A wave of near-identical titles sweeping Steam’s store has reignited debate about how video games get named, with industry voices warning that developers too often lift ideas from their peers rather than drawing on their own games. Hannah Flynn, communications director at Failbetter Games and an independent games marketing consultant, laid out her concerns in a recent thread, while discovery and trailer expert Simon Carless offered a measured counterpoint. The exchange, grounded in years of experience reviewing Steam store pages, arrives as a fresh crop of similarly named releases—Duskfade, DUST: Origins, Dust Front, Duskbloods and Dungeons of Dusk—threaten to blur together in the minds of players.
The observation began, Flynn noted, with a simple frustration: no ordinary person could remember the differences between a dozen games whose titles all orbit the same dusty, dusky syllables. Even well-made entries in that cluster fail to stick. Duskfade, a pleasant 3D platformer with Kingdom Hearts-style combat, is the kind of title that “will once again erase itself from my memory” the moment a player looks away, precisely because its name offers nothing evocative to latch onto.
The copycat trap and the rise of filler words
According to Flynn, the core problem is that developers too frequently study other games’ names instead of their own game. “People look at other games’ names and try to pick something that sounds a bit like them,” she said, describing the result as “a flavourless mush that struggles to stay in the memory.” To an outsider, such titles often sound ridiculous.
She pointed to a specific phenomenon she called “filler” words that have become overused across the store. Her research found the phrase “fall of” attached to more than 11,500 Steam listings, “shadow of” on roughly 8,200, and “echoes of” on nearly 2,800. Words like “origins,” which appear in the title of one of the very games she was critiquing, fall into the same category of generic padding.
“There isn’t a universal formula for a good game name, but I like to think that a good name reflects the spirit of the game, and doesn’t go out of its way to be un-memorable.”
Hannah Flynn, communications director at Failbetter Games
Her catalogue of success includes Hades, Dave the Diver, Clickolding and Failbetter’s own Sunless Skies—titles that, in her view, capture something essential rather than borrowing a formula.
A dissenting view: naming may matter less than you think
Carless, founder of the game-discovery firm Game Discover Co, offered a slightly different perspective. He agreed that names should not be too long, convoluted, or easily confused with another game—citing the famous clash between The Outer Wilds and The Outer Worlds as a cautionary tale. Beyond that, however, he argued that naming is “not that important,” since most players decide what to buy based on gameplay footage, streamer recommendations or word of mouth.
“We’ve seen in music and elsewhere that weird names are in no way a blocker to becoming successful,” Carless said, citing bands such as Steely Dan and Bananarama as examples where an unremarkable-sounding name never held back success.
What actually makes a name stick
For those who do care, Flynn insists a good name should “sell the game’s vibe”—the feel of how it plays. That can arrive from a well-known phrase, an idiom, a place name, an artefact, a character, or a concept that reflects the theme. She described the ideal process as feeling “like a jigsaw piece slotting into place,” and pointed to Balatro as a masterclass. The hit roguelike takes its name from the Latin word for jester or clown, earning what she called “the seal of approval” for being historical and specific to its subject.
Trailer expert Andrew Lieu praised a similar set of titles, calling SUPERHOT and Unpacking elegant and memorable. “‘A Little to the Left’ is a brilliant title because it’s charming, has nice alliteration, and communicates the game’s concept,” he said, adding that Tiny Glade succeeds by conveying both scope and setting, while Tokyo Jungle intrigues through the unlikely pairing of two words.
The colon police and the path forward
Conciseness, Flynn argued, is paramount—and that means she is wary of the colon. “Game names with colons are for series, editions, and DLC,” she said, warning developers not to hand players two names to remember. She attributes the trend to indie teams’ fear of committing to a single choice, a hesitation that ultimately dilutes impact. Still, she acknowledged exceptions: a descriptive subtitle such as Iron Nest: Heavy Turret Simulator can genuinely help players understand a game on a crowded platform.
Carless conceded that SEO-driven names can occasionally help, such as tagging a farming game with the word “farming,” but cautioned that generic titles rarely work without the right connotations. His advice to developers is simply to pause. “I hope that when people name their games, they do at least block out five or ten possibilities and have a serious discussion about it,” he said. “The first name you think of shouldn’t always be the game name.”
As for Flynn’s own studio, Failbetter’s upcoming release draws on both its horticultural and sorcerer themes and the identity of its protagonist—a name, in her words, that grew organically from the game itself rather than from anything its peers were doing.
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