Metaverse for sure is a trendy space right now. 2022 will shine with solid Defi projects. Avax, Fantom, and other legit projects are here to stay.
I believe Tron still has a bright future too. With more Defi projects using its TRC20 chain, like the upcoming Ferox Defi trading one, Tron will increase in price and adoption.
Play 2 Earn games are big, though not all of them are equal.
NFTs are good too, but again it depends on the project and team behind it.
Although there is a lot of hope in what you say, I think it is more difficult for people and investors to trust NFT projects again, especially those that are games, however there is a light of hope considering that Polygon is an option infallible for the development of projects based on metaverses, if it happens it may be successful if they decide to do things right and if there are regulations, because the devs have proven to be unethical in most of them, taking money from people and scamming them, It is unfortunate but it is happening, not all projects but I would say 95% have taken such a negative attitude.
It is definitely not easy to trust them when even the biggest one is falling so badly. Axie is the biggest known play to earn in popularity and even that dropped from 300+ for the worst axie to under 60 last I checked, probably going to keep falling more and more. The earnings went from 300+ per month to under 50 dollars if you are not good, and MAYBE 100 if you are great. So I have to say it is definitely not looking good for the whole sector when the best one is dropping this badly. This is why there is really not that much trust going on with the NFT world, even the crypto people do not agree it is a good idea on something that is going on inside the crypto world, how would you expect to get new people in it?