The objective of the topic is to get a working definition of what a hack and slasher game is.
Origins of the term:The term hack and slash in the context of gaming originated from tabletop games where you picked a character that used melee weapons. The early real time RPGs were basically tabletops in video game form. Then Diablo came in which had most of the gameplay in this form and it started to define the term hack and slash. Diablo is a top down stat based, real time, command and cooldown based auto attack game about strategic preparation.
So that would mean any other top down game with auto attacking like Baldurs Gate, Planetscape Torment, Torchlight, Path of Exile, Divinity Original Sin or Dragon Age Origins and even League of Legends are hack and slashers right?
However those games are not identified as hack and slasher now!
Where DMCs combat come from:Its very hard to pinpoint where DMC’s combat came from. The common classification is that they were side scrolling beat em ups -which still sounds wrong cause those were arcade games with co op. DMC more resembles old Zelda and Castlevania and . . .Karateka as those were single player games on home consoles.
I cant even dig out which was the first 3D action games with melee combat. I found games like Prince of Persia 3D, Tenchu Stealth Assasins and. . . Nigtmare Creatures.
Can someone help me with this?
Anyway Capcom's first take at this would be Onimusha Warlords. See Onimusha came out in January and DMC came out in August 2001.
After this other games with similar action came out like lament of Innocence, Sands of Time, Shinobi, Ninja Gaiden reboot. As you can see those original beat em ups made a transition to the 3D platform.
Soon Santa Monica made a casual and mainstream version of DMC called God of War and the genre got popular.
And people started calling those games hack and slashers cause . . . . .they look like the 3D combat from isometric Diablo games rather than side scrolling games?
And thats how the word hack and slash got adopted into DMC's genre. The name belongs to us now.
What type of game does a hack and slasher refer to?A hack and slasher is a beat em up/action adventure game that has translated into the 3D realm.
*Must not be confused with tabletop/Diablo style RPGs.