alternate routes. | | 1992 / 2010 | 7 games |
| Death penalty (Loss penalty) | Dying or otherwise losing imposes an additional penalty besides the loss itself (and other than ending the game). | | 1993 / 2012 | 27 games |
| Death penalty: Lost equipment | Player loses all or part of their equipment upon dying. | | | 1 games |
| Death penalty: Recovery | Player character can recover the death penalty, usually by going back to the place where they died. | | 2007 / 2011 | 3 games |
| Death traps | An avoidable series of events that have a 100% chance of death but do not specifically warn the player of the impending non-obvious trap. | | 1984 / 2012 | 22 games |
| Deathless | The protagonist can't really ever die or fail due to some game mechanic. | | 2001 / 2011 | 16 games |
| Deceptive title (Misleading title) | The game's name is deceptive. | | 1992 / 2011 | 6 games |
| Defence sequence (Protection sequence;Escort mission) | Includes one or more segments where the player must defend someone or something that is outside of their control and can't be replaced. | | 1988 / 2011 | 77 games |
| Defense of the Ancients | Replicates the basic gameplay concept of the Defense of the Ancients custom scenario for WarCraft 3. | | | 1 games |
| Delayed healing | Healing effect is applied only after the process has been completed if it takes significant time or starts after a notable delay. | | 2008 / 2010 | 7 games |
| Delayed magic (Incantations;Charged magic) | Use of magic requires incantation, gestures, or some other thing that takes time to perform, at the end of which the magic is activated. | | 1998 / 2012 | 21 games |
| Delayed turning | Although view may turn instantly when commanded to, certain important factors follow the view change at noticeably slower pace (usually wielded gun or similar). | | 2010 / 2011 | 2 games |
| Demake | Opposite of remake; the game is recreated to appear older, less advanced, and whatever else. | | 2004 / 2010 | 9 games |
| Deployables: Fixed | Deployables, once placed, can't be moved again. | | 2002 / 2004 | 3 games |
| Deployables: Redeploy | Player can redeploy any deployables. | | 2007 / 2010 | 5 games |
| Derived statistics (Derived attributes;Secondary attributes) | | | 1999 / 2012 | 28 games |
| Destructible environment | The environment can be destroyed in a more or less limited fashion, but often leaving the base level structure intact. | | 1985 / 2013 | 198 games |
| Destructible items | Items that the player can pick up and use, place in their inventory and so forth can be destroyed while lying about. | | 1991 / 2011 | 26 games |
| Destructible world (Destructible level geometry) | The game world can be destroyed to a point that it is no longer usable or traversable. | | 1991 / 2012 | 31 games |
| Dialog: Action | Player has limited time to choose their responses and possibly perform other actions during them, before some default choice is selected or even one not available otherwise. | | 2005 / 2010 | 6 games |
| Dialog: Keywords | Dialogs work by selecting or typing in keywords. | | 1988 / 2011 | 17 games |
| Dialog: Progressive | Dialog largely proceeds forward without returning to earlier subjects or repeating them. | | | 0 games |
| Dialog: Stance (Demeanour;Behaviour)[Demeanor;Behavior] | Dialogs work by selecting a stance, such as aggressive, helpful, evasive or neutral. | | 1992 / 2011 | 12 games |
| Dice mechanics[die mechanics] | Uses die rolling to solve various things (often chance). | | 1992 / 2008 | 30 games |
| Different health (Non-standard health) | The main "health" meter is for [i]something else[/i] than physical well-being (how little or how much physically hurt you are). | | | 0 games |
| Difficulty levels (Difficulty options) | Player has choice of game difficulty. | | 1978 / 2012 | 1108 games |
| Difficulty options | | | | 0 games |
| Difficulty: Evaluated (Evaluation) | The game somehow, usually as part of the intro or tutorial segment, evaluates player's skill level and recommends a difficulty setting best suited to provide adequate but not too high challenge. | | 2007 / 2009 | 6 games |
| Dilapidated (Worn;Decrepit) | Gives the impression of worn down and/or poorly (or not at all) maintained habitats and such. | | 2003 / 2010 | 3 games |
| Direct control (Direct fire control;Direct command) | Strategy games where the player can control singular unit like in a simulator or shooter rather than giving orders which the AI carries out. | | 1998 / 2012 | 17 games |
| Directional Force | Conveyor belts, wind, magnets, slippery slopes or similar, cause movement in a way that the player may resist, utilize, or must avoid. | | 1981 / 2011 | 47 games |
| Directional Force caused by a slippery, tilting or slanting surface (Slides) | A slippery tilting surface causes movement in a way that the player may resist, utilize, or must avoid. | | 2006 / 2012 | 13 games |
| Directional Force from a Moving Surface (Conveyor Belts) | A moving surface (floor or conveyor belts for example) causes movement in a way that the player may resist, utilize, or must avoid. | | 1984 / 2011 | 22 games |
| Directional force from liquid current | Currents cause movement in a way that the player may resist, utilize, or must avoid. | | 1997 / 2011 | 12 games |
| Directional Force from Wind | Natural or artificial wind cause movement in a way that the player may resist, utilize, or must avoid. | | 1985 / 2011 | 25 games |
| Discolored blood (Discolored ichor) | For whatever reason, the blood of Humans and Earthborne animals is something else than red. | | 2009 / 2011 | 4 games |
| Discriminating customers (Discriminating buyers) | NPCs do not completely blindly buy what you have to offer, rather they have varying kinds of demands for the goods they get. | | 2007 / 2010 | 4 games |
| Dissolving items (Disappearing powerups) | Dropped items, powerups or other objects of interest disappear after a short time. | | 1993 / 2012 | 31 games |
| Distorted hearing[audio] | Something can cause the protagonist's hearing to get distorted. Especially cases where the hearing is always distorted | | 2004 / 2012 | 11 games |
| Distorted vision | Something can cause the protagonist's vision to get distorted. Especially cases where the vision is always distorted | | 1994 / 2012 | 107 games |
| Distracting visuals | The visuals of the game distract, obscure, or otherwise actively impair player's ability to follow the actually important parts of gameplay. | | 2005 / 2007 | 7 games |
| Doujin games | Video games created by Japanese hobbyists or hobbyist groups more for fun than for profit. | | 2002 / 2007 | 11 games |
| Dual wielding (Guns akimbo) | Player can wield two related weapons simultaneously, such as two handguns, two scimitars, and so on. | | 1990 / 2012 | 137 games |
| duplicate: Detection indicator | Player is given indicators for where they will be detected and possibly how, such as sight cones and hearing radius indicators. | | 1998 / 2009 | 11 games |
| Dynamic accuracy | Weapon accuracy is dynamic - affected by posture, movement and other factors - rather than static bullet spread radius. | | 2002 / 2011 | 86 games |
| Dynamic HUD | The HUD tries to show only information that is useful at any given moment and no more. | | 2008 / 2011 | 34 games |
| Dynamic weather (Changing weather) | Weather changes by itself. | | 2001 / 2012 | 52 games |
| Dynamism (Malleability) | Any tags pertaining to non-static nature of the game world. | | | 0 games |
| Early ending trigger (Early ending choice) | Ending is chosen based on actions of the player very early on, though later actions may also affect it. | | | 0 games |
| Easter eggs | | | 2003 / 2008 | 6 games |
| Easter eggs: Date | Contains easter eggs that are only available or actived on certain dates, such as Christmas eve/day or Halloween. | | 1995 / 2009 | 22 games |
| Edge scroll (Edge scene transition)[edge scrolling] | The scene changes when the player character reaches or goes past its edge, not before. | | | 0 games |
| Effect cancellation (Spell cancellation;Magic cancellation) | Player may freely cancel certain effects before they run their full course without special measures (e.g. without casting dispel magic spell). Usually limited to personally caused non-negative effects. | | | 0 games |
| Encounters | Any and all encounter related concepts. | | | 0 games |
| Encounters with alternate protagonists | Player encounters some or all of the other protagonists they could've chosen to play as. | | 1995 / 2011 | 2 games |
| Endless mode | Includes any kind of separate game mode (that doesn't have a more specific tag available) which has no end (victory condition) of any kind. | | | 0 games |
| Endless opposition | Player never runs out of opponents, regardless of method how this occurs. | | 1980 / 2012 | 83 games |
| Enemy concession (Enemy surrender) | Opponents or enemies have the option of surrendering or conceding. | | 1985 / 2007 | 6 games |
| Energy | | | | 0 games |
| Energy regeneration | Energy used by magic, electric devices, special skills or other things automatically regenerates over time. | | 1994 / 2012 | 112 games |
| Energy regeneration: Slow | Energy regenerates so slowly it's hardly of any use when you run out and need more. | | 2001 / 2010 | 7 games |
| Energy restoration | | | | 0 games |
| Enforced fairness | The game enforces fairness to a degree, such as disallowing players to attack other players that are too weak compared to them. | | | 0 games |
| Enforced progression | Game enforces player to progress forward, preventing backtracking either by constantly blocking the return path or simply not allowing movement in that direction. | | 2008 / 2011 | 4 games |
| Enforced proximity | Your team is enforced to stay in somewhat close proximity with each other. | | 2002 / 2011 | 2 games |
| Enhanced port or conversion (Improved) | The existing content of a port/conversion has been enhanced to be better without actually impacting how the game plays (unless it's tweaks on controls) or adding new content. | | 1992 / 2011 | 7 games |
| Environmental constraints | | | | 0 games |
| Environmental contact | Tools, weapons, etc. can touch the environment instead of acting as if they were simply 2D printouts on your HUD or passing through everything as if they were air. | | 2008 / 2010 | 14 games |
| Equally able NPCs (Equal NPCs) | NPCs are roughly equally able compared to player characters. | | | 0 games |
| Equipment size | Equipment has varying sizes, making clothing/armor not fit all characters and/or tools being either ungainly large or too minuscule to those with significant size differences. | | 2001 / 2008 | 4 games |
| Equipment-based | Character effectiveness is largely based on the equipment used rather than their skill or other abilities. | | 2001 / 2011 | 8 games |
| Escape sequence (Retreat sequence) | Includes a sequence where the player must escape, either because they're presented with an opponent they can't hope to defeat, overwhelming odds, or some other danger that threatens the protagonist and can't be countered. | | 1999 / 2011 | 25 games |
| Exceptional success (Critical success;Critical hit;Critical strike) | Certain actions may occasionally perform exceptionally well, often multiplying the expected effect (such as critical hit dealing double damage). | | 2006 / 2012 | 23 games |
| Excessive waiting | Many actions take hours to perform/finish in real-time, prompting players to not play while the actions are performed and only check in much later for what to do next. | | 2003 / 2011 | 10 games |
| Expanded port or conversion | The port's or conversion's content has been expanded, adding significant elements that are not present in the original. | | 1997 / 2011 | 7 games |
| Experience | | | | 0 games |
| Experience: Deeds (quests;missions;tasks) | Experience is gained by doing various deeds, such as completing missions, tasks or "quests". | | 1985 / 2012 | 127 games |
| Experience: Globally shared | Experience gain is globally shared regardless where the characters are or if the characters are even in your active group. | | 2003 / 2011 | 10 games |
| Experience: Kills (Murder;Slaughter;Destruction;Defeats) | Experience is awarded for killing, destroying or otherwise defeating things, usually living creatures. | | 1985 / 2012 | 335 games |
| Experience: Level match | New characters that join your team have their experience adjusted to match yours, making it unnecessary for you to prioritize getting them into your team early on for reasons of avoiding xp grind. | | 1998 / 2007 | 15 games |
| Experience: Literal (Character advancement: Literal experience;Learn by doing) | Experience is gained by literally doing what you want to get better at, no generic advancement points are awarded for distribution. | | 1984 / 2012 | 75 games |
| Experience: Objects | Experience is awarded from collecting certain objects. | | 1985 / 2011 | 43 games |
| Experience: Other | Experience is gained from an unusual activity or source. | | 2007 / 2011 | 8 games |
| Experience: Plot progress (Game progress) | Experience or other advancement points are awarded for progressing through the plot/game. | | 1984 / 2011 | 20 games |
| Experimental (Experimental gameplay) | Any game that started out as an experiment on gameplay mechanics rather than relying on the same old proven to work by others. | | 2004 / 2009 | 3 games |
| Extra game modes | | | | 0 games |
| Extra lives (Tries;Continues) | Player character has multiple "lives". | | 1978 / 2012 | 1388 games |
| Extra turns | Players may gain extra sequential turns before the opponent gets theirs. | | | 0 games |
| Facing | The direction people, vehicles, or any other things are facing affects gameplay in some manner. | | 1992 / 2012 | 34 games |
| Faction lock | After choosing a faction you can't change it without starting from scratch. | | 2004 / 2005 | 2 games |
| Fake elevation | Game depicts terrain elevation but it has no notable effect, bullets pass through hills and higher ground has no benefits over lower. | | 2009 / 2012 | 3 games |
| Fall damage | Falling down from substantial height causes damage or even death. | | 1982 / 2012 | 231 games |
| Fall impact | Falling down a significant height causes the character to recoil from the impact, roll across the floor, or otherwise react to the impact force. | | 1994 / 2012 | 56 games |
| Fangame | Created based on some third-party material by its fans rather than a company that licensed it. | | 1981 / 2011 | 68 games |
| Fatigue | Characters suffer from extended periods exertion or staying awake, ranging from simple fatigue to more drastic ailments. Usually fixed by a good night's rest. | | 1988 / 2012 | 29 games |
| Field of vision (FOV)[field of view] | Simulates field of vision to a degree, making characters unable to see 360 degrees unless they're nonhuman, augmented or otherwise different. | | 1998 / 2012 | 7 games |
| Fines (Financial penalties) | Player character may be demanded to pay fines for their misdeeds or as an alternate to prison time. | | 1996 / 2011 | 10 games |
| Finishing moves | More or less spectacular final blows to enemies that may or may not have any particular use besides eyecandy, commonly activated through a special key combo or some activation key not normally used in combat. | | 2000 / 2012 | 17 games |
| Firing arcs | Weapons, tools, etc. have differing fields (arcs) of operation, forcing player to maneuver themselves somehow to use them to their fullest potential. | | 2005 / 2010 | 5 games |
| Flat terrain | Terrain lacks any variation in angle; no slopes, hills, etc. or even stairs. | | 1991 / 2012 | 15 games |
| Flip resistance | Vehicles resist being flipped upside down to a degree that is even unrealistic, such as bouncing in the opposite direction that physics would dictate or blatantly rolling over to stay upright. | | 2005 / 2011 | 3 games |
| Flip-screens (flick-screen;page-flipping) | Exiting a screen or area expediently places the character on the opposite side of the screen in an adjacent area in the game world. Common for games predating scrolling movement. | | 1978 / 2010 | 12 games |
| Floating aim | Aim moves somewhat freely of view direction, similar to having a deadzone, but does not prevent view direction changes. Turning causes gun to point to a side and any fire to go that way too. True floating aim does not re-center aim by itself after. | | 2006 / 2011 | 4 games |
| Focal length | Uses focal length adjustments or simulates it somehow, a zoom method that retains the size of the foreground objects but enlarges or shrinks objects farther back. | | | 0 games |
| For a specific number of players | Designed for a specific number of players (besides 1), no less, no more. | | 1977 / 2012 | 39 games |
| Forced tutorial | Tutorial can't be skipped. | | 2003 / 2011 | 14 games |
| Forgetful enemies | Your enemies have a tendency to forget you ever were there. | | 1998 / 2005 | 4 games |
| Fragile protagonist (Weak protagonist;Low health) | The protagonist dies extremely easily (though not from single hit from [i]anything[/i]). | | 1988 / 2012 | 64 games |
| Free content expansions | Has received one or more free content expansions since proper release. Often delivered as part of a patch. | | 2007 / 2012 | 10 games |
| Free look (Mouse look) | Any games with true free look (ability to fully control the view horizontally and vertically). | | 1992 / 2012 | 23 games |
| Free, but not Freeware | Free to obtain and play (no payments required), but have certain limitations that make them something else than freeware (e.g. proprietary server software you can't obtain, no rights to redistribute, no rights to use as you see fit, etc.). | | 1996 / 2012 | 187 games |
| Freezing | Things, especially characters and other creatures, can be frozen to a degree. | | 1995 / 2011 | 8 games |
| Friend-or-Foe indicator (FoF) | | | 2002 / 2011 | 51 games |
| Friendly Fire | Player can attack their own side purposefully or by accident. | | 1979 / 2012 | 125 games |
| Friendly fire: Full | Friendly fire delivers full damage potential of the attacks to friendlies as well. | | 2006 / 2011 | 19 games |
| Friendly fire: Optional | Friendly fire can be enabled and disabled at will. Usually a server/host setting in multiplayer games and not configurable per player. | | 2008 / 2011 | 8 games |
| Friendly fire: Reduced | Friendly fire delivers only a portion of the full power of the attacks to friendlies, effectively still making friendly fire unwanted but less devastating. | | 2008 / 2010 | 14 games |
| Game of the Year[GotY] | Received Game of the Year award from any notable publication, awarded to single game of any genre each year. | | 1996 / 2010 | 51 games |
| Game progress indicator | Shows overall game progress in some manner. | | 1984 / 2011 | 16 games |
| Game world border | Player can reach the border of the game world, usually an inexplicable, impenetrable and invisible wall of nothing. Often with blackness on the other side though not necessarily. | | 2006 / 2011 | 8 games |
| Gender-restricted equipment | Certain equipment (commonly clothing or armor) are restricted to some gender. | | 1994 / 2009 | 3 games |
| Generational | Player controls several passing generations of people. | | | 0 games |
| Genre change | Games in series that have opted for different genre than what the previous games had. | | 1988 / 2012 | 25 games |
| Ghost race | Player can race against a "ghost" of their previous best attempt, trying to achieve better record. | | 1994 / 2012 | 12 games |
| Goals (Objectives) | | | | 0 games |
| Gradual construction | Construction happens naturally over time. | | 1994 / 2012 | 25 games |
| Gradual expenses | Expenses are charged as needed in small bits when possible, such as paying for individual materials to build the end product as needed rather than the end product itself. | | 2007 / 2008 | 3 games |
| Gradual healing | Any healing is gradual, occurring at a pace over time rather than instantaneously. | | 2000 / 2009 | 5 games |
| Grenade cooking | Player can cook grenades (wait for the fuse to burn) before lobbing them off at some risk to themselves. | | 1997 / 2011 | 38 games |
| Grenade re-throw [retoss;relobbing;toss back] | Player can attempt to lob back live grenades. | | 2008 / 2010 | 10 games |
| Grenade warning (Live grenade proximity warning) | Player is given a warning on the HUD of live grenade nearby, possibly with direction indicator and even a timer. | | 2008 / 2011 | 29 games |
| Grid | Uses a grid of any shape or type. | | 1976 / 2012 | 1120 games |
| Grid of Wang Tiles | Four right triangles form a square arranged in a standard square grid. | | | 0 games |
| Grid-based movement | 1st person games where the movement is locked to a grid. | | 1982 / 2012 | 205 games |
| Gridless | Does not use a grid where one is to be expected. In strategy and war games for instance. | | | 0 games |
| Grinding | Grinding is necessary to progress. | | | 1 games |
| Grotesque | Depicts grotesque, horrifying and/or disgusting scenes or characters. | | 1986 / 2012 | 159 games |
| Group (Party;Squad;Squadron) | Player is part of a group and can issue some form of instructions to (or, in some instances, assume full control of) the other members. | | 1981 / 2013 | 664 games |
| Group buffs | Includes spells, skills or other things that somehow strengthen the whole group rather than an individual. | | | 2 games |
| Group focus (Party focus;Party MMO) | Any MMO where working as a group is important, and working alone (soloing) is troublesome. | | 2004 / 2005 | 2 games |
| Group leader (Squad leader;Party leader) | Player has direct control of only the leader, with little indirect control of the the others. | | 1996 / 2012 | 50 games |
| Group subset | The player character lead group consists only a subset of her total followers with the rest waiting up in your base of operations or tagging along behind the corner. | | 1990 / 2011 | 20 games |
| Hard (Nintendo Hard) | Extremely hard, requiring player to memorize levels, repeat the whole game over and over again (usually memorizing something new each time), throwing nigh impossible challenges at the player and so forth. | | 1984 / 2012 | 39 games |
| Hardcore mode | Includes a mode where additional level of simulation, limitations, etc. are added. Often also making things matter that didn't before and making earlier somewhat trivially removed ailments harder to get rid of. | | 1994 / 2011 | 14 games |
| Harmful secrets | Includes secret locations or similar that are actually more harmful than they're useful. | | 2001 / 2009 | 2 games |
| Harmful touch(Killing touch;Creature collision damage) | Simply coming into contact with your enemies is enough to hurt or even kill you. | | 1981 / 2012 | 255 games |
| Head-up display (Heads-up display;HUD;Graphical user interface) | | | | 0 games |
| Health | Any and all character health related tags. | | | 0 games |
| Health regeneration | The protagonist regenerates health automatically over time. | | 1982 / 2012 | 321 games |
| Health regeneration: Fast / Instant | Health regenerates fully in only few seconds when not taking damage. | | 2001 / 2012 | 114 games |
| Health regeneration: Moderate | Health regenerates at a moderate speed, a breather may help you survive, but you won't get back to full health without still spending some time out of harms way. | | 2001 / 2012 | 16 games |
| Health regeneration: Slow | Health regenerates so slowly it won't save you even if you get a few moments of peace. | | 1997 / 2011 | 24 games |
| Health regeneration: Stunted | Health regeneration works only up to a point (such as restoring a partial segment to full but not beyond it, or up to a certain percentage of full health), never fully restoring it. | | 2001 / 2011 | 28 games |
| Health restoration | Any and all tags relating to healing or other restoration of vitality. | | | 0 games |
| Held magic (Maintained magic) | Magic requires the spellcaster constantly focus on keeping it active lest it dissipate. | | 2009 / 2011 | 8 games |
| Hexagonal grid | Uses grid of 6 sided convex shapes. | | 1976 / 2012 | 254 games |
| Hidden attributes | Certain game affecting character attributes are hidden from the player, making players either completely oblivious or only vaguely aware of their existence. | | 1985 / 2012 | 32 games |
| Hint system | Includes some form of hint system, either something that's off the game or something incorporated to the gameplay itself, such as asking advice from another character. | | 1986 / 2011 | 42 games |
| Hit flash | When characters hit, damage, or otherwise clobber each other, player can see a bright flash of light (or other fancy effect that serves the same purpose) at the point of impact. | | 2007 / 2011 | 3 games |
| Hit indicator | Indicator that shows if you hit anything worth hitting, generally showing this even in cases when you couldn't possibly know. | | | 0 games |
| Hit moderation | Player and/or their enemies gain brief invulnerability after being hurt or otherwise damaged, usually accompanied by coloured flicker. | | 2011 / 2012 | 7 games |
| Hitscan[hit-scanning;hit scanning;hitscanning] | A method for dealing with projectiles where the impact point is calculated and nothing else. There's absolutely no way for anything to get in between or dodging after the weapon has been discharged as there's no projectile to dodge or intercept. | | 1993 / 2005 | 28 games |
| Hobbyist game | Created by a hobbyist or other non-commercial/serious project, usually by single person or a small team. Commonly distributed under freeware, FOSS, or similar license. | | 1985 / 2008 | 12 games |
| Homebrew game | Created by hobbyist(s) for a platform for which home made games are difficult to produce, either because of official tools are not freely available or uses storage media not found on other platforms. | | 1979 / 2011 | 96 games |
| Homing boulders (Inexplicably homing projectiles) | Projectiles that one would not ever expect to home on their target do so. | | 1998 / 2012 | 33 games |
| HUD customization | The in-game HUD can be customized by moving any of its elements about and possibly adjusting their size/detail or even appearance. | | 2004 / 2010 | 4 games |
| HUD malfunctioning | The HUD may occasionally malfunction, usually when it is explained (e.g. hi-tech visor or cybernetic eye with info feeds) and thus can be (temporarily) damaged. | | 2008 / 2011 | 6 games |
| Hunger and thirst (food/water requirement;FWR;Starvation)[starving;malnutrition] | Player must keep their characters and/or minions fed and watered lest they suffer starvation or dehydration and possibly death. | | 1981 / 2012 | 173 games |
| Hyperalimentation (Overeating;Overdrinking;Overfeeding;Gluttony) | Hyperalimentation, such as overeating or overdrinking, has effects in gameplay. Usually negative, sometimes even fatal. | | 1985 / 2009 | 11 games |
| Idle activity | After spending a set amount of time doing absolutely nothing, the character starts doing something to "pass the time". | | 1991 / 2010 | 9 games |
| Ignored companions | Your companions get largely ignored by NPCs unless they specifically have something to say and possibly even then their presence is only marginally acknowledged. | | 2005 / 2011 | 6 games |
| Ill-equipped | You start out your quest to save the universe with a stick, or the near equivalent of. | | 1980 / 2012 | 69 games |
| Immersion | Any tags which's primary purpose is to improve immersion. | | | 0 games |
| Immersive load | Loading screens are depicted in somehow immersive way, such as vehicle boot/warm-up sequence. Does not necessarily include the initial game load. | | | 0 games |
| Immobile water(Flat water;Spectral water;Illusionary water) | Water remains unchanged even when things move through it as if it was simply an illusion. | | 2009 / 2010 | 4 games |
| Imparted momentum | Whatever is releasing a projectile imparts its own momentum to it. | | | 0 games |
| Imperfect healing | Any immediate healing the player can use can not accomplish perfect results. | | | 0 games |
| Impossible (unbeatable) | Very, [b]VERY[/b] rare. These games strongly imply or outright promise a possible win condition but it can't be fulfilled. Result of [i]unfixed[/i] bug usually. | | | 0 games |
| Impossible Tasks (Impossible Quests) | Tasks are provided with moderately implied ability to complete them, but they're uncompletable. Possibly to tease, as a part of the plot, or caused by unfixed bugs. | | 1998 / 2011 | 5 games |
| Imprisonment[incarceration;getting jailed] | Player character may be imprisoned for a time as a penalty for their misdeeds. | | 2006 / 2011 | 7 games |
| In-game advertising [In-game ads] | The idea is to seamlessly integrate ads into the game world so they look like they belong there or as part of the game menus (e.g. multiplayer lobby). | | 1991 / 2012 | 19 games |
| In-game cinematics (in-engine cinematics)[In-game cutscenes;in-game cinematics] | Uses the game engine itself to run cinematic sequences rather than playing some pre-rendered FMVs or similar. | | 1997 / 2012 | 17 games |
| In-game difficulty level adjustment (Mid-game difficulty change) | Player can adjust game difficulty even in middle of a game. | | 1993 / 2011 | 62 games |
| In-game lobby (Playable lobby) | Lobbies are fully playable or represented as an in-game location(s) rather than a menu screen. | | 2010 / 2011 | 2 games |
| In-game title | Game title is displayed even during normal play, often as part of the HUD that obscures a portion of the display area. | | 1985 / 2009 | 42 games |
| Incomplete | Any games that have ceased active development for significant amount of time prior to reaching "complete" state for the games. Mainly open-source games. | | | 0 games |
| Incomplete tutorial (Partial tutorial) | The tutorial covers gameplay only partially, especially in terms of features not similar or common to other games of the same genre. | | 1993 / 2011 | 8 games |
| Independent aiming | Aiming is independent of move or view direction. Character does not turn their whole body to face where they aim and backbedal in the other direction. | | 1980 / 2011 | 105 games |
| Indicators | Extra indicators for various gameplay elements that the game fails to sufficiently represent otherwise. | | | 0 games |
| Indirect control | Uses any form of indirect control. Usually by setting general goals to be accomplished at the minions' leisure rather than commanding someone specific to do it right away (or queue the task). | | 2000 / 2012 | 23 games |
| Inert scenery | Scenery contains objects that one would expect to be movable, but aren't, even if doing so has no perceivable purpose. | | 1996 / 2009 | 27 games |
| Inexplicable involvement (Undefined involvement) | The reason why the protagonist is or becomes involved in the plot is left unexplained, effectively functioning as a sort of Deus Ex Machina. | | 2003 / 2007 | 6 games |
| Inexplicable trajectories | Projectiles leave weapons at angles different than what the weapon itself would suggest. | | 2008 / 2010 | 5 games |
| Infighting | | | 1997 / 1999 | 4 games |
| Information warfare | | | | 3 games |
| Instant construction | Any construction occurs instantly once it has begun. | | 1997 / 2009 | 10 games |
| Instant death (1 hitpoint) | The player dies from single damaging hit of any kind, the equivalent of having never more than one life point. | | 1979 / 2012 | 611 games |
| Instant expenses | Any expenses are billed instantly when the thing you're paying for is ordered, actual delivery of bought item may come later. | | 1994 / 2012 | 24 games |
| Instant healing | Any healing is instantaneous, occurring as soon as the healing item or ability has been used. | | 2007 / 2010 | 5 games |
| Instant killers | Regardless of how many hit points the player character has, there are still things out there that can kill them outright. | | 1991 / 2012 | 36 games |
| Instant magic[instantaneous magic] | All or most magic is instantly discharged. | | 1992 / 2012 | 23 games |
| Instant motion | Any and all movement is instantaneous with no restrictions. | | 2008 / 2011 | 3 games |
| Instant retry | Upon death, the player is restored exactly where they died or within viewing distance of it. | | 1991 / 1994 | 3 games |
| Instant start | There's no main menu, no press button to start, nothing. Only that the game has already started. | | 2008 / 2012 | 8 games |
| Intangible foes (Intangible NPCs;Immaterial NPCs) | Your enemies and other non-allied characters can be passed through as if they were air, or nearly enough. Does not relate to them being immune to being harmed by shots, punches, etc. | | 2007 / 2010 | 7 games |
| Integrated HUD (3D HUD) | HUD is depicted as part of the gameworld rather than some overlay of statistics on the player's screen. | | 1997 / 2011 | 7 games |
| Integrated tutorial | Tutorial is integrated into normal gameplay/story, possibly appearing as new features are unlocked. | | 2008 / 2011 | 15 games |
| Interaction | | | | 0 games |
| Interaction: Characters | Tags describing how player can interact with other characters. | | | 0 games |
| Interaction: Corpses | | | | 0 games |
| Interaction: Environment | Tags describing how player can interact with environment. | | | 0 games |
| Interaction: Items (Equipment) | Tags describing how player can interact with items/equipment. | | | 0 games |
| Interaction: Vehicles | Tags describing how player can interact with vehicles. | | | 0 games |
| Interactive dialogues | Includes dialogues where the player has some control over the course they take. | | 1992 / 2012 | 134 games |
| Interactive layers | Player can interact with the layers somehow. | | 1996 / 2008 | 7 games |
| Interactive purgatory | Upon player character's death the game continues, either as ghost, undead, or in some other manner, with an implicit aim of resurrection and continuation of normal game. | | 1989 / 2010 | 10 games |
| Interactive terminals | Terminals and similar are interactive without entering separate dedicated interaction mode with them. | | 2004 / 2011 | 4 games |
| Interactive tutorial | Tutorial follow's player progress in performing it and reacts to their progress with it, possibly giving hints or reminders if it takes too long for them to complete them. | | 2000 / 2012 | 25 games |
| Interface | Tags describing the game interface (not the players' hardware "interface"). | | | 0 games |
| Intermissions (Interludes) | Occasional breaks from regular action, often between missions, chapters, or such. | | 1993 / 2011 | 49 games |
| Internal damage | Tracks and simulates the effects of damage to internal systems, such as organs of a biological being or the various internal systems of a machine. | | 2006 / 2008 | 3 games |
| Internal repair | Repairing smaller parts of a larger system, such as individual parts of a vehicle. | | 2006 / 2010 | 4 games |
| Interrupting | The use of skills, spells, abilities, etc. (possibly even the most basic actions) can be interrupted by others, usually by hurting whoever is trying to perform them. | | 1996 / 2012 | 21 games |
| Inventory | Player has an item storage of unspecified capacity they can access. | | 1980 / 2012 | 706 games |
| Inventory: Indisposable (No drop) | Player can't dispose of items in their inventory, even temporarily, regardless if there's any reason to. | | 1987 / 2012 | 11 games |
| Invite bonus (Referrer bonus) | Offers bonuses to those who invite others to play the game. Often accomplished by creating an account through a special referrer link or designating the name of the account that referred you to the game. | | 2009 / 2011 | 2 games |
| Involuntary actions | The protagonist may suddenly decide to do something that is not what the player commanded them to do, whether or not this was voluntary for the protagonist either. | | 2005 / 2010 | 6 games |
| Involuntary states | The protagonist's or equivalent's state, status, shape, etc. changes involuntarily from time to time. | | 1984 / 2010 | 7 games |
| Irregular Grid | A 2D space of irregular or arbitrary divisions used as if it were a regular grid. Divisions such as divided territories (but not settlements) on a map | | 1982 / 2012 | 63 games |
| Item binding | Items can be bound to a character, or must be bound to be used. Purpose of the binding varies, but usually it prevents other characters from using them (and thus trading the bound item as well). | | | 0 games |
| Item durability | Items wear down with use, rust and otherwise degrade with time or from being subjected to the elements. | | 1987 / 2012 | 65 games |
| Item generator | Uses a random item generator to construct a vast number of "unique" items by combining various traits with base items. | | 1996 / 2013 | 46 games |
| Item get (Item get pose;Item get fanfare) | Getting an item, especially important (plot) item, is accompanied by a dramatic pose (often the item held high) and a fanfare or similar. May be limited to plot items. | | 1991 / 2012 | 17 games |
| Item glow | Items on the ground, tables, and wherever glow, glitter or otherwise blatantly give off their location. Often accompanied by an unexplained floating off the ground effect. | | 1997 / 2012 | 181 games |
| Item glow: Manually activated | Item glow that occurs only when player does something specific. | | | 1 games |
| Item lock[keep] | Player can somehow lock items (mark them for keeping) that prevents the item from being lost, such as dropped, sold, traded, purged, etc. until the lock is removed, but can still be used otherwise without restrictions. | | 1994 / 2010 | 3 games |
| Item pick up: Delayed | Items are picked up automatically after a short delay. | | | 0 games |
| Item pick up: Instantaneous | Items are picked instantaneously as soon as player instructs the character to pick them up, either by pointing at specific items or simply picking up nearest. | | 1985 / 2011 | 76 games |
| Item pick up: Normal | Items are picked up by player indicating which item, and the character reaches out and stashes the item. | | 1994 / 2009 | 14 games |
| Item pickup | Tags related to item pickup/acquisition. | | | 0 games |
| Item pickup: Attract (Item magnet) | A variation of automatic item pickup where the player pulls in any nearby and possible even far items, reducing the need to actually fetch them properly. | | 2006 / 2011 | 13 games |
| Item pickup: Automatic (Touch) | Items are picked up automatically by simply walking, driving or flying over them with no action, delay, or anything required from the player, as if the items jumped in the protagonist's pockets on their own. | | 1981 / 2011 | 76 games |
| Item pickup: Ignore excess | Upon trying to pick up items you can't store in your inventory, the new item is ignored, leaving it as it is where you found it (or dropped again upon finding your inventory full). | | 2001 / 2011 | 13 games |
| Item pickup: Partial | Item stacks (e.g. ammunition) or items that give a numeric return (e.g. healing items) for using them, are only consumed partially if there's need leaving the remaining as is. | | | 0 games |
| Item pickup: Scoop (Get all) | Character picks up all nearby objects, either simultaneously or runs about collecting them. Either by default or by player specifically using some alternate item pickup key or method. | | 2003 / 2009 | 4 games |
| Item pickup: Scrap excess | Upon trying to pick up items you don't have space for in your inventory, the items are destroyed. | | | 0 games |
| Juicy flesh | Harming organic beings produces unusually juicy sounds and likely large quantities of ichor. Gibbing is fairly common. | | 1999 / 2011 | 11 games |
| Karma (Alignment;Reputation) | Player character's deeds affect the manner in which they're known, regardless of how well or far. | | 1985 / 2011 | 67 games |
| Kill award: Effort | Kill award (experience, loot, etc.) is given to the person who did the most work (put the most effort into it). | | | 0 games |
| Kill award: First hit | Kill award (experience, loot, etc.) is given to the person who initiated the battle. | | | 0 games |
| Kill award: Last hit | Kill award (experience, loot, etc.) is given to the person who did the last hit. | | | 0 games |
| Kill awarding | | | | 0 games |
| Kill screen | Reaching/entering a certain stage or level crashes the game or otherwise makes it unplayable beyond that point. | | 1982 / 1988 | 3 games |
| Killing blow (One hit kill)[Backstabbing;Critical hit] | Player can deliver a single strike, shot, or anything else that kills or permanently incapacitates any opponent. | | 1987 / 2011 | 64 games |
| Killing is unnecessary (Defeating enemies is unnecessary) | Killing everything is not necessary and may not actually be even helpful, running away/past from the opponents is often as good option if not better. | | 1996 / 2011 | 35 games |
| Knock backwards | Knock back occurs always backwards in the sense of where the character is facing, rather than in the direction the force was applied to. Mostly an issue when one is trying to flee from whatever is causing it. | | 2009 / 2011 | 2 games |
| Knockback | Certain things knock the players or their enemies away, commonly heavy hits and explosions. | | 1987 / 2012 | 89 games |
| Knockdown | Certain things knock the players or their enemies down, commonly heavy hits and explosions. | | 2001 / 2011 | 19 games |
| Land warfare | | | 1986 / 2012 | 64 games |
| Left-handed (Southpaw) | Has an option to swap controller handedness somehow. | | 2004 / 2012 | 5 games |
| Lethal velocity | Crashing into something solid or semi-solid at high speed is bad for your health. | | 1997 / 2011 | 12 games |
| Level cap | There's a cap in how high character level can rise that can be reached in normal play. | | 1987 / 2011 | 11 games |
| Level design | | | | 0 games |
| Level hub | Uses a central location which connects to all others, with the player returning to it after finishing each other level. Usually has very few or no enemies. | | 1992 / 2012 | 17 games |
| Level progress indicator | Shows individual level progress in some manner. | | 1987 / 2011 | 14 games |
| Level selection (Mission selection) | Player has choice of which level, stage or mission to play next.
This choice could be available only once, usually at the start, or every time a level is completed. | | 1985 / 2012 | 38 games |
| Level-based equipment | Items, even trivial ones, can't be used unless the player character has reached a specific character level. | | 2005 / 2012 | 26 games |
| Level-up restoration | Upon gaining a new level, character's health and energy reserves are restored. | | 1996 / 2011 | 43 games |
| Life-like motion | Characters, especially the one controlled by the player, move at life-like pace. | | 1990 / 2011 | 27 games |
| Lighthearted[light-hearted] | | | 1983 / 2012 | 163 games |
| Limitations (Restrictions) | | | | 0 games |
| Limited darkness[partial darkness] | Includes significant quantity of dark locations or periods of darkness, prompting the use of light sources or vision enhancers, but not so much as to be called universally dark. | | 1985 / 2012 | 126 games |
| Limitless energy (Limitless mana) | Anything that normally (in most games) consumes energy is not limited by such factor. | | 2010 / 2011 | 3 games |
| Line-of-sight (LOS)[line of sight] | Simulates line-of-sight to a degree, with objects blocking or limiting sight beyond them. | | 1987 / 2012 | 47 games |
| Living ecosystem | Attempts to simulate the appearance real ecosystem, either simply to give the impression of real one or actual simulation. | | 2004 / 2009 | 4 games |
| Loading nonsense | The information given by the load screen(s) is nonsense, has little to nothing to do with what is actually loaded. | | 2004 / 2011 | 22 games |
| Location information (Location identification) | Current location is somehow identified (such as lobby, elevator, security office) and declared. Possibly with other relevant info also provided. | | 1993 / 2011 | 19 games |
| Locational health (Multiple health pools) | Each individual part that can be damaged has its own health. | | 1995 / 2012 | 30 games |
| Locomotion (Movement) | | | | 0 games |
| Long range warfare | Warfare at such range that discerning enemies from friendlies and/or neutrals is (extremely) difficult. | | 2006 / 2009 | 3 games |
| Look around | Player can somehow look around without changing their facing and usually trivially return view to that direction. Common in vehicle simulations where player can look around out of the various vehicle windows without affecting vehicle movement. | | 1998 / 2011 | 22 games |
| Loot: None | NPCs have no loot to speak of, usually meaning player is limited to what they can find from the environment or even what they start with. | | | 0 games |
| Loot: Random (Random item drops) | NPCs drop semi-random items when they're enough hurt. | | 1982 / 2012 | 79 games |
| Loot: Unexpected [money spiders] | NPCs have unexpected items, such as spiders carrying gold coins, dogs carrying plate mail, and so forth. | | 2000 / 2012 | 32 games |
| Looting | Any and all tags describing how or what items are acquired from other characters, usually after they're dead. | | 2004 / 2008 | 2 games |
| Lose Map | It is possible or the game is designed that all or part of your maps or automatic maps can be or will be lost or damaged at some point. | | 1989 / 1999 | 2 games |
| Lozenge Grid | A grid of lozenge tiles. Usually this is made to resemble a 3D surface of cubes. | | 1982 / 2006 | 25 games |
| Malfunctioning(Duds;Unreliable tools) | Tools, vehicles, and whatever else have a possibility to malfunction under certain conditions, though usually only when they become too worn down. | | 1992 / 2012 | 29 games |
| Mandatory additional download | After initially installing the game, regardless of from where, player is required to download more data to actually play it at all. Usually large portion of the game assets such as graphics/sounds. | | | 0 games |
| Mandatory secrets | Player is required to find all or some of the secret locations/caches to progress. | | 1986 / 2010 | 5 games |
| Markers (Beacons)[Ping] | Players can place markers in the gameworld that inform other players, mostly allies, of something. | | 2006 / 2011 | 16 games |
| Market fluctuation | Prices vary over time, either randomly or through proper simulation of conditions. | | 2003 / 2012 | 9 games |
| Match speed | Offers a simple option to match speed with target. | | | 0 games |
| Materials | Simulates or otherwise takes into account properties of various materials, such as flammability, conductivity, rigidity, etc. | | 2006 / 2008 | 3 games |
| Meet old characters | Player gets to meet old player characters, their graves, or some other remains of them. | | | 0 games |
| Mentoring (Coaching;Tutoring) | A way of introducing new players to a game by having mechanism(s) to allow other players to teach the newbies how to play, likely rewarding the mentor somehow for their time. | | 2003 / 2012 | 9 games |
| Menus | A significant portion of gameplay involves interacting with menus. This doesn't mean a start (main), options, or shopping menu, etc. that are present in nearly all games. | | 1986 / 2011 | 27 games |
| Merged actions (Merged attacks) | Two or more actions/attacks can be combined to produce a new one. | | 1993 / 2011 | 2 games |
| Meta abilities (Meta skills;Meta magic) | Includes abilities or such that do little or nothing on their own but modify how other abilities or similar work. | | 1995 / 2012 | 6 games |
| Microgrid | Uses grid-size that is significantly smaller than most entities placed on that grid, most notably the player character and other creatures. | | 1990 / 2012 | 7 games |
| Middle guns | Weapons are displayed held at the middle of the screen. | | 1993 / 2001 | 16 games |
| Middle projection (Center projection) | Attacks and other actions are "projected" from middle of the character or screen instead of the actual weapon or any other source. | | 1992 / 2010 | 35 games |
| Minion statistics (Unit statistics) | Provides statistics on the performance of individual minions, underlings, structures, etc. | | | 0 games |
| Mission reset[level reset] | After each mission, level, or such, your personal status and equipment is reset to what it was when you began, losing all that you gained in the mission and regaining everything you lost. | | 2009 / 2012 | 7 games |
| Mission-based | Game progress is divided into several missions or similar sequences, player may or may not have choice in which mission to take. | | 1991 / 2012 | 323 games |
| Mixed Grid | A regular grid of multiple shapes. Squares & triangles, or octagons & squares, for examples. | | | 0 games |
| Mixed theme | Uses a mix of wildly differing themes. | | 2001 / 2009 | 7 games |
| Mocking difficulty (Insulting difficulty) | Includes one or more difficulty options that mock or insult the player for using them, usually whatever is the easiest. | | | 0 games |
| Mode: Gauntlet | Includes a separate game mode that runs like a gauntlet, a limited length survival or short set of challenges (other than skirmish). | | 2009 / 2012 | 7 games |
| Mode: Score attack | Includes separate score attack mode where the player's goal is simply to get the highest score possible. Usually provided as replay option for levels already completed. | | 1998 / 2011 | 7 games |
| Moderation benefit | Offers bonuses or other benefits for NOT playing the game constantly. | | 2003 / 2009 | 9 games |
| Modifiable difficulty aspects (Custom difficulty) | Difficulty level is split into number of aspects, such as monster toughness, allotted time, simulation level of vehicles, and so forth instead of single combined difficulty modifier. | | 1983 / 2011 | 40 games |
| Mook rush | Features at least one battle or mode where the player must face a rush of all previously encountered mooks without interruption. | | 2004 / 2010 | 6 games |
| Morale | Simulates the effects of morale on any creatures, especially the player's troops and the main character(s). | | 1994 / 2012 | 41 games |
| Motion | Any motion related tags. | | | 0 games |
| Motion captured animation | Character animation was produced with motion capture. | | | 0 games |
| Mouse flight (Pointer flight) | A method of flight control achieved by controlling a pointer across the screen rather than mapping the pointer directly to flight control, the vehicle then automatically adjusts its vector until it faces where the pointer was moved. | | 2003 / 2012 | 3 games |
| Move assist | Somehow assists movement, such as making character run down a circular path with greater accuracy when the movement is relative to camera and the camera follows lazily. | | | 0 games |
| Multi target lock | Allows multiple simultaneous target locks. | | 1993 / 2006 | 4 games |
| Multi-armed protagonist (Multiple arm pairs) | Protagonist has 3 or more arms that are fully usable. | | 2000 / 2011 | 3 games |
| Multi-classing | Class-based system where player can select multiple classes, though usually limited to 2 or 3. This often limits the development of the primary class. | | 1989 / 2013 | 31 games |
| Multi-display (Multiple displays;Windows) | Player has or can have multiple displays of the game world and various aspects of it open at the same time on single screen. | | 1990 / 2007 | 12 games |
| Multi-layered | The world is composed of two or more layers with the player capable of traveling between them. | | 1996 / 2012 | 17 games |
| Multi-level security (Multi-step security) | Accounts are protected with 2 or more steps, usually with regular account password and a pass code. | | 2004 / 2011 | 7 games |
| Multi-phased turns | | | 1992 / 2011 | 11 games |
| Multi-sequence | Played across multiple sequences with entirely different look & feel from each other (multiple types of gameplay). | | 1982 / 2007 | 60 games |
| Multiplayer game modes | | | | 0 games |
| Multiplayer saves | Multiplayer game progress can be saved. | | 2006 / 2009 | 4 games |
| Multiplayer: Assault (Siege) | Includes a multiplayer mode where one team defends something and another team tries to attack it, either to destroy or capture. | | 1999 / 2011 | 22 games |
| Multiplayer: Campaign (Story mode) | Includes any multiplayer campaign or story mode. | | 1985 / 2012 | 141 games |
| Multiplayer: Cooperative (Co-operative) | Contains any form of co-operative multiplayer where all human players work towards a common goal. | | 1983 / 2013 | 465 games |
| Multiplayer: Cross add-on (Cross expansion) | Allows playing multiplayer games across expansions. | | 2004 / 2010 | 8 games |
| Multiplayer: Demo compatibility | Owners of the full game can play with those who have only the demo version, with some more or less obvious limitations. | | | 0 games |
| Multiplayer: Drop-in | Additional players can join in at (almost) any time. | | 1993 / 2012 | 43 games |
| Multiplayer: Escape (Evacuation;Extraction) | Includes a multiplayer mode where players or one team of players is trying to reach an exit, evacuation site or similar while AI or other player controlled team tries to prevent this. | | 2001 / 2010 | 9 games |
| Multiplayer: Free for All (Teamless)[Free-for-all;FFA] | Includes any multiplayer mode which lacks teaming of any sort, where each player is against everyone else. | | 1995 / 2011 | 33 games |
| Multiplayer: Friends (Premade team;Arranged team) | In team-based games the game offers some way to make sure friends can play on the same side, commonly by employing matchmaking as a group rather than as individuals. | | 2006 / 2012 | 8 games |
| Multiplayer: Matchmaking | Offers matchmaking service for multiplayer, finding opponents of presumably equal skill level when available so both/all players have equal chance of winning. | | 2006 / 2011 | 23 games |
| Multiplayer: Mixed | Allows playing with a mixture of multiplayer options simultaneously, that is LAN/internet together with local shared/split screen. | | | 0 games |
| Multiplayer: No duplicate characters | Disallows multiple people from using the same character. | | 2003 / 2012 | 15 games |
| Multiplayer: No private games | Internet multiplayer games can't be locked with password, limited to invite only, or some other restriction that prevents the general public from randomly joining in. | | | 0 games |
| Multiplayer: Pauseable | Multiplayer games can be paused. | | 2002 / 2007 | 11 games |
| Multiplayer: Rejoin | Allows people to rejoin a multiplayer session after being dropped out due to connection failure, game crash, or anything else. | | | 0 games |
| Multiplayer: Spectating | People can join live games solely to watch them, not using up any actual player slots and usually with much less restricted movement (e.g. ability to pass through walls). | | 2009 / 2012 | 5 games |
| Multiplayer: Versus (Competetive) | Any non-cooperative multiplayer mode that doesn't have any more specific tag for it belongs to this. | | 1991 / 2012 | 12 games |
| Multiple campaigns (Multiple storylines) | Includes multiple storylines. | | 1993 / 2012 | 58 games |
| Multiple energy types (Multiple energy pools) | | | 1997 / 2011 | 9 games |
| Multiple experience pools (Multiple types of experience) | Player can gain more than one type of experience, usually split by activity type. | | 1985 / 2008 | 24 games |
| Multiple groups | Player is in control of multiple groups and has the ability to switch direct control between their leaders. | | 2001 / 2005 | 9 games |
| Multiple health pools | Player character and possibly others have multiple unrelated health pools, and if any of them reaches critical level the character dies or might as well have done so (becomes incapacitated). | | 2001 / 2010 | 9 games |
| Multiple objectives | Player must accomplish multiple separate but possibly related objectives to succeed. | | 2004 / 2010 | 3 games |
| Multiple protagonists (Many protagonists;multiprotagonist) | There are multiple simultaneous protagonists. | | 1981 / 2011 | 106 games |
| Multistart (Multiple start-up executables;Multiple start-up media) | The game is split into multiple start-up media, executables, or such that need to be manually started in sequence as you progress through the game. May artificially limit player's ability to start them out of sequence. | | 1988 / 1993 | 4 games |
| Mutable scenery: Fixtures | Player character can manipulate fixtures, such as radiators, piping and so forth. | | 2004 / 2010 | 10 games |
| Mutable scenery: Large | Player character can manipulate large scenery objects, such as sofas, desks, and other furniture. | | 2000 / 2012 | 15 games |
| Mutable scenery: Small | Player character can manipulate small scenery objects, such as chairs, lamps, and so forth. | | 2004 / 2010 | 6 games |
| Mutation | Player character, and possibly others as well, can somehow mutate. | | 1994 / 2006 | 5 games |
| Nameless protagonist | The protagonist is never referred to by a proper name, instead something generic is used, such as title, serial number, a physical trait, or some such. | | 1990 / 2012 | 53 games |
| Naming | Player can give names to things. These may be something they personally identify themselves as after the fact, or simply identifiers you use to recognize specific things. | | 1994 / 2006 | 6 games |
| Naming: Companions (Companion naming;Pet naming;Minion naming) | Player can name their companions, pets, minions, and other subordinates. | | 1994 / 2011 | 8 games |
| Naming: NPCs (NPC naming;Monster naming) | Player can name NPCs and other creatures they encounter but are not friends with, do not command, and possibly is enemies with. | | 1994 / 2006 | 5 games |
| Naming: Objects (Object naming;Item naming) | Player can give names to objects, items, tools, and so forth. | | 2006 / 2011 | 4 games |
| Naming: Vehicles (Vehicle naming) | Player can give names to vehicles, though presumably limited to only their own. | | 1999 / 2003 | 2 games |
| Narrative Driven (Story Driven) | Unusual mode of play where the player's advancement is mainly about plot & story advancement. Rather than solving puzzles, or working within game mechanics | | 1998 / 2012 | 49 games |
| Natural leader (Perfect leader) | The protagonist is depicted as a natural leader, someone who garners loyalty from strangest of people, and manages to keep it without even trying. | | 2003 / 2011 | 11 games |
| Naval warfare | Player commands some military naval force(s). | | 1983 / 2012 | 52 games |
| Needs | Player is required to fulfil the needs of others, usually several clearly defined ones. | | 2003 / 2012 | 10 games |
| Newbie protection (New player protection) | New players can't be attacked by other players or are otherwise protected from certain harmful things. Usually removed after the player reaches a certain level or has played certain amount of time. | | 2003 / 2010 | 3 games |
| No alternatives (No alternate solutions) | Despite what the game's genre might suggest, there are no alternate solutions to problems. | | 1978 / 2009 | 7 games |
| No ammo display | Does not show how much ammo you have left, not in clip or in storage. May show how many clips, though, and ammo count for single-shot weapons or similar. | | 1998 / 2006 | 2 games |
| No ammo reloading | | | 1992 / 2012 | 9 games |
| No antagonist | For whatever reason, there is no true antagonist (as a single person, a group, or such). | | 2008 / 2012 | 10 games |
| No auto attack | Auto attack, which normally is present in games of this type (MMO, RTS, and possibly others), is absent. | | 1997 / 2011 | 3 games |
| No auto-fire | Holding down the attack button does not endlessly repeat the attack as one might expect. | | 1995 / 2008 | 3 games |
| No autosaves | The game does not automatically save at any point in time or place nor are there any retry points. | | | 0 games |
| No Blocking | Lacks a feature to block an attack. Notable in fighting games or if character(s) carry a shield that does not actually serve a function. | | 1986 / 1988 | 3 games |
| No children | There are no children anywhere even though you'd expect to see them at least occasionally in the locations visited (e.g. cities, towns, and such). | | 1996 / 2011 | 37 games |
| No crashing | Regardless of what happens or what the player tries to do (or fails to do), crashing into vehicles, obstacles, etc. is largely impossible. Usually involves the character/vehicle sliding off/around the crash target. | | | 0 games |
| No crosshair(No targeting reticle) | There's no targeting crosshair on the HUD. | | 1996 / 2011 | 17 games |
| No ending | Has an end, but there's no `ending´. | | 1996 / 2010 | 2 games |
| No energy regeneration (Finite energy;Finite magic) | Energy depletes with use but does not automatically return over time, forcing the player to seek external sources to replenish it, sleep, or use some other method of restoration. | | 1993 / 2011 | 23 games |
| No fall damage | Falling down from a significant height does not cause damage or any other similar inconveniences. | | 1982 / 2012 | 204 games |
| No friendly fire | Shooting at or beating up your allies or possibly even neutral parties has absolutely no effect (don't get hurt or even act as if anything is happening), if the game even allows you to try. | | 1992 / 2012 | 25 games |
| No global resources | Resources are stored at specific locations and need to be delivered from there to any place that needs them. May imply player must manage distribution of resources between storing locations. | | 2005 / 2009 | 4 games |
| No headbob | First person games where there's no headbob what-so-ever. | | 2006 / 2008 | 6 games |
| No healing | There's no way to heal yourself during missions or similar activities. | | 2005 / 2008 | 6 games |
| No health display | Does not show any health value or other numeric, textual or graphical element that directly correlates to health. | | 2005 / 2011 | 24 games |
| No health regeneration | | | 2006 / 2012 | 29 games |
| No HUD[hudless] | Any information the player may want is integrated into the gameworld instead of represented in a head-up display. | | 1991 / 2012 | 38 games |
| No jumping (Jumping Deficient) | Despite the genre/type being something that normally has jumping included, these [i]notably[/i] don't have it. | | 1985 / 2012 | 75 games |
| No kill stealing | A common problem in MMO games is the so called kill stealing (KS). However, games marked with this do not suffer from it. | | | 1 games |
| No minion control | Player has no control over their minions or any other underlings. | | 2009 / 2012 | 5 games |
| No multiplayer saves | Despite including campaign/story, other cooperative multiplayer mode or simply the default modes take significant amount of time, there's no way to save game progress. | | 2007 / 2011 | 13 games |
| No ports (Unique to a platform) | Unique to a platform, no ports or versions exist on others. | | 1986 / 2012 | 202 games |
| No recruiting | Strategy games where you can't recruit, construct or otherwise acquire more people to work for you unless they're given to you. | | 1990 / 2011 | 42 games |
| No reinforcements (No mid-battle recruitment) | | | 1992 / 2011 | 56 games |
| No story (No campaign) | Lacks story mode. | | 1988 / 2011 | 26 games |
| No structure facing (No building facing) | Player can not designate which way the structures they build face. | | 1992 / 2011 | 44 games |
| No subscriptions (No monthly fee;Pay once) | For non-free MMOs that do not function on subscriptions; there's only one-time purchase fee which grants unlimited play, or as long as the game servers are up. | | 2005 / 2010 | 9 games |
| No text chat | Online multiplayer games that don't have text chat on platforms where such is commonplace. | | 2010 / 2011 | 3 games |
| Noise indicator | Includes an indicator for how much noise you're making, possibly complemented with inclusion of how much your environment is making noise. | | 2002 / 2012 | 7 games |
| Non-functional content | Includes content that obviously should do something but does not. | | | 0 games |
| Non-interactive tutorial | The tutorial is either in form of videos, text screens, or some other non-interactive format. These may appear during normal play but they do not monitor for you to actually manage do what they teach. | | 2001 / 2011 | 22 games |
| Non-lethal | The protagonist does not (intentionally) kill anyone, despite other facts about the game suggesting otherwise. | | 1990 / 2011 | 8 games |
| Non-linear difficulty | Difficulty does not rise in linear manner as you progress, but challenges vary somewhat naturally. | | | 0 games |
| Non-linear gameplay (Non-linear level design) | Player is not forced to follow a rigid path of progression. | | 1986 / 2012 | 138 games |
| Non-refundable expenses | Cancelling a purchase does not refund what has already been paid for it. | | 2004 / 2008 | 4 games |
| Non-serious (Tongue-in-cheek) | | | 1997 / 2010 | 6 games |
| Non-violent | Does not involve violence despite other factors in game info suggesting such being likely. | | 2003 / 2010 | 5 games |
| Nonsensical gear[nonsensical equipment] | The equipment characters take makes no sense, usually by wearing or wielding unusually large number of same type of items such as 3 swords or 2 breast plates. | | 2003 / 2012 | 7 games |
| Not Published | Not known to be published un- or officially. But still may have been influential, retooled, exist in prototype/beta form, or may yet be found or be published | | 1986 / 2010 | 21 games |
| NPC ally awareness | NPCs notice and take appropriate actions when their allies go missing without notice - such as missing from a meetup on a patrol route, doesn't show up around camp after a while, doesn't respond to communications, etc. | | | 0 games |
| NPC anxiety (NPC fear) | Simulates anxiety and fear on NPCs to some degree. | | 2002 / 2011 | 11 games |
| NPC conversion | NPCs can convert your allies and neutral characters to their side in some manner. | | | 0 games |
| NPC cover | NPCs try to take cover when fired upon, occasionally exposing themselves to fire back, to move to alternate cover or for other reasons. | | | 0 games |
| NPC deflection | Some or all NPCs deflect attacks either actively or passively, either back at the one who attacked them or somewhere around them and possibly causing others to be hit. | | 2010 / 2012 | 8 games |
| NPC directions | Player can ask NPCs for directions how to find something, someone or someplace. | | | 0 games |
| NPC dodging | NPCs, especially those opposing the player, may attempt dodging or otherwise evading their attacks. | | | 0 games |
| NPC environmental immunity | NPCs are surprisingly impervious to environmental dangers. | | | 0 games |
| NPC friendly fire | NPCs - especially those opposing the protagonist - can harm their allies, accidentally or intentionally. | | 1996 / 2012 | 27 games |
| NPC gameplay mechanics | Non-behaviour related NPC mechanics. | | | 0 games |
| NPC grenade evasion (NPC explosive evasion) | NPCs try to avoid live grenades or other explosives when they can. | | 2009 / 2010 | 3 games |
| NPC group tactics | NPCs cooperate with each other to a degree. | | | 0 games |
| NPC healing (NPC health recovery) | NPCs, mainly those opposing the player character, use skills, items or some other methods to restore their own and possibly their allies health when they see the need rise for it. | | 1995 / 2012 | 7 games |
| NPC hiding | After spotting the player(s), NPCs try to hide from them, possibly with the intent to ambush him/her or simply to avoid being targeted intentionally or not. | | 2004 / 2011 | 12 games |
| NPC injuries | NPCs can be seriously injured, crippled or otherwise grievously wounded. | | 2008 / 2011 | 16 games |
| NPC looting[looting NPCs] | NPCs loot and pillage much like the player does, taking items where they see them and think them useful. | | 2009 / 2012 | 7 games |
| NPC oxygen (Asphyxiation;Drowning) | NCPs have issues with oxygen in certain situations. | | 2006 / 2012 | 8 games |
| NPC resource harvesting | NPCs harvest same resources you do. | | 1982 / 2003 | 3 games |
| NPC shopping | NPCs shop on their own for things they think they need. | | | 1 games |
| NPC spawning (Monster spawning;NPC respawning) | NPCs, monsters and any other enemies (and possibly allies) are (re-)spawned/repopulated occasionally, either by time trigger or location triggers such as distance or level change. | | 1981 / 2012 | 108 games |
| NPC wandering | | | | 0 games |
| Object deformation (Vehicle deformation) | Objects (usually vehicles) get bent out of shape when subjected to various forces. | | | 0 games |
| Object fracturing | Objects (usually vehicles) get fractured (pieces getting torn off). Usually minor superficial things, but can include more important bits. | | | 0 games |
| Obscured identity | | | | 0 games |
| Obscured time | Time of day may be occasionally obscured, such as during overcast or bad weather, when indoors or underground, etc. | | | 0 games |
| Obstacle translucification | Sight obscuring obstacles are made translucent or completely invisible when the game determines them to be obscuring player's view of things the protagonist can plainly see. | | 1996 / 2010 | 15 games |
| Old skool security[old school security] | Security that can be circumvented by observing a pattern and following it, regardless if this is actually a security system. | | 1998 / 2011 | 9 games |
| Old skool surveillance | Surveillance system that clearly leaves holes in what they're surveying. | | 1999 / 2011 | 15 games |
| Omniscient NPCs | NPCs express knowledge of things they shouldn't. | | | 0 games |
| One-on-one[1-on-1;1 on 1;one on one] | | | 1983 / 2010 | 25 games |
| One-shot | Created to be wholly self-sufficient, no series (no sequels, prequels, expansions, spin-offs, ...), no merchandise, etc. [i]ever[/i]. | | 1999 / 2002 | 3 games |
| Open field | A type of level design that follows the principles of open world but in smaller scale. | | 1990 / 2012 | 26 games |
| Open solutions | There are no set or strictly required solutions to key challenges; it is intended that players will make up their own. | | 1984 / 2011 | 20 games |
| Open world (Free-roaming) | Offers an unrestricted free-roaming world for the player to play in. | | 1986 / 2012 | 195 games |
| Opponent health display | The opponent's health is displayed in similar manner to the player character's health. | | 1984 / 2012 | 146 games |
| Opponent power display (Opponent level display) | Somehow displays how dangerous an opponent is in comparison to you or to other opponents, regardless of actual accuracy. | | 1992 / 2011 | 29 games |
| Optional permanent death (Hardcore mode) | Has optional permanent death, often called "hardcore mode". | | 1994 / 2011 | 11 games |
| Optional tasks(Side quests;Optional objectives;Secondary objectives) | Player has optional tasks they may perform for one reason or another. | | 1992 / 2012 | 178 games |
| Out-of-place characters | Characters that appear very out of place, such as the mailman of a nearby village delivering mail in some buried city you just unearthed. | | 2005 / 2007 | 5 games |
| Out-of-place items | Includes items in places they shouldn't be, such as modern weapons, medical supplies and such in ancient long abandoned ruins or in alien spaceships. | | 1993 / 2012 | 67 games |
| Out-of-turn actions (Reactions) | Characters can perform certain actions outside of their own turn. | | 1992 / 2009 | 9 games |
| Overburdening (Overloading) | Character, vehicle, etc. load weight is somehow part of gameplay besides as a limit for how much you can carry. | | 1998 / 2012 | 16 games |
| Overheal (Super health;Mega health)[overhealth;overcharge] | Player can somehow restore their health above normal maximum, often this excess health slowly dissipates back to normal maximum. | | 2003 / 2012 | 12 games |
| Overheating | Devices overheat and the player must deal with them either by waiting for them to cool down or forcibly cooling them somehow. | | 1989 / 2012 | 35 games |
| Overloading (Overcharging) | Abilities, devices and such can overload, discharging their built up energy in dangerous manner, either harming the wielder and/or the device itself. | | 1998 / 2005 | 11 games |
| Overpowered (Confrontations discouraged;Fighting discouraged) | The enemies are too strong or numerous for the protagonist to handle, forcing them to sneak past them or otherwise avoid direct confrontations whenever possible. | | 1986 / 2012 | 23 games |
| Overworld | Part of the gameplay runs in an "overworld" map which usually has many normal gameplay functions removed and possibly some others added. | | 1990 / 2012 | 21 games |
| Oxygen (Asphyxiation;Drowning) | Player has to deal with limited oxygen supply. Or whatever substance they require for breathing. | | 1983 / 2012 | 54 games |
| Pacifism | Either promotes or somehow rewards pacifistic behaviour, especially when such behaviour is unexpected or does not have any immediate benefits. | | | 0 games |
| Paid killing (Paid destruction) | Player character gains wealth automatically from killing opponents or destroying their property. | | 1994 / 2012 | 47 games |
| Paper doll | Uses paper doll like inventory and equipment system with the chosen equipment reflected in-game outside of the paper doll manager. | | 1995 / 2011 | 8 games |
| Partial consumption | Foods, drinks, and other consumables are only consumed as much as needed. | | | 0 games |
| Passive gameplay (Leisurely) | Does not challenge player's reflexes nor speed. | | 2003 / 2011 | 14 games |
| Patrol routes | Player can set-up patrol routes. | | 1998 / 2011 | 13 games |
| Pause Exploit | Certain conditions, in some [i]flawed[/i] games can cause or allow certain unexpected actions while paused; to the advantage of a player or even the enemy AI | | 1987 / 1993 | 4 games |
| Pausing[pause] | Any tags related to pausing the game. | | | 0 games |
| Per-character relations | Relations are tracked per-character in addition to or instead of overall or per-faction. | | 2003 / 2011 | 19 games |
| Perfect information | Player knows everything worth knowing of the game world, always. | | 1988 / 2011 | 5 games |
| Periodic reset | The game world is periodically reset so everyone starts from ground up if they want to continue. | | | 0 games |
| Permanent loss | Player character experiences or can experience permanent loss of one or more of their defining abilities or other traits. | | | 0 games |
| Permanent upgrades (Permanent research) | Research, global upgrades and such from previous mission carries over to the next. | | 1987 / 2011 | 51 games |
| Pixel Precision (Pixel Hunting) | A notable feature depends on moving, pointing, clicking, shooting, manipulating or otherwise using something with single pixel precision. Secrets included | | | 0 games |
| Pixel terrain | Terrain and possibly rest of the environment is treated (in terms of physics, movement, destruction, etc.) per pixel rather than by tile or larger (graphics) entities. | | 1991 / 2011 | 21 games |
| Platform exclusive | Originally released as platform exclusive, especially if marketed as such. May not hold true later on. | | 2006 / 2012 | 9 games |
| Platformer sequence | The game is not a platformer, but for some reason there's one or more significant sections where precision jumping is required. | | 2006 / 2011 | 4 games |
| Play moderation | Enforces somehow that the game isn't played constantly. | | | 0 games |
| Playable character creation | Character creation occurs via a (usually short) gameplay sequence where the character creation relevant choices are made as if it was normal gameplay, likely hiding certain character details until relevant choice has been made. | | | 0 games |
| Playable credits | | | | 0 games |
| Playable menu (In-game main menu;In-engine main menu) | The main "menu" (and possibly other similar parts) works much like the game itself or part of it. | | 1988 / 2011 | 13 games |
| Player Antagonist | At least one of the players is cast as the main villain and must actively pursue the failure of the protagonist(s). | | 1981 / 2008 | 16 games |
| Player awards | | | | 0 games |
| Player concession (Player surrender) | Players have the option of surrendering or conceding. | | 2006 / 2010 | 4 games |
| Player count adjusted difficulty | Difficulty automatically changes with the number of players in game. | | 1991 / 2012 | 12 games |
| Player expiration (Character expiration) | After a time of inactivity, usually a month or two, the player's characters, faction, etc. are automatically deleted. | | 2000 / 2010 | 6 games |
| Player progression (Player levels) | This is not an RPG, yet there's experience and levels. Usually these unlock new items for the player to use rather than actually making the character more powerful, although the latter is possible as well. | | 2008 / 2012 | 32 games |
| Player statistics | Offers statistics on player activities. | | 2001 / 2012 | 46 games |
| Player underexposure | Player's view is occasionally obscured of things the protagonist can plainly see. | | 1993 / 2010 | 2 games |
| Player versus environment (Player versus bots;Player versus AI) | Multiplayer games with players facing against AI controlled opponents or other non-player dangers. | | 1996 / 2012 | 73 games |
| Player versus environment focus (PvE focus) | Has both PvE and PvP but the former is in more prominent role. | | 2009 / 2010 | 2 games |
| Player versus environment only | Multiplayer games that have no PvP options of any kind. | | 2009 / 2010 | 3 games |
| Player versus player (PvP) | Multiplayer games where players face against other players. | | 1996 / 2012 | 104 games |
| Player versus player focus (PvP focus) | Has both PvE and PvP but the latter is in more prominent role. | | 2003 / 2010 | 7 games |
| Player versus player only (Pure PvP) | Multiplayer games that have no AI controlled opponents. | | 2002 / 2011 | 9 games |
| Plot immortality[plot invincibility] | Certain characters are immortal/indestructible because the plot demands their presence later in the story, regardless if you know this. | | 2009 / 2012 | 8 games |
| Point-of-interest indicator [POI indicator;point of interest indicator] | Player is shown where they may find something interest well before they become aware of them existing there, often when sufficiently close to them. | | 2006 / 2011 | 34 games |
| Pop-up Encounters (Pop-up NPCs;Pop-up monsters;Pop-up enemies) | Enemies appear out of nowhere (or nearly out of nowhere) without significant warning. | | 1985 / 2012 | 61 games |
| Port & conversion variants | | | | 0 games |
| Post-combat restoration | Player characters health, energy and whatever else is restored completely or partially after each combat sequence. | | 2001 / 2011 | 11 games |
| Post-mission restoration (Map change restoration;Level change restoration) | Player characters' health, energy and whatever else is restored completely or partially after each mission or map change. | | 1987 / 2011 | 11 games |
| Power mimicry (Power absorption;Copycat) | Player character can mimic, absorb or otherwise reproduce other characters' abilities, skills or powers (such as magic). | | 1999 / 2009 | 11 games |
| Power negation (Power dampening;Silencing) | Player character can somehow negate powers (such as magic) of others, or be subjected to such themselves. | | 2004 / 2009 | 5 games |
| Practice mode (Training mode) | Includes a practice mode or similar. | | 1991 / 2012 | 31 games |
| Pre-cast magic (Pre-cast spells;Prepared magic;Prepared spells) | Player can cast all or certain magical spells in advance so they can be immediately discharged when necessary. | | 1992 / 2012 | 17 games |
| Pre-rendered backgrounds (Pre-rendered environment) | | | 1996 / 2011 | 44 games |
| Pre-rendered cinematics (Pre-rendered cutscenes) | The cinematics have been pre-rendered, drawn, or otherwise produced outside of the game (engine). | | 2005 / 2012 | 7 games |
| Pre-rendered in-game cinematics | Uses pre-rendered cinematics that seem like they were recorded off the game itself. Likely mixed with some external tool usage for adding extra content or otherwise enhancing the videos. | | | 0 games |
| Predefined equipment[static equipment;preset equipment] | All equipment the player has access to is predefined by the story with no ability to take any from opponents or anywhere else. Player has no choice on what equipment they have, ever. | | 1993 / 2010 | 13 games |
| Predictable NPCs | Non-player characters behaviour is perfectly predictable, due to a predefined pattern or to known rules. | | 1980 / 1989 | 4 games |
| Premade scenarios | Includes several scenarios for players to tackle. | | 1989 / 2011 | 19 games |
| Premature challenge | Player can prematurely challenge a boss or such that they don't have some mandatory item, skill, or such to defeat them, guaranteeing defeat in the ensuing battle. | | | 0 games |
| Preplanning | Plans, once set in motion, can't be altered before they've been completed in full. | | 1997 / 2011 | 4 games |
| Preselected equipment | Player has choice of equipment only at the beginning of the game and possibly at certain points in the game, such as between missions or upon visiting an armory, dock, or some other safe haven but is incapable of changing outside those places. | | 1989 / 2011 | 36 games |
| Progressing world | The whole game world progresses on regardless if player actually does anything. | | 1989 / 2003 | 37 games |
| Projectile immunity (Bullet immunity;Arrow immunity) | Certain opponents, and possibly even the player character, is or can be immune to most or all projectile weapons. Though often this immunity has limits what it can make worthless, such as rockets commonly exceed this limit. | | 1994 / 2010 | 9 games |
| Projectile limit | There's a limit in how many projectiles can be "active" at any given time, especially when this limit is noticeable by the player. | | 1985 / 2011 | 10 games |
| Proper ending or denounment | For contrary games released in times when, or on systems where, the majority could be played indefinitely without encountering a definitive ending scene/screen or a proper denouement. | | 1978 / 2008 | 34 games |
| Protagonist designing | Player can design the protagonist's appearance. Such as choosing skin, hair and eye color, size, height, weight, shape, markings, clothes, etc. | | 1997 / 2012 | 93 games |
| Protagonist designing: Body | Player can design the protagonist's body's appearance. | | 2003 / 2010 | 12 games |
| Protagonist designing: Face (Head) | Player can design the protagonist's facial appearance, hairstyle, facial tattooing and jewelry. | | 1997 / 2011 | 28 games |
| Prototype | Game remains officially unpublished but somehow available to someone in prototype/demo form. In rare cases, it may see some form of publishing at a future date | | 1977 / 2011 | 473 games |
| Pseudo real-time | A turn-based system that (tries to) appear real-time. | | 1998 / 2012 | 9 games |
| Pseudo-3D[2.5D;2½D] | Three (3) dimensional game with gameplay restricted to only two (2) dimensions. | | 1998 / 2012 | 32 games |
| Psionics theme (Psychic theme;Psychic powers theme) | Psionics play an important thematic role or are a central plot element. | | 1992 / 2007 | 18 games |
| Public achievements (Social achievements) | The various in-game achievements are visible outside of the game, usually as part of an integrated social platform. | | 2003 / 2012 | 246 games |
| Punishing difficulty | There is at least one difficulty option that punishes the player for using it, such as not allowing to play the game through on easiest difficulty. | | 1993 / 2011 | 15 games |
| Pushwalls[push walls] | An early method for hiding secret locations where a wall is used/activated/touched by the player causing it to move back until it hits another wall. | | 1984 / 2012 | 11 games |
| Puzzle bosses (Puzzle combat;Puzzle fights) | Boss fights that require using trickery, the environment, or some other non direct assault to defeat them. | | 1996 / 2011 | 25 games |
| Puzzles | Seemingly not a puzzle game, but has significant non-trivial puzzles. | | 1995 / 2011 | 11 games |
| Quick Time Event (QTE) | A time-limited event where the player is usually required to press buttons or move their controller according to (possibly randomized) screen prompts to achieve usually a specific results rather than the more freeform style normal gameplay allows. | | 1984 / 2012 | 158 games |
| Quirks | Any tags describing quirky behaviour or odd game elements. | | | 0 games |
| Race choice (Ethnic group choice) | Player can choose the race of the main character. | | 1996 / 2011 | 15 games |
| Ragtag gang | The group our hero leads is comprised of very diverse members. | | 1990 / 2011 | 16 games |
| Random chance | Most effects of basic actions are based on random chance rather than what you actually see happening. | | 1992 / 2012 | 36 games |
| Random damage | Any damage dealt is more or less unreliable, originally done as a simulation of old P&P RPGs ,but has spread out to areas where it was not intended. | | 1985 / 2012 | 109 games |
| Random events | | | 1992 / 2011 | 10 games |
| Random level entry (Random map entry;Random start point) | Where the player starts in a map is randomly selected. | | | 0 games |
| Random locations | Certain plot/mission/quest relevant items, people, or such have randomly selected locations. | | | 0 games |
| Random results | | | | 0 games |
| Randomized attributes | Character creation involves randomly chosen attribute numbers which the player may or may not be able to adjust besides re-randomizing them. | | 1994 / 2012 | 9 games |
| Randomized content | Any tags relating to game content that uses pure randomization rather than procedural selection/generation. | | | 0 games |
| Randomized effects | Effects of certain things are randomized for each game or possibly even for each use. | | 1985 / 2012 | 9 games |
| Randomly selected maps[random levels;random dungeons;random maps] | All or some of the levels/maps/etc. are randomly selected or simply come at random order. | | | 0 games |
| Range indicator | Has some form of an indicator how far the unit, creature or vehicle can shoot, throw, etc. | | 2002 / 2012 | 19 games |
| Real Prize | Allows players to participate in real contest and receive real prize offered by publishers depending on their play. | | | 1 games |
| Real-time | | | | 0 games |
| Real-time combat (Real-time action sequences) | Combat runs in real-time while rest of the game is turn-based. | | 1983 / 2010 | 50 games |
| Realistic | An attempt at unusual level of realism. | | 2000 / 2009 | 5 games |
| Realistic damage | | | 1998 / 2010 | 38 games |
| Realistic ranges | It is extremely common for strategy games to have greatly reduced ranges for everything from sight to weapons, this tag shows which deviate from this. | | 2006 / 2011 | 8 games |
| Recoil | Simulates recoil to some degree. | | 1997 / 2011 | 17 games |
| Rectangular grid (Square grid;rectgrid) | Uses an ordinary grid of 4 sided convex shapes (rectangles, squares, etc.). | | 1981 / 2012 | 803 games |
| Recurring opponent (Recurring boss) | The same opponent challenges you time and time again over the course of the game. | | 1985 / 2011 | 42 games |
| Recursive reality | | | | 0 games |
| Recycled levels (Identical levels)[recycled maps;identical maps] | Despite there being multiple levels or equivalent, they're more or less identical with possible thematic switches. | | | 0 games |
| Reduced efficiency | Devices, buildings and other things can remain functional despite lack of resources to run them albeit at reduced efficiency. | | 2007 / 2008 | 3 games |
| Reduced port or conversion | Is essentially the same game but has less content, with some levels or such removed. | | | 0 games |
| Relentless guards | Any NPC, possibly all regardless if they're involved, are incapable of losing track of you once they find you sneaking around and pursue you indefinitely, even trying to do so when they're utterly incapable of ever reaching you. | | 2002 / 2004 | 4 games |
| Reload: Ammo loss (Discarded magazines) | Reloading when you still have ammo left in current magazine causes the unused ammo to be discarded instead of being restocked in any form. | | | 0 games |
| Reload: Automatic | Character automatically begins reloading when the weapon runs out of ammo or when it is otherwise appropriate to do so. This may require attempt to shoot with the empty gun before it starts. | | 1998 / 2012 | 120 games |
| Reload: Detrimental | Reloading weapons is detrimental in some manner in all situations besides removing the possibility to shoot with the weapon for a time, such as slowing down your movement speed or impairing visibility. | | 2009 / 2010 | 2 games |
| Reload: Forced (Uninterruptable) | Reload process can't be interrupted by anything. | | | 0 games |
| Reload: No interrupt | Player can not interrupt reloading, but can still discard the weapon during it and select another weapon instead. | | 2009 / 2010 | 3 games |
| Reload: Opportunistic (Automatic opportunity) | Character automatically reloads weapons when they feel there's an opportunity to do so without prompt from the player. | | 2007 / 2010 | 7 games |
| Reload: Slowed | Reloading can be slowed down under certain conditions. | | | 0 games |
| Reload: Sped | Reloading can be sped up under certain circumstances. | | 2009 / 2011 | 4 games |
| Repeatable tasks (Repeatable quests) | | | 2007 / 2009 | 2 games |
| Replay recording | Allows playback of the player's actions in the game. Like a videotape. | | 1985 / 2012 | 35 games |
| Reputation | | | | 0 games |
| Resource acquisition (Equipment acquisition;Item acquisition) | Any and all tags describing how items, equipment and such are acquired. | | | 0 games |
| Resource denial | Player and their opponents can somehow deny resources from one another in more ways than simply blocking the path to the resource or harming those that gather it. | | 2003 / 2012 | 6 games |
| Resource management | | | | 0 games |
| Resource transfer | Players can transfer basic resources to allies in somewhat secure/reliable manner. | | 2006 / 2011 | 10 games |
| Respawn points | Player characters are respawned at specific points in the game world after dying. | | | 0 games |
| Respawning | Players are respawned upon their death at some pre-defined location. | | | 0 games |
| Restorative finishers (Restorative finishing moves) | Using a finishing move or similar restores part or all of the character's health and/or energy. | | | 0 games |
| Restricted open world | Essentially an open world design but much of the world is outside of player's reach initially with areas unlocked as the player progresses through the main story. | | 2005 / 2008 | 8 games |
| Retry points (Respawn points;Checkpoints) | Includes points where the player character is automatically teleported to and restored at upon catastrophic failure. | | 1984 / 2012 | 92 games |
| Retry points: Rollback | Dying, and therefore returning to retry point, rolls back all or part of the things you did, starting the same fresh. | | 1991 / 2012 | 11 games |
| Rewarding vandalism (Destructible containers) | Destroying arbitrary objects tends to provide rewards of one sort or another. | | 1986 / 2012 | 218 games |
| Ricocheting attacks (Bouncing attacks;Arcing attacks;Rebounding attacks) | Includes attacks, weapons, or such that ricochet from one target to another, hitting multiple targets with one shot. Often exists in form of chain lightning or similar electric-based attack/weapon. | | 1998 / 2011 | 23 games |
| Rocket jumping (Bomb jumping;Grenade hopping) | A jump boost achieved with the use of explosives, commonly a rocket, detonated right at your feet. | | 1991 / 2011 | 40 games |
| Roles | | | 2006 / 2010 | 10 games |
| Room-based | The game world is split into rooms or other small regions with exits that lead to other similarly small rooms. Commonly same size or smaller than the screen but can be larger. | | 1984 / 2012 | 35 games |
| Route indicator (Route calculation) | Player is given a full or almost full route to follow rather than some hotspots or the final destination alone, similar to GPS route calculation. | | 2009 / 2011 | 22 games |
| Russian Roulette | Traditionally played with a revolver pistol. This tag refers to principle of players taking turns choosing actions that risk elimination from a game or round. | | | 1 games |
| Safe ledges | Player is protected from accidentally falling off a ledge, often by character stopping at them and requiring the movement command to be given again or by some other means to actually go past them. | | 2001 / 2011 | 7 games |
| Safe powers (Safe magic) | Magic, super powers and such are perfectly safe for the user despite appearing extremely dangerous. | | 2001 / 2012 | 14 games |
| Sandbox mode | Includes separate sandbox mode, usually with normal dangers removed or set to optionally occur and no winning conditions. | | | 0 games |
| Scarring | Getting injured creates permanent scarring or similar markers of the injury. | | 1994 / 2008 | 2 games |
| Score | Player is given a score on their performance. Often this is integral part of gameplay, such as the main goal. | | 1980 / 2012 | 643 games |
| Score multipliers | Player can gain multipliers to their score gains. If the game is score oriented, then maintaining high multiplier is often integral part of achieving high score. | | 2006 / 2012 | 25 games |
| Score oriented (Score attack)[score focus;score orientation] | The main goal of the game is to get as good score as possible, any other goals are secondary. | | 1980 / 2012 | 67 games |
| Screen (Display;Camera) | Any tags referring to gameplay elements that affect the screen. Not for hardware related tags. | | | 0 games |
| Screen shake (Camera shake)[Screen shaking;Camera shaking] | | | 1992 / 2012 | 118 games |
| Screen staining (View staining;Windshield staining) | Character's vision, vehicle's windshield, etc. can stain and obscure vision. Either temporarily, until cleaned or even permanently. | | 2009 / 2012 | 17 games |
| Seamless world (Transitionless;Background loading) | The game world is without level, zone, stage, etc. transitions that break immersion. | | 1992 / 2011 | 71 games |
| Searched indicator (Looted indicator;No loot indicator) | Somehow shows what/which things you've already pillaged for stuff. Essentially saying "you've looked here already". | | | 0 games |
| Second wind | Characters may, after exerting themselves for a while, suddenly become re-invigorated, regaining all or part of their health, energy, stamina, or such (or all of them). | | 2009 / 2011 | 8 games |
| Secondary attack | | | 1981 / 2012 | 53 games |
| Secrets: Bosses[secret bosses] | Includes secret/hidden (and thus optional) boss fights, often with great rewards not normally received from boss fights. | | | 0 games |
| Secrets: Discover by Falling | Some secrets are located where the player must fall or sink, typically by accident, to discover them. Such falls would seem to risk damage or death. | | 1988 / 2003 | 5 games |
| Secrets: Discovered by finding specific spots | Some secrets are accessed by standing in or passing through very specific spot(s). Often spawning rewards nearby. | | 2001 / 2010 | 4 games |
| Secrets: Invisible (Undetectable) | Includes secrets that are completely undetectable until discovered, usually by bumping into them accidentally and revealing them. | | | 0 games |
| Secrets: Levels | Hidden levels or similar. | | 1993 / 2003 | 9 games |
| Secrets: Tasks (Secret objectives;Unannounced bonus objectives)[secret tasks] | You can be rewarded for performing certain tasks you are not made aware of before you complete them. | | 2000 / 2011 | 7 games |
| Segmented health | Player character's health is divided into segments. | | 2005 / 2010 | 7 games |
| Selectable level entry (Selectable map entry;Selectable start point) | Player can select where to start a level. | | | 0 games |
| Self-luminance | The protagonist, for some obscure reason, emits light around him- or herself. | | 1996 / 2011 | 15 games |
| Sell undo (Buy back) | Offers an easy-ish way to get back some things you mistakenly sold. Usually with them appearing in their own menu in the shops and the price being the same you sold them at (usually only until you leave the shop). | | 2009 / 2011 | 7 games |
| Semi turn-based | Runs real-time until one or more conditions are fulfilled and the game turns turn-based without entering any separate mode (only time progression is affected). | | 1997 / 2004 | 5 games |
| Semi-automatic map | Map is automatically filled in but only when player prompts it, such as activating a sonar mapping tool, entering a cartography mode where the character fills in a handdrawn map, or some other thing. | | | 0 games |
| Semiregular grid | Uses any form of semiregular grid/tiling. | | | 0 games |
| Separated (Split up) | The protagonist gets once or more often separated from her group on purpose or by accident. | | 2000 / 2011 | 16 games |
| Separated protagonists (Split protagonists) | Player controls two or more characters who travel separately of each other, on purpose or not. Player can freely switch which to control at any point or most of the time. | | 1987 / 2010 | 27 games |
| Sequences | Includes sequences inconsistent with normal gameplay, commonly short and abrupt. | | | 0 games |
| Series | Series related tags. | | | 0 games |
| Series reboot | First games in a series reboot. | | 2004 / 2012 | 18 games |
| Shared control | Multiple characters share the control of single entity, commonly a vehicle, usually with each character controlling separate aspect of it. | | | 0 games |
| Shared cooldowns | Some abilities, skills, spells, etc. that have a cooldown share it with other abilities, often similar ones. This may be absolute (same cooldown on all) or a significant delay on using the other abilities (e.g. half of the used ability's own cooldown | | | 0 games |
| Shared expenses | One player/faction may start some project (likely construction) with insufficient funds, and another player/faction can continue/fund it directly (without transferring resources to the first one). | | 2007 / 2008 | 3 games |
| Shared inventory | Inventory space is shared by all members of the team rather than each having their own. | | | 0 games |
| Shared stash | Player's stash or a secondary stash is shared between all the player's characters, allowing easy transfer of items between them. | | 2006 / 2011 | 5 games |
| Short | Exceptionally short / fast to play through compared to many other games of the genre. | | 2008 / 2012 | 9 games |
| Shrapnel | The shockwave of explosions is not the only danger they pose. | | 1998 / 2011 | 5 games |
| Sidetracked | At some point, or significant part of the overall story, you get sidetracked from the main goal/issue. | | 2008 / 2011 | 7 games |
| Sight adaptation | Simulates sight adaptation to varying lighting conditions. | | 2007 / 2011 | 14 games |
| Sight relay | What one person sees, is seen by their allies too. Commonly occurring as extended range for anything that has longer range than their own sight radius, thus others function as cheap spotters for them without actually relaying any target coordinates. | | 2006 / 2010 | 4 games |
| Simple gameplay | | | 2009 / 2012 | 5 games |
| Simplified | The game mechanics, challenges, etc. have been simplified from the original version. | | | 0 games |
| Simulated Disorientation (Character Lost) | Designed so that a character can get lost or disorientated even when the player isn't. | | 1985 / 2011 | 24 games |
| Simulated Illiteracy | Player is shown a simulated view of not being able to read a language (especially their primary language) because the protagonist(s) can't read it. | | 1991 / 2002 | 4 games |
| Simultaneous targets | Certain or all characters, vehicles, and such can engage with multiple targets without the use of sweeping, piercing or area-of-effect attacks. | | 2006 / 2011 | 6 games |
| Simultaneous turns (WEGO) | Turn-based system where all players play their turns at the same time. | | 1999 / 2011 | 8 games |
| Single difficulty level | Player has no choice of game difficulty level. | | 1986 / 2011 | 40 games |
| Single level (Single map;Single stage) | There's only one level or equivalent to beat. | | | 0 games |
| Single unit turns (Single action turns) | Each turn player can command only single unit, character, etc. | | 1983 / 2010 | 18 games |
| Skill synergy (Ability synergy;Spell synergy) | Non-passive skills improve the effectiveness of related skills. | | 2000 / 2013 | 8 games |
| Skill-based equipment | Items, even trivial ones, can't be used unless you meet certain basic and occasionally somewhat arbitrary skill limitations. | | 2003 / 2012 | 10 games |
| Skipped story | The story skips certain vital parts, leaving the player wondering when did that happen or when did anyone say that, or similar. | | | 0 games |
| Skirmish mode (Quick battle) | Includes additional skirmish mode, often in form of a single randomly chosen/generated battle or challenge. | | 2007 / 2011 | 10 games |
| Sliding walk | A technical limitation that causes creature walking, running, etc. appear to be sliding across the surface as if they were doing it on ice but with abnormal level of control. | | 2000 / 2009 | 4 games |
| Slow motion | Uses any kind of slow motion for any reason. | | 2002 / 2011 | 31 games |
| Slow projectiles | Projectiles move at unnaturally slow speed, allowing the player to dodge and/or deflect them with ease. | | 1992 / 2011 | 8 games |
| Small device mode (Netbook mode) | Includes an operation mode intended for small, resource limited and possibly battery powered devices. | | 2009 / 2011 | 6 games |
| Soft bodies | Damage to biological and possiby mechanical and inorganic entities is modelled in very fine detail with chunks flying off where appropriate. | | 2009 / 2010 | 4 games |
| Solution variants | | | | 0 games |
| Space warfare | | | | 0 games |
| Specicide (Xenocide) | Player can somehow cause the extinction of a whole species. | | 1985 / 1993 | 2 games |
| Species-restricted equipment[Race-restricted equipment] | Certain equipment (commonly clothing or armor) are restricted to some species or some species can only use equipment specifically made for them. | | | 0 games |
| Spectacular force | Getting punched, shot, or otherwise hit with something has a habit of sending people flying rather spectacular distances. | | | 0 games |
| Speech: Mixed | Player encounters at least once a person or thing that mixes multiple languages together while speaking, mainly when this makes understanding what they're saying hard or impossible. | | | 1 games |
| Speed bonus (Speed power-up) | The player can move faster than usual. This could be for a limited time or for all the gameplay. | | 1985 / 2011 | 31 games |
| Speed boost (Afterburner;Overdrive;Nitro boost) | Includes a device, ability, or other that propels the protagonist or their vehicle at speed far above their normal capabilities for a time. Likely has somehow limited use or is somehow detrimental for other activities. | | 1989 / 2012 | 19 games |
| Speed control | Player has high control over the speed at which they move about. | | 2005 / 2008 | 5 games |
| Speed Up | A forced faster gameplay mode is featured. Typically this happens repeatedly until the speed had reached the limits of the system. | | 1977 / 2008 | 22 games |
| Spell memory | Casting a spell wipes out the caster's memory of how to cast it again, forcing them to memorize the process over and over again. | | 1990 / 2001 | 23 games |
| Spin-off | Spin-off within a series with no clear base game. | | 1990 / 2011 | 24 games |
| Staggering | Player character and others may stagger or otherwise be caused to lose steady footing. | | | 0 games |
| Stalling | Simulates aircraft (engine) stalling. | | 1996 / 2010 | 4 games |
| Stamina (Endurance) | Simulates character's ability to continuously perform strenuous physical activity such as running, carrying heavy objects and so on, draining the character's stamina and eventually preventing farther work-out before resting. | | 1993 / 2012 | 97 games |
| Standalone expansion | Any expansion that can be played without the base game but still can benefit from the presence of it. | | 2007 / 2009 | 3 games |
| Start | Any tags pertaining to game, level, map, etc. start. | | | 0 games |
| Stash | Player character has a "stash" of some sort where they can store excess items for later. This stash automatically moves with the player character though is often only accessible from a town or similar safe locale. | | 1988 / 2011 | 34 games |
| Static health | Player character's maximum health never increases permanently (short-lived boosts are allowed). | | | 0 games |
| Stationary attack (Fixed attack) | Attacking requires player to stop movement completely. | | 1992 / 2011 | 66 games |
| Stealth mode | Stealth requires entering certain mode or it won't be considered at all. For example: stealth requires crouching, making it impossible to be stealthy by standing upright regardless of circumstances. | | 2006 / 2012 | 13 games |
| Stealth sequence | Includes one or more segments where the player must use stealth, or where stealth becomes mandatory rather than an option. | | 2001 / 2011 | 11 games |
| Steam achievements | Obsolete: use of Steamworks together with public achievements tag should be good enough indicator. | | 2003 / 2012 | 210 games |
| Step-based control | | | 1990 / 2011 | 9 games |
| Stray fire | Missed shots can actually hit something. | | 1994 / 2012 | 12 games |
| Structure expansions | Structure's can be expanded, usually by adding a separate expansion "module" to it that while increasing its size also increases its effectiveness or adds extra options to its normal operation. | | 1998 / 2012 | 11 games |
| Structure facing (Building facing) | Player can designate which way buildings and other permanent structures face rather than being limited to default facing. | | 1997 / 2011 | 18 games |
| Structure upgrades (Building upgrades) | | | 2003 / 2012 | 34 games |
| Stumbling (Tripping) | Player character and others can stumble. | | 2005 / 2011 | 14 games |
| Sub-classing | Class-based system where each class has one or more sub-classes to which the player may or must advance. | | 1998 / 2008 | 15 games |
| Sub-factions (Faction variants) | Splinter or specialized sub-factions of a major faction, with their differing repertoire of units, technology, or even gameplay from the main faction. | | 2003 / 2008 | 2 games |
| Subscription | Uses monthly or similar subscription system to fund running the game servers and possibly for adding new content. | | 1998 / 2010 | 44 games |
| Subtitle deficient (No subtitles) | Includes voice overs, synthesized speech or such but does not have sufficient or any subtitles for them (optional or not). | | 1995 / 2010 | 41 games |
| Subtitle discrepancy | Some subtitles do not match the voice overs. | | | 0 games |
| Summoning sickness | Summoned creatures and things either can't or don't function at all or at reduced efficiency for a time after being summoned. | | 1997 / 2011 | 10 games |
| Super group (Raid party;Raid system) | Allows forming a larger super group (raid party) of multiple smaller groups. | | 2004 / 2009 | 4 games |
| Super mode (Super transformation) | Player character can somehow enter some "super mode" in which their performance at various common tasks becomes far greater. | | 1994 / 2010 | 28 games |
| Super strength (Superhuman strength)[super-strength] | The protagonist expresses strength not humanly possible, or strength unexpected of them based on their physical appearance. | | 1997 / 2009 | 14 games |
| Superclass | Characters have a super-class, a character class that provides the normal level up bonuses and dictates what level you are in terms of everything as well as the maximum profession level and anything else. | | | 0 games |
| Supplies | Units need to occasionally refuel and restock on ammunition, either by returning to a depot or have someone else bring them directly where they're needed. | | 1996 / 2011 | 19 games |
| Supplies in inventory | Things like ammunition, medikits, keys, and such take space from inventory like any other items. | | 1998 / 2012 | 41 games |
| Survival mode | Includes separate survival mode where the player's goal is simply to survive as long as possible, often without any possibility to actually win. | | 1996 / 2012 | 55 games |
| Survival sequence | Includes one or more sequences where the player must simply survive for a short time. | | 1998 / 2010 | 15 games |
| Switch control within group | Player can freely switch which member of the group they control. | | 1993 / 2012 | 18 games |
| Symmetric factions (Identical factions) | The factions have symmetric gameplay. | | 1994 / 2009 | 15 games |
| Tangible corpses | It is fairly normal for corpses to be intangible when you aren't interacting with them otherwise in games, this essentially says they block or hamper movement, bullets, and so forth. | | 2009 / 2011 | 3 games |
| Target identification | Targets (people, vehicles, etc. you're looking or aiming at) are given more or less detailed identification, such as name, type and affiliation. | | 1993 / 2012 | 15 games |
| Target lock | Locks the game camera onto an opponent or helps doing actions to a specific target. | | 1994 / 2012 | 79 games |
| Target outline[target outline] | Targets (people, vehicles, etc. you're aiming at) are outlined somehow. | | 2005 / 2011 | 3 games |
| Targeted jump | A method of precise jumping in otherwise imprecise system. Player somehow targets where to jump. | | | 1 games |
| Targeted throw | Throwing things, such as grenades, is accomplished by selecting the target location. | | | 1 games |
| Task delegation | Player can assign or hire someone else (NPC) to do certain tasks so they don't have to do them personally, usually limited to menial tasks. | | 2007 / 2010 | 4 games |
| Task failure | Failing non-plot critical tasks is possible and does not allow repeat attempt. Besides denying task reward, this will also block progress in task chains. | | 2007 / 2010 | 4 games |
| Task queue modifications | Player can alter already established task queue by adding, removing or altering elements in them. | | 2007 / 2011 | 9 games |
| Task tracker (Quest tracker;Mission tracker) | Player has an automated tool, explained or not, that automatically tracks vital points of any tasks they've agreed to perform. | | 2000 / 2012 | 89 games |
| Team awareness | Enhances team awareness somehow, such as clearly giving off locations of team mates (other players in the same team) at all times through walls and other obstacles. | | 2002 / 2011 | 9 games |
| Tempo | Any tags reflecting on game's tempo (speed). | | | 0 games |
| Temporary companions | Player is occasionally accompanied by others. | | 1995 / 2012 | 39 games |
| Terrain | Terrain type has effect on gameplay, such as movement speed over it, ability to cultivate it, and so forth. | | 2003 / 2010 | 2 games |
| Terrain deformation | Features deformable terrain, usually in the form of terraforming or otherwise changing terrain elevation for construction purposes as well as creating mounds from explosions and similar things. | | 1994 / 2012 | 53 games |
| Tethered projectiles (Piped projectiles) | Projectiles move with the one who shot them. The effect is similar to carrying a translucent pipe in front of you and shooting through it, turning/strafing causes any projectiles still in the pipe to move with you in relation. | | 1995 / 1999 | 2 games |
| Threat indicator (Detection indicator) | Has some extra HUD or gameplay element that shows the protagonist is in danger even when the player does not know it. Often with several degrees of danger, from NPC suspicion, recognition, search, pursuit, to all out alarm. | | 1998 / 2012 | 32 games |
| Three-dimensional strategy | | | 1999 / 2012 | 12 games |
| Throw trajectory | Player is presented with the trajectory for any thrown objects. | | 2009 / 2010 | 2 games |
| Throwback | Return to conventions of older games but without imitating their appearance and sounds as retro games do. | | 2004 / 2012 | 6 games |
| Tile blending (Tile transitions) | Graphically smoothing the borders between two or more tiles, making the transitions between disparate terrain or such much more pleasing to the eye. | | 1990 / 2007 | 32 games |
| Time changes | The game changes or certain events trigger based on real time rather than in-game time. | | 1999 / 2008 | 7 games |
| Time scale: Realistic | Time requirements for construction, research, growing up, healing, etc. are largely indistinguishable from reality. | | 1994 / 2007 | 3 games |
| Time-keeping systems | | | | 0 games |
| Time-slicing (Tick-based) | Turn-based game simulating real-time game by having each action assigned duration it needs to perform. | | 1994 / 2006 | 6 games |
| Timed benefit (Daily benefit) | Offers bonuses or other benefits on time basis, such as once a day or such. | | 2009 / 2010 | 3 games |
| Timed mode (Time Trial mode;Time Attack mode) | Completing levels, tracks, etc. with added time limit or with aim of beating a record time (your own usually, though may include a default or even online records). | | 2002 / 2011 | 9 games |
| Timed sequences (Time-limited sequences) | Includes one or more sequences, missions or other things where there's a time limit, usually a very short one. | | 1993 / 2012 | 43 games |
| Timed turns (Time-limited turns) | Turns have a time limit, forcing players to act within the limit lest they miss the turn. | | 2004 / 2006 | 3 games |
| Tiny Critters Universe | A game universe common to several games developed by stuckieGAMEZ | | | 0 games |
| Tips (Tip system) | Provides tips on how to play, usually focused on features that are less intuitive or not immediately obvious (e.g. features not in most games). Does not provide hints on how to proceed in the game, only what you could do in it in general. | | 2009 / 2012 | 7 games |
| Title screen: Multiple | There are multiple different title screens and/or main menu screens, usually changing with each run or with the progress of the single player story. Not for when the different title screens are on separate releases. | | 2004 / 2009 | 4 games |
| Touch activation | Buttons, levers, doors, etc. are activated or used upon being touched, bumped into, or such rather than actually having to press, turn, open them, or whatever else. | | 1996 / 2009 | 13 games |
| Trading: Orders | Player may either place an order or receive such (if they're functioning as a seller), usually for rare or unavailable goods or simply unusually large quantity of them. | | 2007 / 2009 | 2 games |
| Transient upgrades (Transient research) | Research, global upgrades and such are lost after each mission. | | 1994 / 2012 | 48 games |
| Triangular grid[Triangle grid] | Uses grid of triangles. | | 1991 / 2008 | 12 games |
| Trivial obstacles (Trivial barriers) | Player is prevented from moving into certain areas by trivial obstacles, especially the kind that they manoeuvre through with ease elsewhere. | | 2005 / 2011 | 15 games |
| Trivial research (Trivial upgrades) | Includes research, upgrades, or such for things that shouldn't really need it. Ability to jump, dodge, block, etc. are excellent examples of this. | | 1998 / 2012 | 13 games |
| Tunnel vision | A condition where person sees only the center part clearly or at all. | | 1999 / 2001 | 6 games |
| Turn delay | Characters can delay their turn so they can act later than normal turn procession would dictate. Likely limited use if enemy and ally turns are mixed, unlimited if each side moves separately. | | | 0 games |
| Turn-based | | | | 0 games |
| Turn-based combat (Turn-based action sequences) | Only combat is turn-based, otherwise the game runs in real-time. | | 1980 / 2012 | 92 games |
| Turn-based/Real-time choice | Player has choice whether to play in real-time or as turn-based. | | 1997 / 2009 | 4 games |
| Turret sequence | Includes one or more segments where the player controls a fixed turret or is unable to move and must fight from where they are (commonly as part of being a passenger in a vehicle). | | 2002 / 2011 | 52 games |
| Twitch gameplay | Any game that capitalizes on player's physical abilities, mainly reflexes in reacting to rapidly changing events as well as precision. | | 1996 / 2009 | 12 games |
| Two-handed movement (Dual-stick movement) | Player requires both hands to control movement, usually due to tank-like controls. | | | 0 games |
| Unattended gameplay | Player character, faction, etc. can be interacted with even when they're not logged in or the game is not running. | | 2003 / 2005 | 2 games |
| Unattendede events | Important story related events do not wait for the player and start on their own. | | | 0 games |
| Uncertainty (Unpredictability) | Any tags that describe something that increases uncertainty of events, effects, or anything else that happens during play. | | | 0 games |
| Undefined attack | | | 1992 / 1993 | 2 games |
| Undefined game mode | Includes a non-standardish game mode. | | | 0 games |
| Undefined gameplay elements | Includes significant gameplay elements that lack definition (no tags that describe them). | | 1998 / 2012 | 81 games |
| Undefined healing | Uses an unorthodox healing method or the method is unknown at this time. | | | 1 games |
| Undo (Rewind) | Player can undo actions or rewind the time to something before some mistake was made. | | 2003 / 2012 | 17 games |
| Unhealthy undead (Negative health undead) | Undead creatures have negative health, or seemingly so, so healing them with anything causes them harm or outright "death". | | 1994 / 2011 | 17 games |
| Unhindered foes[omnimovers] | Some or all enemies ignore the level geometry (walls and other obstacles) in their pursuit of your downfall. | | | 0 games |
| Unit limit (Population limit;Unit cap) | There's an arbitrary limit on how many units you can control, usually exists to counter game engine's poor performance with larger numbers or to counter poor network code. | | 1997 / 2012 | 48 games |
| Unit stacks (Character stacks;Minion stacks) | Units can or must be stacked, causing them to function as a single statistical unit rather than a mass units. | | 1990 / 2010 | 16 games |
| Unit stances (Aggressivity) | Player can set how aggressive individual units are, from hold fire to return fire to active search & destroy. | | 1998 / 2008 | 10 games |
| Universal currency | Same money works for primitive apemen as it does for high-tech networked robots. | | 2003 / 2004 | 2 games |
| Unknown past | What the protagonist did or was before the beginning of the game is never revealed. | | 1991 / 2011 | 46 games |
| Unlicensed Content (Pirated Content) | Commercial games that have failed to obtain proper license(s) for the used material (tie-in) yet have been put on sale regardless. | | 1997 / 2006 | 6 games |
| Unlimited capacity (Magic satchel;Hammerspace;Infinite inventory space) | Player can store unlimited number of items, regardless of size and weight, in their inventory. | | 1994 / 2011 | 21 games |
| Unlimited Saves | Game progress can [b][i]notably[/i][/b] be saved an unlimited limited number of times in contrast to what would be expected. | | | 0 games |
| Unlockable content | | | | 0 games |
| Unlockable content: Campaigns | Additional campaigns, story paths, etc. can be unlocked somehow. | | | 0 games |
| Unlockable content: Characters (Secret characters) | Player can somehow unlock additional characters to play as. Quite common in fighting games. | | 1993 / 2011 | 14 games |
| Unlockable content: Costumes | | | 2006 / 2011 | 18 games |
| Unlockable content: Difficulty options | Additional difficulty options can be unlocked, such as harder difficulty levels or other options related to it. | | 1990 / 2011 | 17 games |
| Unlockable content: Game modes | Additional game modes can be unlocked somehow. | | 2007 / 2012 | 13 games |
| Unlockable content: Items / Equipment | | | 2007 / 2010 | 4 games |
| Unlockable content: Vehicles | | | 2011 / 2012 | 3 games |
| Unprotected inventory | Items in your inventory can be damaged or destroyed. | | 1994 / 2006 | 5 games |
| Unrealism (Logic errors;Elements of convenience) | Any tags that describe elements that are not necessarily game-like but still do not adhere to reality. | | | 0 games |
| Unrelated objectives | Player must accomplish two or more unrelated objectives to succeed. | | 2002 / 2003 | 2 games |
| Unusual health | The main "health" of the character is something unusual, other than how intact they're physically. | | 2007 / 2011 | 3 games |
| Unvoiced protagonist | The protagonist lacks voice acting (but has dialogue) even though other (important) characters have it. | | 2006 / 2011 | 18 games |
| Upgrade system | Has some sort of upgrade system in place. | | 1986 / 2012 | 235 games |
| Upgrades: Abilities / Skills | Player can upgrade or otherwise permanently improve the player character's abilities, making what they already can do more powerful, last longer or otherwise better. | | 1987 / 2011 | 13 games |
| Upgrades: Carry capacity | Player can upgrade or otherwise permanently improve the player character's carry capacity. | | 2008 / 2009 | 6 games |
| Upgrades: Health | Player can upgrade or otherwise permanently improve the player character's health. | | 1987 / 2011 | 14 games |
| Upgrades: Other | Player can upgrade or otherwise permanently improve some unusual aspect. | | 1987 / 2008 | 5 games |
| Upside down | Player character can go upside down on purpose. | | 2006 / 2008 | 4 games |
| Vague age | The protagonist's age is never mentioned, even in supplementary materials such as the manual. | | 2005 / 2011 | 5 games |
| Vaporware | Any games that were or still are considered vaporware. | | 2007 / 2011 | 11 games |
| Variable action power (Variable ability power;Variable spell power) | Player can use variable amount of power, force, time, etc. on performing a magic spell, some skill, ability or other actions. | | | 0 games |
| Variable velocity (Variable speed) | Player character has variable movement velocity the player can control to a degree. | | | 0 games |
| Vehicle crew (Manned vehicles) | Vehicles require crew to operate and thus can be indirectly disabled by attacking the crew rather than the vehicle. | | 1999 / 2011 | 17 games |
| Vehicle flip | Player can flip over vehicles that have been turned on their side or roof, allowing their continued use. | | 2009 / 2011 | 8 games |
| Vehicle operation | | | | 0 games |
| Vehicle sequence | Includes one or more sequences where the player is forced to control a vehicle. | | 2006 / 2011 | 11 games |
| Vehicle simulation | | | | 0 games |
| Velocity | | | | 0 games |
| Visibility indicator | Includes an indicator for how visible you are, usually how well lit. | | 1998 / 2012 | 11 games |
| Voice choice (Speech pattern choice) | Player has choice in what voice the protagonist speaks with or the speech pattern they employ. | | 1998 / 2011 | 12 games |
| Voice commands | Simple pre-defined voice overs that may or may not be actual commands. Commonly exist in place of or as supplementary to text and/or voice chat. | | 2006 / 2010 | 11 games |
| Volume grid | Uses any shaped grid with volume. | | 1994 / 2011 | 20 games |
| Water jumping | Player can somehow jump from water surface without having anything solid beneath their feet to produce that jump. | | 2009 / 2011 | 5 games |
| Water waves | Waves form on water surface when you pass through it. | | 1999 / 2011 | 5 games |
| Watery(Water theme) | | | 2002 / 2011 | 12 games |
| Waypoints | Player can set waypoints through which their characters or other units go through in order. | | 1997 / 2011 | 44 games |
| Weapon grouping | Player can group weapons as they see fit or they're grouped by purpose/type automatically, allowing the player to shoot with certain weapons only when wanted. | | 1995 / 2011 | 20 games |
| Weapon kickback[recoil boost] | Some or all of the weapons have significant kickback, pushing their user backwards or even sending them flying. | | 1998 / 2011 | 25 games |
| Weather control | Player has some degree of control over the weather. | | | 0 games |
| Wetting | Things, especially characters and other creatures, can become wet. Alone this hardly does anything significant. | | | 0 games |
| Wind indicator | Includes an indicator for wind direction and possibly speed. | | 1984 / 2010 | 56 games |
| Worldscale is larger | The player can interact with the game world in a scale relatively and significantly different from human. In this case, as if they were larger. | | 1996 / 2008 | 7 games |
| Worldscale is smaller | The player can interact with the game world in a scale relatively and significantly different from human. In this case, as if they were smaller. | | 1995 / 2012 | 12 games |
| Woundless | Getting shot, stabbed, punched, etc. leaves no visible marks. | | 2010 / 2011 | 2 games |
| Wounds | Depicts wounds, burns, etc. on characters and creatures alike, regardless if these match their overall health accurately. | | 1998 / 2010 | 16 games |
| Zero ground-level gravity | On ground level gravity has no effect, causing movement uphill and downhill to work at even pace. | | | 0 games |
| Zoned NPCs | NPCs are restricted to their personal zones from where they will never leave even if they had good reason to. | | 1993 / 2009 | 4 games |
| Zoom | Player can manually zoom in and out as they please. | | 2000 / 2012 | 32 games |
