Gameplay

Hack and slash

Games with hack and slash gameplay focus on combat with hand-to-hand weapons as opposed to guns, even though the presence of guns as additional weapons does not exclude the use of the genre. Games in this genre will typically feature melee combat that requires tactical depth (weapon choice / stance / timing attacks / parry / defence / evasion). It is predominately used in action games with RPG elements.

Limitations

Beat 'em ups / Brawlers (think Streets of Rage) and Fighting games (think Street Fighter) have their own, specific genre and do not use this one.
Hack and slash games are often played from a behind view because there is strategy to the combat. Typically, side-scrolling 2D platformers do not receive this genre because of the straightforward combat, unless there is an extensive amount of depth to the mechanics.
Popular examples of games using hack and slash gameplay are the Devil May Cry series, the God of War games, and games dubbed Soulslike popularized by FromSoftware's Souls games.
While Diablo games and those similar to it had historically been referred to as Hack and Slash it was more done to keep itself separate from games that played similarly to it but offered a more in-depth story like Baldur's Gate. These games should be listed as Action RPGs unless the melee combat has depth to it.

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