Games With Self-Explanatory Titles

Key Takeaways

• Tomb Raider: A clear title that sums up the essence of the game – raid tombs.
• Triangle Strategy: The title reflects key elements like grid-based tactics and choice-driven plots.
• Don’t Starve: Direct and clear title emphasizes the essential survival aspect of the game.

Metaphors and similes are great literary functions. They let us know just what something is, or what it’s like. A great title can be a metaphor. Sometimes literally, as we’ve seen recently. And sometimes, you need a game to tell you just exactly what it is.

Being direct is the best approach at times. There is such a thing as being a bit too direct though. It’s all fun and games until you realise the game that says exactly what it is on the cover is exactly what it is. Sometimes you really can judge a book by its cover. Or well, a game by its title.

10 Tomb Raider

This one is pretty clear, right? Tomb Raider. You raid tombs. In the first few anyway. The Tomb Raider games were the proto-Uncharted blueprint. Pulling heavily from spy, hiest and general adventurous films, Lara Croft travelled the world in search of tombs to raid.

Newer entries definitely tone down on the tomb raiding though. She’s more an explorer, an archaeologist, a bizarrely well-trained killer. But then, Lara Croft the Explorer doesn’t roll off the tongue quite the same way.

9 Triangle Strategy

When Square Enix debuted the HD-2D style, they immediately had a winner. An artstyle that blended older pixel art sprites with more modern lighting and 3D environments. It was a fascinating blend, enough to be it’s own selling point. But then they had to introduce the names given to those HD-2D games.

In fairness, Triangle Strategy is much more than its name. It harkens more to Final Fantasy Tactics, with grid-based tactics and plot-altering choices. However, it does also have a triangle-based combat system that is very strategic.

8 Don’t Starve

Really, you can’t get more direct than this. ‘Don’t Starve’. Great advice for reality, really. Just don’t starve. If only it was that easy most of the time. In Don’t Starve, keeping yourself fed is only half the battle though. You have to make sure you don’t lose your mind either.

Don’t Go Mad is perhaps not as strong a name though, especially in the early game. Though plenty of characters work differently, not even needing all that much food. They have a much lower chance of starving. But yeah, just don’t starve.

7 Monster Hunter

If ever there was a game that wanted you to immediately know what it was, it was Monster Hunter. Go on and have a guess what you do in this game. That’s right, you hunt monsters. Ah, but surely there is more? The title can’t be it all.

And that would be where you are wrong. In Monster Hunter, hunting monsters is everything. You would be amazed how much goes into hunting a monster. Following its tracks, throwing dung at them, creating weapons from their own skin to beat them. Hunting monsters is a full time job.

6 Yakuza

The series has stepped away from the Yakuza tagline for the most part in favour of the more metaphorical ‘Like A Dragon’, though that doesn’t deny the legacy of what came before. You play as members of the Yakuza, fighting other members of the Yakuza, and other Yakuza-related things.

It’s, well, not quite similar to the real Yakuza for the most part, taking more than a few creative liberties. But then Majima’s star outing is called ‘Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii’ which is hard to beat for being a perfect synopsis of the game.

5 Thief

There are plenty of games that let you be a thief, but very few games that force you to be one. That’s what you are in Thief, which the name gives away right from the get-go. Being one of the first 3D stealth games, having to physically steal items hidden in the world was a great use of all those extra dimensions.

Though owing to you being, well, a thief, you are also nothing but a thief. You are not a killer, nor are you a hero. You steal things. The title was very clear about that. Don’t go into Thief thinking you can kill any guard that gets in your way. Otherwise it would be called Killer, or Dishonored.

4 7 Days To Die

7 Days To Die isn’t an exceptionally unique game. Let’s describe it real quick. Post-apocalyptic survival-horror first-person co-op tower defense open-world zombie RPG. Those are right from the Steam page. You have seen this game many times before. But it has a hilarious title.

‘7 Days To Die’. The title really doesn’t describe the game at all. You don’t have 7 days to die. There’s no time limit. You just survive. It is overly direct in the opposite way of most games here in that it is a very direct title that, well, bears no relation to the actual game. Lots of zombies though.

3 Octopath Traveler

This is where it began. This was the birthplace of HD-2D, and also Square Enix’s obsession with ‘we’ll pick a better name later’, all the while knowing they will not pick a better name later. Octopath Traveler. Now that’s a game name.

The best part is it is a perfect description of the game. You dig into all the subsystems, you enjoy all these various stories, you explore its world. But you can never get past that you are a group of eight people all traveling the world together. Walking the same path, even.

2 Hitman

Despite the real-life difficulties of hiring a hitman (and the associated legal issues), we all know what they are. You put out a hit on someone, and the hitman takes them out. Nice and clear description. Hence why the Hitman games are rather self-explanatory.

While there is an underlying story to the series around identity and independence, there is no denying that first and foremost, Agent 47 is a hitman. The Hitman. Really, he travels more of the world than Lara Croft. Dubious murders aside, it must be a nice job for all the sight-seeing.

1 Demon’s Souls

Plenty of Soulslike games could fit here. It really is quite impossible to miss that Elden Ring is about the eponymous Elden Ring. Dark Souls, though to a much lesser extent, is all about the Dark Soul. But Demon’s Souls. By god, you will constantly hear about the souls of demons.

Every single boss drops a demon soul. Every enemy drops souls. Plenty of the enemies are demons. The demons want you souls. The demon’s souls are plentiful. Everywhere you turn, you will hear about demons and souls. It really is the Dark Souls of Demon’s Souls.