Unreal Games

Throughout the history of game studies, scholars have reflected on the essential features of games. In the past decade, these discussions have extended beyond academia to the broader gaming community, where certain genres have been elevated as "real games." Walking simulators, dating sims, visual novels, and hybrid forms are often at the center of these debates, criticized for their simplicity, lack of challenge, or sometimes overtly sexual content. Despite this, the popularity of these genres is undeniable: since 2007, over 50,000 titles have been documented on the Visual Novel Database, and thousands of walking simulators are available on Steam and other platforms. Many of these titles also appear on MobyGames and have been referenced as "games" throughout history. In this article, we delve into this vast and often overlooked corpus to examine the qualities that can elevate gameplay to unreal levels.