Game-like elements
Video game theme
Any tags that describe features, concepts, etc. that make games even more game-like.
Related group
Video game
Unrealism
Child groups
| Ability cooldown | Player must contend with largely inexplicable artificial moderation on ability, skill or spell usage. | 2005 / 2020 | 86 games | |
| Absolute armor | Armor, energy shields, etc. provide absolute protection for the wearer until they have been completely obliterated. | 1991 / 2020 | 37 games | |
| Anticipatory stockpiles | Includes stockpiles of weapons, ammo, medical supplies and/or other items in anticipation of subsequent challenges or right on site. Especially when this provides something you didn't already have that is necessary for the challenges. | 1993 / 2023 | 122 games | |
| Automatic running | Player character and others automatically run or jog. | 1997 / 2017 | 61 games | |
| Damage flicker | Things flicker transparently or some (possibly opaque) color, usually red or white, when taking damage. | 1989 / 2017 | 35 games | |
| Death barriers | 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 | 8 games | |
| Extra lives | Player character has multiple "lives", that are basically how many tries a player has before a Game Over. | 1975 / 2024 | 9887 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 | |
| Flat terrain | Terrain lacks any slopes. | 1985 / 2020 | 59 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 / 2016 | 12 games | |
| Harmful touch | Simply coming into contact with your enemies is enough to hurt or even kill you. It is most commonly seen in platform games. | 1979 / 2021 | 618 games | |
| Health warning | Player is given a warning when they are nearing death due to low health, usually the screen flashing or turning red or other effects. | 1986 / 2022 | 146 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. | 2006 / 2017 | 23 games | |
| Idle noise | The NPCs, monsters and other enemies produce an idle noise or chatter warning the player of their presence. | 1987 / 2017 | 84 games | |
| Instant death | The player dies from single damaging hit of any kind, the equivalent of having never more than one life/hit point. | 1978 / 2021 | 1548 games | |
| Item highlight | Items on the ground, tables, and wherever are highlighted somehow. They may glow, glitter, have name tags shown, or otherwise blatantly give off their location. Often accompanied by an unexplained floating off the ground effect. | 1994 / 2022 | 357 games | |
| Mission 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. | 1999 / 2014 | 11 games | |
| Objective clairvoyance | Protagonist knows exactly, or just so accurately, where the objectives are despite in reality it being either impossible or at least so vague it'd take hours or even days to actually find them. | 2008 / 2024 | 57 games | |
| Old skool security | Security that can be circumvented by observing a pattern and following it, regardless if this is actually a security system. | 1998 / 2018 | 24 games | |
| Old skool surveillance | Surveillance system that clearly leaves holes in what they're surveying. Often with security cameras that show their view cones and move about in predictable patterns that leave holes through which the player can slip by. | 1999 / 2016 | 42 games | |
| Opponent power display | Somehow displays how dangerous an opponent is in comparison to you or to other opponents, regardless of actual accuracy. | 1992 / 2016 | 43 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. | 1988 / 2024 | 110 games | |
| Penalty imposed for harming non-combatants | Penalizes player(s) if they in any way harm players or game characters who are not fighting against the protagonist(s). | 1979 / 2017 | 55 games | |
| Plot immortality | Certain characters are immortal/indestructible because the plot demands their presence later in the story, regardless if you know this. | 2001 / 2015 | 16 games | |
| Power-ups | Includes various inexplicable objects that instantly increase the protagonist's power, temporarily or permanently. | 1981 / 2024 | 695 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. | 1980 / 2017 | 33 games | |
| Quick Time Event | 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. | 1983 / 2023 | 318 games | |
| Radio tap | For some obscure reason, the player can hear the enemy's radio chatter. | 1998 / 2013 | 26 games | |
| Random chance | Most effects of basic actions are based on random chance rather than what you actually see happening. Or random chance otherwise is central gameplay element. | 1989 / 2023 | 125 games | |
| Random damage | Any damage dealt is more or less unreliable, done in video games as a simulation of old P&P RPGs and other tabletop games where it was an abstraction of how hard and where something hurt, but has spread out to areas where it was not intended. | 1983 / 2023 | 206 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. | 1997 / 2017 | 7 games | |
| Retry points | Includes points where the player character is automatically teleported to and restored at upon catastrophic failure besides level start. | 1984 / 2024 | 240 games | |
| Status effects | 1987 / 2023 | 162 games | ||
| Unit limit | 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 / 2022 | 71 games |