"Traditional hack & slash/brawler action games need to come back, because we don't get them anymore!" A false narrative...

[BrawlMan]

Long story short, I've seen this statement be passed around recently and back in June of 2025 when more gameplay was revealed for Ninja Gaiden 4. Or when gameplay got revealed for games like Tides of Annihilation or Romeo is a Dead Man. Some people going on about how they're "finally making a comeback" or "this is what we need! (to be beat Dark Souls/Souls genre/Souls Fatigue)". They've already been back since 2019-2020. My main issues with these are:

1. While there was an action game drought in the AAA space at least, that stopped being a thing after God of War 4 (2018), and Devil May Cry 5 (2019).
2. These two genres, Souls and Stylish Action, have co-existed fine with each other and are still doing so now. I get not everybody likes Souls style or are tired of them, but don't take it out on people minding their own business, or just want to make a fun game with their own take or not. Certain game snobs have gone really overboard with this, and got into either fan hate territory or claiming "Souls games are killing Action Games!". It's the new "Casual Gamers are Killing Hardcore Games!". Fuck you for shouting shit that ain't even close to true.

Here's list of traditional melee action games that have released after DMC5 and 5:SE -

• Astral Chain (2019)
• Oneechanbara Origin (2019 in Japan, 2020 everywhere else)
• Punishing Gray Raven (2019)
• Streets of Rage 4 (2020)
• No More Heroes III (2021)
• SIFU (2021)
• Bayonetta 3 (2022)
• Soulstice (2022)
• Evil West (2022)
• God of War: Ragnarok (2022) - Both Norse Era games still count, even though there is a shift in perspective.
• Gungrave GORE (2022)
• Hi-Fi Rush (2023 on Series X/PC, & then 2024 on PS5)
• Wanted: Dead (2023)- Though that's a piece of garbage to me.
• Zenless Zone Zero (2023)
• FFXVI (2023)
• FFVII Remake, Inter-grade, & Rebirth sort of count, depending on how you customize certain characters with Materia. You can have Cloud, Tifa, and Yuffie play like Platinum Games characters, if you equip them the right way.
• Stellar Blade (2024)
• Ninja Gaiden II Black (2025)
• Lost Soul Aside (2025)
• Shinobi: Art of Vengeance (2025)
• Ninja Gaiden 4 (2025)
• Romeo Is A Dead Man (2026)
• Phnatom Blade 0 (2026)
• Tides of Annilation (TBA)

I know not everybody can be on top of everything, but there's plenty of traditional non Souls action games that have been coming out the past five years, coming out in 2025, and plenty this year in 2026 and beyond.

 

[Clippy]

I refuse to believe that Devil May Cry 5 is SEVEN years old now.

 

[BrawlMan]

I refuse to believe that Devil May Cry 5 is SEVEN years old now.

It wasn't gonna stay a year old forever. All that means is DMC5 has been awesome for 7 years and will continue to do so.

 

[Zerohour2k12]

Despite what others think, the genre stays strong, there's great indie titles like Assault Spy, Kiborg, Valdis Story and Soulstice. Some may not have a Style meter but they're solid action games.

 

[DinoRexMax]

If you're mentioning Beat 'em Ups like Streets of Rage 4, there's also TMNT: Shredder's Revenge, MMPR: Rita's Rewind, and Double Dragon: Gaiden - Rise of the Dragons.

 

[BrawlMan]

If you're mentioning Beat 'em Ups like Streets of Rage 4, there's also TMNT: Shredder's Revenge, MMPR: Rita's Rewind, and Double Dragon: Gaiden - Rise of the Dragons.

Indeed!

 

[saturnsh2x2]

I need to get to a lot of these, but I can personally vouch for No More Heroes 3, and really want to check out Romeo is a Dead Man.

Eternights is also one worth mentioning; it's basically Tokimeki Memorial grafted to a hack-and-slash, as weird as that sounds.

 

[UnDubious]

If you're mentioning Beat 'em Ups like Streets of Rage 4, there's also TMNT: Shredder's Revenge, MMPR: Rita's Rewind, and Double Dragon: Gaiden - Rise of the Dragons.

Final Vendetta is a solid indie beat-'em-up too, with great Neo Geo-style sprites and SOR-inspired gameplay. It's worth playing on Hard to see what the gameplay has to offer.

 

[BrawlMan]

Final Vendetta is a solid indie beat-'em-up too, with great Neo Geo-style sprites and SOR-inspired gameplay. It's worth playing on Hard to see what the gameplay has to offer.

It's a good came, but only became worth it after that patch update and addition of Casual Mode for those who found it too difficult, even on Easy Mode. Plus, there was that game breaking bug where the third boss could get you into a throw/stun loop before said patch updates It's a 7/10 brawler for me. Once I did my 1CC/No Death S-Rank runs for Claire and Duke, I felt little reason to go back again, unless I am co-oping with my older brother, or boredom. I always tell people to get the game on a sale. The soundtrack is excellent , and I like the game more than Fight n' Rage.

 

[NOTthatHARD]

If you're mentioning Beat 'em Ups like Streets of Rage 4, there's also TMNT: Shredder's Revenge, MMPR: Rita's Rewind, and Double Dragon: Gaiden - Rise of the Dragons.

And Marvel Cosmic Invasion.

 

[DinoRexMax]

And Marvel Cosmic Invasion.

Fuk, I forgot about that one...

 

[NOTthatHARD]

Fuk, I forgot about that one...

Also River City Girls 1 and 2, The TakeOver and G.I. Joe: Wrath of Cobra.