Musings on mechanical mashups: Are two or more game genres better than one?

Yeah, sure, this seems survivable. And this is the first boss fight!

One of the fun things about making video games is that sometimes you can throw a bunch of random ideas together to see what sticks.

The Rune Factory games, for example, are among my favourites simply because they mix two wildly disparate genres – farming life/dating sim and dungeon-crawling hack-and-slash – to create something interesting and unique.

The modern Persona games did the same with visual novel/dating sim systems and JRPG (Japanese role-playing game) mechanics.

So this got me thinking: What other games combined different gameplay ideas? Do mashups of multiple mechanics work, and if so, what makes them work? Do they all need to be dating sims?

To that end, I decided to play some genre-mashup games and really break down what works and what doesn’t.

So let’s look at two indie titles that I’ve played recently: The Knight Witch and Dredge.

The Knight Witch is developed by Super Mega Team and published by Team 17. It’s available on Switch, the system it was tested on, as well as Steam for PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, and Xbox One/S/X. The title was released last November.

The Knight Witch is a title that combines Metroidvania-style exploration with a bullet hell-inspired shoot-em-up and a randomised card-based spell system.

You play as Rayne, the titular knight witch, as she flies across a fantastical underground labyrinth city, rescuing civilians and fending off invaders with her shooty pew-pew powers.

When I first saw this game, I immediately exclaimed, “Sold!” I love exploring in Metroidvania games; I like (the idea of one day not immediately dying in) bullet hell shooters; and I really dig the modern Western cartoon aesthetics.

I think I need more space to dodge? (To be fair, this was a puzzle where I should've used wall-piercing spells.)

The game has a lot of great ideas, and when everything works properly, it’s quite a thrill to weave through swarms of enemy bullets and then respond with a counter-battery of magic missiles before exploring the rest of the underground world. Emphasis on the “when”, though.

So what’s the problem?

Witch mechanics

Well, while The Knight Witch has a lot of great ideas individually, the unfortunate thing is that when combined, almost every one of these ideas clashes with another.

Metroidvania games are often predicated on the idea of unlocking cool new powers that help unlock new areas (for example, a double jump or a grappling hook), but if you start off with the ability to fly in any direction you want, that kind of flattens the gradual progression of exploration.

And you absolutely need the ability to fly – or, more accurately, you need the speed and mobility to move in at least two dimensions – to have any chance of dodging the barrage of projectiles endemic to bullet hell shooters.

In turn, there are occasions when Rayne’s ability to fly bumps up (literally) against the map design of this gorgeous fantasy underground kingdom – some of the cavern rooms and tunnels are just tight enough to limit her ability to effectively dodge.

The Knight Witch is a title that combines Metroidvania-style exploration with a bullet hell-inspired shoot-em-up and a randomised card-based spell system.

The most baffling mechanic, however, has to be the randomised card-based spell system.

You are required to build a deck of over six spells (homing missiles, bombs, etc) to supplement your standard pew-pew magic pistol, and at any time, three are randomly assigned to three different buttons.

Randomised card draws are perfectly OK when you have time to consider your moves, but in a bullet hell shooter?

I have exactly 0.25 microseconds to deploy a shield spell before I get merked by an anti-witchcraft missile, so when I press the X button to cast it, I’d better not be casting a random fart spell instead!

Thankfully, the conflicting mechanics disappear when the game focuses on one thing at a time, such as giving players an excellent boss fight.

That way, when I inevitably die, the developers can point to player idiocy instead of any issues with the game design.

Next up is Dredge, also published by Team 17 but developed by Black Salt Games.

The game was also tested on Switch and is available on Steam and GoG for PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, and Xbox One/S/X. It was released in March.

It’s a perfectly normal and non-terrifying fishing game.

In this title, you play a fisherman who takes his boat out into an absolutely not-cursed ocean, and you catch a variety of sea life such as cod, sea bass, multi-eyed mackerels whose void-glazed orbs stare into your soul, manta rays, blind octopuses whose tentacles sport eight mouths that chant the dark secrets of the abyss ...

On second thoughts, maybe I should turn back and become a farmer.

Alright, alright, Dredge is actually a fishing horror game, and like a terrifying(ly sexy?) Lovecraftian half-man, half-squid abomination, it mixes two different ideas in ways that haunt my mind.

Even looking at the game’s darkly beautiful visual aesthetics (can I say it has shades of Mike Mignola’s Hellboy comics, or is that a stretch?), you can tell there’s something foreboding waiting for you.

So what makes it work?

Liking Lovecraft

Basically, it’s mostly in the presentation: the terrifying visual aesthetics and well-written horror narrative combine really, really well with the relatively simple fishing minigames and boat piloting mechanics.

Some of the best horror games don’t require complicated gameplay mechanics or jump scares to make the experience engaging.

Sometimes all you need to inspire terror is a good push-and-pull between safety and danger.

This seems like a nice, safe, and definitely un-haunted place to go fishing.

A good example is when Dredge says, “You shouldn’t go out at night, there are ... things” and then in the next breath follows this up with, “Oh, by the way, some of the most valuable fish can only be caught at night, beyond the safety of the lighthouse”.

Another way Dredge cleverly uses horror game ideas is when it presents or hides information.

“Normal” things have a lot of clarity: seaside towns are brightly lit, Blue Mackerels sell for $10, and the Weak Outboard Engine takes up two boat slots to provide a speed of 10 knots.

The not-so-normal things, however ... good luck figuring those out. That abandoned seaside village might be safe to explore, that shadow in the water probably isn’t chasing you, and that slithering, skull-faced eel you caught at Devil’s Spine – that’s safe to sell at the market, right?

The game’s use of uncertainty is quite brilliant – it provides just enough information so you can play without getting frustrated by obtuse situations, but never enough information for you to be assured of your safety when you go out to sea.

The horror in Dredge is very, very evocative – so much so that even to this day, when I close my eyes, I can still see eyeless octopi, their eight mawed tentacles whispering forbidden knowledge: “Haha. Actually, the plural of octopus is octopodes!”

And I wake up screaming.

Let’s do this again

Regardless of any critical analysis, I have to say that I really enjoyed both games.

Yes, that includes The Knight Witch – I had a much better time enjoying the story once I found out the game has built-in cheat codes. (Purple/purple/purple/purple for health drops!)

And if you’re curious about them, you should try the demos on Steam!

My main takeaway is that I’m looking forward to playing more interesting games that mix gameplay ideas, and who knows, maybe this game genre mashup analysis can be its own sub-series on these pages.

After all, Rune Factory already has its own fighting and farming spinoff called Silent Hope, so I can’t wait for that.

Probably someone mashed a dating sim with a horror game where you can date Cthulhu.

Wait, there is the Internet. Let me Google that, and somebody already made it, and it’s called Sucker For Love.

Maybe throwing random ideas together can, sometimes, just be plain horrifying.