Spoilers ahead: for the puzzle and the movies/games
This page reveals all categories and answers for this puzzle. It also discusses plot details, story endings, and other spoilers for some of the movies/games shown.
easy
Set in the SteamWorld universe
SteamWorld Dig · SteamWorld Heist · SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech · SteamWorld Build
medium
You clean instead of fight
PowerWash Simulator · Viscera Cleanup Detail · Serial Cleaner · Fresh Start
These games swap out the usual power fantasy for cleanup duty. The satisfaction comes from restoring a space, erasing evidence, or scrubbing away the aftermath somebody else caused.
hard
You play as the monster
Carrion · Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse · Destroy All Humans! · Sea Salt
The point of view flips hard in all four of these. Instead of surviving the creature, alien, or swarm, you are the thing everybody else should be terrified of.
tricky
First-person movement is built around parkour
Mirror's Edge · Dying Light · Ghostrunner · Severed Steel
Shooting, melee, and momentum all matter here, but the real common thread is traversal. Running, vaulting, wall-running, and route flow are the games' defining verbs.