Topic: Making a game and wanted to ask people here a question...

Do you, as people of the general public, and as a gamer, really care about "buzzword" design tropes for games? My point being when someone says "this game is a soulslike." I don't really like this one-note sorta offhand denotion of a game. Do you care if an up and coming game is a "Soulslike" or "DMC style" action game? Do those keywords in articles, and sometimes even steam pages themselves, entice you to play the game more?

My advice would be not to make a "roguelike". That seems to be the most hated genre. I often see people on forums say: "The game looks interesting...but it's not a roguelike is it?"

I've seen some "metroidvania" fatigue as of late as well.

Personally, I buy all genres. Except whatever Animal Crossing is.

@MontyCircus

Y know I kinda figured that some genre labels such as "Metroidvania" or "Roguelike" are so oversaturated and bloated, they don't even make your game unique anymore.

As a gamer, I do use those terms to help me narrow down games. If you’re out to make the best metroidvania possible that has the vibe of Metroid, call it what it is so people like me can find it. I recently played a narrative-driven SHMUP and am now on the hunt for others by using those keywords.
And it’s not that the terms Metroidvanias or Rogue-likes got overused, it’s that the market got saturated with those games. Markets go in cycles. I dare say turn-based RPGs will be the next big hype till we’re all sick of em in 3 years.
@ExtraWildGames - Do you have a specific audience you’re designing this game for?