50 sci-fi game clichés that won't go away

Before he played it, James said he'd eat a shoe if Anthem doesn't have any floating rocks in it. He won't have to boil leather. Rocks float somewhere in Anthem, just like they do in so many other science-fiction games. Look at how many times rocks that float are mentioned at the very beginning of Mass Effect: Andromeda.

This got us on the topic of sci-fi game clichés, and we started listing them out. We ran with it and ended up with a list of 50 (plus a few more because we just couldn't stop). I'm not saying sci-fi games can't use any of these things—I am not the mayor of sci-fi—but I'm never going to see them and not think, 'Ah yes, a science-fiction game thing.'

1. Floating rocks 
2. Floating gas bag creatures 
3. Floating enemies that are called 'wraiths' 
4. Invisible enemies that might also be called 'wraiths' 
5. Enemies called 'acolytes' because they're in a cult, I guess 
6. Big enemies called 'brutes' 
7. Little spider-like enemies that can leap at you 
8. The spider-like enemies are probably called 'crawlers' and at some point someone shouts 'crawlers!' 
9. Dogs with spiky manes 
10. Glowing alien mushrooms 
11. Trees that aren't the color of normal trees, but are instead purple 
12. Sometimes they're red, though 
13. One very hot planet and one very cold planet 
14. Pools of turquoise acid 
15. Chromatic aberration 
16. A cheeky robot assistant 
17. A cheeky robot assistant that learns to feel love 
18. Space elves 
19. Drugs are called Stims 
20. Stim injections are pneumatic because needles are icky and not futuristic 
21. Money is credits 
22. Neighborhoods are sectors 
23. British accents 
24. Alcohol, but green 
25. No one ever drinks beer or wine, only the hard green stuff 
26. Hexagons 
27. Military spaceships are white, making them very easy to see in space 
28. Extremely shiny floors 
29. 80s and 90s hairstyles 
30. Ancient alien ruins 
31. You're the only one who can activate the ancient alien ruins 
32. Oh no, the ancient alien defense system has been activated in the ancient alien ruins and we're caught completely off guard
33. Art Deco
34. Helmets with glowing eyes 
35. The guy who doesn't wear a shirt is the engineer 
36. He might wear an American football-style chest pad though
37. Someone plays the guitar (probably the engineer) 
38. All beds look extremely uncomfortable because no one just has a regular mattress 
39. Doors with hinges have been outlawed 
40. Enemy spaceship pilots can just broadcast right into your cockpit to insult you, you don't even have to accept the call 
41. Space pirates with far more confidence that you're an easy catch than their ability warrants 
42. Expensive, complex energy weapons that aren't much more effective than regular guns 
43. Corporations rule everything as if that's not already how it works 
44. Giant energy weapons that look like blooming flowers 
45. The zero-G section is really fun but you only get to do it a few times 
46. 80s and 90s alt rock songs 
47. Helmets are shockingly easy to crack 
48. Science so advanced it's indistinguishable from magic, except also some people have real magic 
49. Someone is psychic for some reason 
50. Someone wears a tattered cloak over their advanced battle armor 
51. Everything has a unique energy signature that you're constantly 'picking up' 
52. All walls are paneled, providing easy access to the wiring and piping behind them, which is actually a pretty good idea, because I often wish I could easily access my house's wiring but I can't without putting a hole in the drywall. It's gotta be cost-prohibitive if we're being realistic, right? I assume so, because I don't know why you wouldn't do panels if not. To be honest, I don't know much about house construction. I'm just saying that panels would be convenient.