This is a great question!
I have a couple of thoughts, Rimworld stands out to me as being so off-the-wall, in a similar way Factorio seems to be such a focus on iteration and building, that it stands out as well.
Hades is another game that really seems to have that breakout quality that Cult of the Lamb did where it bends different genres.
When I read this question, I instantly thought of Rimworld.
I’ve not played Cult of the Lamb but Hades had the same effect on me. Love that game.
It was Hades and Cult of the Lamb that got me back into gaming after not playing much at all since part way through high school. They’re that good!
This will be news to no one, but Slay the Spire was an absolute bonkers thing to drop on roguelikes.
Inscryption. Outer Wilds
Outer Wilds is my favorite game, it’s SO good.
I just started Inscryption and while I’m kinda bad at it, it’s amazing so far. I knew it was going to be a great game when i saw it was made by the same dev that made Pony Island.
Against the Storm. It’s a roguelite colony sim. Which didn’t make any sense when my boyfriend described it like that, but they pull it off so well.
I’ve had against the storm in my epic library for ages and this description has made me really wanna play it!
Cult of the Lamb is what I’m currently playing! Blasphemy is hysterical.
when you say genre breaking, do you mean “a game that got you to try a genre you don’t normally care for?”
because for me ghost trick got me into visual novels, which I usually don’t enjoy (if I wanna read a novel’s worth of text I’ll usually defer to reading a novel)
Dark Souls for me. I almost didn’t pay it any mind because I sucked at first, but eventually I found a build that suited my play style (dexterity build with the Great Scythe and archery), and I played through it about a dozen times since then. It was such a new concept for me at the time because I was so used to Skyrim and Fallout, and I approached it that way at first. It also prepared me to play Witcher 3 since the combat really reminded me of that (plus the difficulty at first was a decent hurdle to get used to).
Playing it right now and I literally can’t out it down. Incredible!
I really think so but I think Moonlighter is the one introduces that kind of gameplay and I think it’s a little undervalued.
