Stylish Nero
We Dem Boys!!
I just refer to them now as Spectacle Fighters instead of Hack n Slash since its more about making one big spectacle these days and calling them Beat em Ups (which refers to old school beat em ups where you only used your fists and various weapons found off the streets like pipes and knives and were just extensions to 2d fighters at the time) and Hack n Slashes (which refers to pretty much the first Beat em ups that used weapons like swords and various medieval/old school weapons like Golden Axe and Dynasty) really don't fully encompass what these games have become now versus what they were in the 80s and 90s. Since everything now is all about making a grand spectacle on the battlefield (whether it be Devil May Cry and Bayonetta's stylish and extensive combat, Metal Gear Rising, Sengoku Basara, Brutal Legend, and Ninja Gaiden flashyness, or how Dynasty Warriors is basically now making hundreds of dudes fly across screens).
So I have noticed that we've been seeing less and less of these games as compared to before especially with next gen as current gen with the PS4, XboxOne, and pffffttt WiiU development costs will increase but devs will more power to do things that they never done before or could never do before or attempt to push limitations and hardware to create new and fresh experiences.........or just make things look prettier.
However, games within this genre either get no spotlight like other games in the genre, far and few between unlike a lot of other genres, and/or sell or is received poorly. Not only that but the current line up of new upcoming games and potential games in this genre looks very small compared to before and all the heavy hitters are either not there, dwindled in both fame, recognition, and general public likeness, or is expected to fail.
For fans in this genre all we got look forward to looking to is
A potential Ninja Gaiden 4 (confirmed over a year ago to be in the works but nothing has been said yet)
Scalebound (which will most likely bomb harder than Bayonetta 2 due to being a new exclusive XboxOne game in a genre most of the XboxOne audience give little about)
Sengoku Basara 4: Sumeragi (a PS4 special edition port of a game that sold poorly even in Japan and probably won't come outside Japan)
Nier 2 (its more RPG than hack and slash/spectacle fighter)
KH3 (same as Nier and apparently the last KH game but unlike other games on this list has a huge fanbase that it has accumulated for years due to its story, ties to Disney and FF, and gameplay style and quality. It could've been any genre of game and it will still do well but hack and slash is the easiest for people to understand)
Low budget Transformers by Platinum
Hyrule Warriors (a game using the Zelda license)
Dragon Quest Heroes (a game using the Dragon Quest license)
HellBlade (I guess that can count as an hack and slash or beat em up but due to being on a low budget.....a really low budget and based on how the game is turning out I doubt that it will make the very little amount NT is asking for it to sell and if so it'll probably get panned and bashed for being short, having no upgrades, and kind of uninteresting to a lot of people).
Metal Gear Rising 2 (*cough*Konami will probably ruin that too*cough*)
Darksiders 3 (though not fully confirmed yet its still highly likely and seems to have the best chance of moderate success in the mainstream current gen market)
That is all I can think of. There are probably some games that I missed but those were probably indie, Japan only, kickstarter low budget games (like that one ninja/samurai beat em up side scroller), or Senran Kagura. Basically games that either will get overlooked by the general public or the main stream audience for such a genre to exist in the mainstream AAA gaming market and sell well.
Plus the heavy hitters or semi heavy hitters seem to be dormant or MIA at this moment
No new word on anything Devil May Cry yet even if 2 Special/Definitive editions came out this year and were both praised by gamers and critics alike despite their vanilla versions being not as good as they could've been.
Bayonetta 2 despite being praised to the high heavens as a great game and getting 10s and 9s across the board bombed pretty hard and will only get a sequel if Nintendo is REALLY NICE or needs a launch title for the NX.
Nothing new on Dynasty Warriors or Samurai Warriors as of late despite those being being arguable the most famous or infamous hack and slash games and not much. Maybe there is some new or current stuff out there but most people stop caring at this point.
Also most of all. Where is God of War?! The highest selling games in this genre. Sure they ended but nothing on like a spiritual successor or something new but like it with the same team (granted a lot of Sony Santa Monica got laid off and they're working on either questionable titles or smaller budgeted games). Now you know something is wrong when the king of the genre is not in the spotlight and the last REAL entry sold much less than usual than a main stream title.
Then you have games that seem like hack and slash/spectacle fighters being turned into another game....Lily Bergamo...DDAMN YOU SUDA YOU SELL OUT!!
This also ties into Devil May Cry. Whenever a transition into the next generation of consoles are made costs increases and certain genres of games become left in the dust (or just regulated to smaller more humbler markets).
Are hack and slash, beat em ups, and spectacle fighters time in the mainstream market limited? What does this mean for the Devil May Cry series?
I personally feel a large majority of the upcoming games will either bomb or just go under the radar but before we get a new Devil May Cry a few games might regain interest in the genre for the mainstream market like say Darksiders 3, NG4 (if its any good), KH3 and Nier (sort of), and maybe Scalebound (it'll probably bomb in sales but if its really good as a Kamiya game it might make people wanting more like it). However, to save this genre we might need another DMC1, DMC3, GoW, or Bayonetta. These games will only keep people interested something of those games caliber will renew more interest. I do see a DMC5 being made and it has that potential however whatever if it has that potential or not if it doesn't sell more than 2 million units this series is dead as stated by Capcom. Whether it is DmC2 or DMC5 if they don't move over 2 million units this time this series is screwed. So the next Devil May Cry might as well be the last.
That is what I think. What do you guys think?
So I have noticed that we've been seeing less and less of these games as compared to before especially with next gen as current gen with the PS4, XboxOne, and pffffttt WiiU development costs will increase but devs will more power to do things that they never done before or could never do before or attempt to push limitations and hardware to create new and fresh experiences.........or just make things look prettier.
However, games within this genre either get no spotlight like other games in the genre, far and few between unlike a lot of other genres, and/or sell or is received poorly. Not only that but the current line up of new upcoming games and potential games in this genre looks very small compared to before and all the heavy hitters are either not there, dwindled in both fame, recognition, and general public likeness, or is expected to fail.
For fans in this genre all we got look forward to looking to is
A potential Ninja Gaiden 4 (confirmed over a year ago to be in the works but nothing has been said yet)
Scalebound (which will most likely bomb harder than Bayonetta 2 due to being a new exclusive XboxOne game in a genre most of the XboxOne audience give little about)
Sengoku Basara 4: Sumeragi (a PS4 special edition port of a game that sold poorly even in Japan and probably won't come outside Japan)
Nier 2 (its more RPG than hack and slash/spectacle fighter)
KH3 (same as Nier and apparently the last KH game but unlike other games on this list has a huge fanbase that it has accumulated for years due to its story, ties to Disney and FF, and gameplay style and quality. It could've been any genre of game and it will still do well but hack and slash is the easiest for people to understand)
Low budget Transformers by Platinum
Hyrule Warriors (a game using the Zelda license)
Dragon Quest Heroes (a game using the Dragon Quest license)
HellBlade (I guess that can count as an hack and slash or beat em up but due to being on a low budget.....a really low budget and based on how the game is turning out I doubt that it will make the very little amount NT is asking for it to sell and if so it'll probably get panned and bashed for being short, having no upgrades, and kind of uninteresting to a lot of people).
Metal Gear Rising 2 (*cough*Konami will probably ruin that too*cough*)
Darksiders 3 (though not fully confirmed yet its still highly likely and seems to have the best chance of moderate success in the mainstream current gen market)
That is all I can think of. There are probably some games that I missed but those were probably indie, Japan only, kickstarter low budget games (like that one ninja/samurai beat em up side scroller), or Senran Kagura. Basically games that either will get overlooked by the general public or the main stream audience for such a genre to exist in the mainstream AAA gaming market and sell well.
Plus the heavy hitters or semi heavy hitters seem to be dormant or MIA at this moment
No new word on anything Devil May Cry yet even if 2 Special/Definitive editions came out this year and were both praised by gamers and critics alike despite their vanilla versions being not as good as they could've been.
Bayonetta 2 despite being praised to the high heavens as a great game and getting 10s and 9s across the board bombed pretty hard and will only get a sequel if Nintendo is REALLY NICE or needs a launch title for the NX.
Nothing new on Dynasty Warriors or Samurai Warriors as of late despite those being being arguable the most famous or infamous hack and slash games and not much. Maybe there is some new or current stuff out there but most people stop caring at this point.
Also most of all. Where is God of War?! The highest selling games in this genre. Sure they ended but nothing on like a spiritual successor or something new but like it with the same team (granted a lot of Sony Santa Monica got laid off and they're working on either questionable titles or smaller budgeted games). Now you know something is wrong when the king of the genre is not in the spotlight and the last REAL entry sold much less than usual than a main stream title.
Then you have games that seem like hack and slash/spectacle fighters being turned into another game....Lily Bergamo...DDAMN YOU SUDA YOU SELL OUT!!
This also ties into Devil May Cry. Whenever a transition into the next generation of consoles are made costs increases and certain genres of games become left in the dust (or just regulated to smaller more humbler markets).
Are hack and slash, beat em ups, and spectacle fighters time in the mainstream market limited? What does this mean for the Devil May Cry series?
I personally feel a large majority of the upcoming games will either bomb or just go under the radar but before we get a new Devil May Cry a few games might regain interest in the genre for the mainstream market like say Darksiders 3, NG4 (if its any good), KH3 and Nier (sort of), and maybe Scalebound (it'll probably bomb in sales but if its really good as a Kamiya game it might make people wanting more like it). However, to save this genre we might need another DMC1, DMC3, GoW, or Bayonetta. These games will only keep people interested something of those games caliber will renew more interest. I do see a DMC5 being made and it has that potential however whatever if it has that potential or not if it doesn't sell more than 2 million units this series is dead as stated by Capcom. Whether it is DmC2 or DMC5 if they don't move over 2 million units this time this series is screwed. So the next Devil May Cry might as well be the last.
That is what I think. What do you guys think?