that’s the funny thing about genres and knock-offs, the only difference is scale. every game after pong is a knock-off of something that came before, and the great ones are the ones who purposefully or inadvertedly added something that made it a new standard for which to knock off, birthing a new genre. people hate terms like metroidvania or roguelike but imo those are the best genre names because they most clearly communicate the context and intent of the game
that’s the funny thing about genres and knock-offs, the only difference is scale. every game after pong is a knock-off of something that came before, and the great ones are the ones who purposefully or inadvertedly added something that made it a new standard for which to knock off, birthing a new genre. people hate terms like metroidvania or roguelike but imo those are the best genre names because they most clearly communicate the context and intent of the game