Someone has been playing XCOM lately.
I will add one more thing to that list
5. A tutorial that doesn’t explain how to use different mechanics but rather is an explanation of what qualities/mechanics exist.
Bonus points if you don’t even mention mechanics which are heavily important to the game.
I haven’t actually played XCOM in months 
I was playing Galaxy Squad for a week now and may I say this game makes use of an Ironman save mechanic BETTER than XCOM does simply because the game is a Rogue-Lite and Rogue-Lites are awesome 
Yes I agree. When talking about esports, you need the best of the best at whatever the game is.
Many things can be esports. But, like tetris, anyone can understand it and play it from a beginner level. You’re talking about top tier, I mean all tiers. Hence me just focusing on the genres. I never imagined that the 25.9% game purchasers were all pro players.
Even I, a terribad player on shooters, can understand and play them within a game or two. But I will still be bad at it. If you mean FPS and not other shooters, it reminds me of Planetside 2! I played it for a month when it launched. Then I got sick of being headshot by snipers constantly. I was obviously out classed by people that play shooters as their main genre. So it wasn’t fun anymore and I moved on. Still, I understood the entire FPS game in 2 days of playing instead of a week+ of trying to figure out Crusader King 2’s de jure claims, marriages, holy wars, demesnes, vassals, etc etc. (And lots of wiki reading)
I hope you understand my unpopular opinion better!
I’d like to disagree about shooters.
I don’t think they’re ‘easiest genre ever and there’s nothing to learn’. I mean no offense but I’m pretty sure Planetside is not a game about sniping/counter-sniping. I’m not that familiar with it but it looked like a game about taking/defending objectives with a team.
And thinking back of a time I used to semi-competitively play original Unreal Tournament I must say that FPS games are way deeper than they look on the surface. Playing a 1-on-1 match versus a good opponent is amazing experience. You have to constantly reevaluate your current situation, weight risk-reward ratios and above all try to figure out your opponent.
Small decisions like ‘do I chase him to increase my lead or do I rather deny him his favorite gun?’, ‘is he careless and low on life enough that I can bumrush him right after I spawn?’ are just a puzzle pieces that form a gameplan like ‘he has good aim but too much aggression. I will not engage him unless I have health and armor advantage. If I ever lose map control I’ll try to lay traps and make chasing dangerous for him’.
Basically it’s an attempt to get into his head using only limited interaction provided by the game. Team modes provide even more space for different strategies and mindgames.
FPS genre requires a decent amount of mechanical skill to get good results and there’s no way around it. If the enemy has better aim, you’re at disadvantage. If the enemy has better movement it’s another disadvantage. Playing smart can help you negate enemy strength and make your own matter more but if skill gap is way too big it won’t matter anyway.
Overall I don’t think that there’s such thing as ‘easiest genre of games with no depth to it’ (may be clickers but I’m not 100% sure). From what I’ve seen all genres have their pros and cons and thus appeal to different people. I think it’s unwise to disregard any of those based on genre alone.
Maaan. PvZ Garden Warfare was such a complete dope sweet game! 
Kinda TF2, but waaay more fun.
Planetside?
The fact is, after you play and get into Planetside, then any other FPS feels shallow and meeeh. 
And it’s waaay more than just “i dont play FPS, i cant aim, or compete”. No way, i mean, you can find a role and fun in such a scaled and varied game world, playground… teamplay, platoons, allied forces, world of tanks and planes. And whatnot, rly.
Overall one of the best if not very best multiplayer game ever made.
Also, Borderlands, is it rly just FPS or bulletsponge, to you?
I’d say, people just overlook things. And missing out.
“Cross-posting” this:
Basically, I don’t think A Hat in Time is that much fun partially due to not having played its honored predecessors. Nostalgia sets a really big shadow over everything, for better or for worse.
I think, as someone born in the 90s*, that never owning a console actually affects how you relate to games like Metroidvanias, platformers and the like.
As for shooters, I really like Borderlands and hate everything else – haha yeah, you read that right, everything, including the 4D shooter games that happen around my city every day – exactly because of its amazingly well-written story and crude puns.
So while I laughed my ass off at your comment, @GDBringer, my heart stands with @JJaz’s question. I think several games transcend their main genres. When they do, I can overlook the fact that Thomas Was Alone has trashy platformer levels, that I need to keep repeating stuff in Hollow Knight, that Rufus is hella annoying in Deponia… haha just kidding everything has a limit Rufus can go die.
*What’s the term? Gen Z? Millennial? I don’t understand American needs to call things things and also feel it might apply differently if you grew up in backwards Banana Republic lmao but I ain’t no sociologist don’t shoot guns are illegal here and I can’t fight back
Here’s a sad attempt at reviving an old thread no one posts anymore. Here’s one more toss in the ring:
