With nothing worth playing on the horizon, I've been revisiting old favourites. A lot of them have been character action and hack 'n slash - a nice change from the endless stream of Soulslikes.
I've made it through OG God of War, Godhand and am onto Ninja Gaiden. Anyone have any recommendations for follow-ups?
Depends on how far you want to go back.
If you want to stick to the PS2 era, I can suggest a few.
The Onimusha series, specifically 3. But the whole series is pretty good.
Castlevania: Curse of Darkness
Shinobi
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Chaos Legion
Genji: Dawn of the Samurai
Bujingai
Nightshade
Nano Breaker
Devil Kings
Edit: Almost forgot the lesser known Gauntlet games. Like Gauntlet Seven Sorrows and Gauntlet Dark Legacy. Dark Legacy is not quite just hack and slash, but still fun.
Fantastic game and one of very few that actually has a good story that doesn't get in the way of the game.
Great list! I'm not partial to any generation, just looking for something preferably fast-paced, challenging and mechanically complex.
I've played through a couple of those. Onimusha was good - will have to check out the sequels. Genji looks promising as well. And Nightshade is, by all appearances, Bayonetta before Bayonetta?
Technically yes. Nightshade was like a Bayonetta prototype years before Bayonetta was a thing.
I have a much larger list of fun hack and slash titles, but I got some stuff to do. I'll come back to this in a few hours and dump some more fun titles.
Okay, there's a few high quality hack and slash games on the PS1 that are worth mentioning. Of course I'm a bit biased. Hack and Slash (and by extension Beat 'Em Ups) were my favorite genre, so here goes.
Dragon Valor
Brave Fencer Musashi
Alundra 2: A New Legend Begins
Vampire Hunter D
Akuji The Heartless
MediEvil
Soul of the Samurai
Rising Zan The Samurai Gunman
Nightmare Creatures
Xena Warrior Princess
The internet says that Xena is a decent hack and slash, but I remember renting this, and I found the camera to be what I fought most times. Not a bad licensed game, though.
Take a look at some gameplay footage and see if there's something in there you might like.
Oh, and before I forget, it's a PC game, not a PS1 game, I would also recommend Blade of Darkness
It's a rewarding hack and slash game that can also be pretty brutal in difficulty sometimes. It's sort of a cross between single player Rune and Demon Souls, with more of an affinity toward Rune. Each character (of 3) can wield different weapons better than the other. The Dwarf is better with axes, the fighter is best with a sword and board and the amazon is best with spears. They can all use those weapons, just that they're better at, and have special attacks with the aforementioned ones.
A lot of nostalgia on that list. I've always had a soft spot for cheesy sword and sorcery, so Xena was a guilty pleasure. MediEval, Vampire Hunter D and Nightmare Creatures where all memorable as well. The others I'm not familiar with - will work my way through them as time permits.
I actually replayed Blade of Darkness when it landed on Steam - it's aged remarkably well. Unfortunate what became of Rune 2 though. On a similar note, did you ever try Enclave?
I never got the chance to play that. It's on the back log, but I have no idea when I'll get to it. I remember hearing good things about it, and that it's rating was lower than it's fans expected.
I'll definitely bump it up the list, though.
Gauntlet Dark Legacy is probably my favorite game ever and one of the best multiplayer games period in terms of pure fun.
Seven Sorrows is fucking awful though, don't do that one.
As a hack and slash it's okay to mid tier, but as a gauntlet game it's not so great. I figured I'd add it in, on account of the hack and slash suggestion.
Fair, but I think Gauntlet Dark Legacy (or even Legends) is enough to last anyone for their Gauntlet type hack and slash.