this post was submitted on 29 Sep 2026
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Why so many Steam games have weirdly similar (and forgettable) names (www.pcgamer.com)
submitted 4 days ago by ampersandrew@lemmy.world to c/games@lemmy.world
79 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Top of mind for me after reading this article is that Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet should just be called The Heretic Prophet, and Horizon: Zero Dawn should have just been called Zero Dawn.

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[–] flamingos@feddit.uk 9 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Duskfade is a perfectly pleasant 3D platformer with Kingdom Hearts-style combat that came out a couple of months ago. Once I've finished typing this paragraph, however, it will once again erase itself from my memory, because there's nothing evocative about the name.

I feel that says more about the game than the name. Like I find (scrolls through Steam library) Bullet Witch is a more memorable name than say Portal, but I can tell you a hell of a lot more about the latter.

"Beyond that—I actually think that naming isn't that important, since most people buy a game based on video footage, someone else playing it, or a recommendation. And we've seen in music and elsewhere that weird names are in no way a blocker to becoming successful." Carless cites Steely Dan and Bananarama as examples.

Do people really look at the videos on Steam? I always immediately click past them to look at the images.

Failbetter's next game is called Mandrake—the result of lots of collaborative longlisting, Flynn says. As well as encapsulating horticultural and sorcerer-type themes, it's the name of the game's main character.

This would be like if Esoteric Ebb called itself 'Cleric', though given Wizards of the Coast is publishing a game called 'Warlock: Dungeon & Dragons' I suppose it wouldn't be that out there.

Good article though.

[–] Doc_Crankenstein@slrpnk.net 11 points 3 days ago

Do people really look at the videos on Steam? I always immediately click past them to look at the images.

I watch them for any gameplay footage.

[–] Feathercrown@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I disagree that bullet witch is more memorable than portal although bias and the fallacy of trying to remember unmemorable games is making it very hard to tell if that would still be true with other titles. My instinct is that uncommon, distinct words (Portal, Watchtower, Celeste) are more memorable than combinations of words that compete against each other rather than forming a whole (Bullet Witch, Star Fox, Crash Bandicoot: Twinsanity). Although now that I do have examples... I have no idea, honestly it doesn't seem super correlated.

[–] flamingos@feddit.uk 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Yeah, I'm not sure either tbh. I can think of quite a few things that make a name forgettable (eg noun of proper noun), but I can't think of anything that would make a name memorable other than it just being memorable.

Just as an aside, but I will push back on portal being an uncommon word. It's more common than chess.

[–] madmantis24@lemmy.wtf 2 points 3 days ago

I browse the Steam Store images-first, like you do. I would guess that is a generational habit, though and anyone older or younger probably favors the gameplay videos over looking at screenshots because they weren't conditioned by the early Internet days where watching any video online was a serious commitment