This copies a post by grailly on Reddit.

Most games have adopted popular RPG mechanics and it’s widely accepted that “everything’s an RPG now”. RPGs are also some of the biggest and most popular games around.

I’d argue that Puzzle Game mechanics (aka puzzles) are even more widespread than RPG mechanics throughout the media. However, Puzzle Games themselves are pretty niche and basically never get any big budget titles. This gets more surprising when realizing Puzzle Games are very popular; Tetris might just be the most recognizable video game, Portal (Portal 2 might be the only AAA puzzle game?!) is insanely beloved, wordle took the world by storm last year, sudoku and crosswords are still in the newspaper every day, Candy Crush…

Why do you think Puzzle Games are relegated to being indie or AA?

I thought about it a bit and came up with some unbaked responses which I hope you will add to:

  • People want to kill stuff in AAA games. To which I answer, can’t we kill stuff in puzzle games?

  • There’s little point to making Puzzle Games more expensive. Would having The Witness or Talos Principle pushed to AAA status make them any better?

  • “Puzzle” is a recessive genre. Add anything to a puzzle game and they aren’t considered puzzle games anymore. So making a AAA Puzzle game will basically remove its Puzzle Game consideration. Puzzle + exploration = adventure. Puzzle + fighting = Action adventure. Puzzle + story = walking simulator, etc.

  • ShihaliOPEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    That’s another point brought up on Reddit as well: “puzzle” as a genre is for games that are overwhelmingly or purely about puzzles, without a separate fighting system and with no more than minimal exploration.

    If finding a path through a level made a game a puzzle game, Super Mario Bros. would be a puzzle game.

    Zelda? Wouldn’t call that a puzzle game; too much fighting.

    Point ‘n’ click adventure games might be the most similar genre, but they’ve been considered a separate genre for a very long time.