10 Video Games So Good They Ruined Genres

9. Resident Evil 4

Resident Evil 4 represented a major creative risk for Capcom, reinventing the classic survival horror franchise to be more action-centric while ditching many of the series' established staples, namely tank controls, fixed camera angles and a limited number of saves.

Furthermore, RE4 massively ramped up the narrative scope, introduced a deep upgrade system, switched up the traditional zombie foes for the smarter and more imposing Ganados and featured several of the greatest boss fights in the history of the genre.

That the game moved away from the series' pure horror roots but was still focused so intently on tripwire tension and making the player feel uneasy at all times is a major achievement.

RE4 could've felt like a disastrous betrayal, but instead it not only rewrote the rule book on the survival horror genre, it had more than a few things to say about third-person shooters, too.

No matter how Earth-shatteringly brilliant Resident Evil 7 was (for the most part), RE4's expert fusion of high-octane action, overwhelming hordes of enemies and absurdly atmospheric locations make it the genre all-timer.