When 'Action Roguelike' doesn't fit

Video game genres can be a tad awkward. While basic terms like First-person shooter and Platformer are serviceable for many games, we live in a world where increasingly wilder games are releasing faster than we can apply descriptive genres to them.

If you've kept an eye on trending Steam games in the last year, you may have noticed the likes of Vampire Survivors, Brotato, and Boneraiser Minions popping up and immediately capturing a significant audience, and having recently kicked my addiction to them it's easy to see why: They're extremely simple to pick up, and they don't require you to put aside much time or effort to enjoy a round or two.

The crux of these games is that you select a character with a unique weapon or ability, walk around an enclosed space while your character automatically attacks incoming enemies, and along the way you build up an arsenal of additional weapons and abilities to try and survive the increasing swarms. The more you play, the more characters and items you unlock for next time.

Often they are plopped into the genre of 'Action Roguelike', with Roguelike referring to games which incorporate aspects of the classic Rogue - usually permanent character death, procedurally generated levels, and a roster of unique weapons & items to help you on your journey. It's a somewhat loose term but looking at the Steam page for Roguelikes will give you the gist of what people constitute as one. But these recent games with automatic attacks, static maps, and semi-Bullet Hell gameplay don't really fit the genre.

So here's my alternative:

AAARSE

Automatic Attacks, ARena with Swarming Enemies.

I feel this term is succinct, memorable, and more accurately describes this new genre of games than Action Roguelike... And arse is a funny word.