Action Games: Modern Problems, Require Old Solutions

 With the release of modern Action games like The First Berserker: Khazan and Lies of P, it is becoming clearer to me that the direction of the genre is skewing hard. Only a handful of titles like Soulstice or Valkyrie Elysium seem to be leaning toward that Devil May Cry, or Ninja Gaiden-esque style anymore. And why would you? The FromSoftware formula has been working like a charm. Elden Ring is one of the most popular games, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is being used as the blueprint despite the foundations being laid down by Team Ninja with Nioh and Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge. Obviously, this should also include PlatinumGames's Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance as well. 

But I think at the end of the day, the big culprit is Dark Souls itself. This is funny to think about because Demon's Souls was just two years prior, yet it wasn't the buzzword game that its successor would be lionized as. So fourteen years later, the modern Action game has almost homogenized into the Souls-like subgenre. 

Is this inherently bad? Yes and no. Yes, because now there seems to be a lack of diversity. So, if one game doesn't strike you, then this Domino Effect of future releases starts to look a little barren. But on the other hand, the games being developed to emulate these David vs Goliath fights are quite well made. Many of the bigger names have enough uniqueness in their systems and worlds to grab the players for hours on end. Mainly, the problem is in variety, not quality. I would also like to note that this will be a focus on 3D Action games. So, games like Strider, Katana Zero, or Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night are not applicable. 

That's what I want to get at today. I think the current influx of Souls-likes are way too arduous. Especially when the games are expecting the player to put in at least twenty hours. The most engaging fights to me are the ones that have proper block and punish timings. And finding that balance is not easy, yet I would rather the fight last for a moment than a lifetime. 

It's the difference between Ninja Gaiden II and NG3:RE. One game has very snappy and reactionary fights. While the other has a more methodical approach. That methodical approach only works for so long before it starts to wear a player down. That fatigue for me comes pretty fast nowadays. A game that has decided to waste my time in the name of difficulty is not a game that I think fondly upon. 

This is a conclusion that I have come to after my excursion with the Ninja Gaiden Franchise, which led to my retry of Nioh. Despite my gripes with NG3:RE, I just loathe the way that Nioh feels. It's funny because I actually think the damage output is good in Nioh. But William moves like shit in comparison to Ryu Hayabusa. This is the greatest disservice that I can think of for Team Ninja. Because the movement only got better in the 3D NGs. So by the time I returned to Nioh, it was Night and Day. 

Your combo structure is limited, you lack agility, and now the RPG stat upgrades are flooding in. What's funny is that all these Souls-likes have to be different. So, this one has stat upgrades, or this one has skill trees. Like, I get it. These teams want to stand out in some capacity. However. the most interesting ones to me are the games where you can just swap between weapon and ability combinations. 

NGII and Bayonetta 2 offer a lot of variety for the length of their games. In the Hack-n-Slash subgenre, I value these two at the top. But the game I can't stop thinking about in the Souls-like subgenre is Code Vein. A perfect 7/10 game that has a lot of thought and heart behind it. 

Code Vein gets a lot of flak for being "Anime Dark Souls", but I think that generalizes the game too much. I say this because my souls timeline was trying out Dark Souls in 2014 and dropping it because my brain was too tiny. And then playing through Bloodborne in 2018, then Code Vein in 2019, and finally going back to Dark Souls in 2020. So, Bloodborne and Code Vein became these very formative games for me in the Action genre. 

Fast-paced games that were both riveting and challenging. While I have not returned to Code Vein recently. I do come back to Bloodborne every now and again because I want to fight Yharnam Queen and the Old Hunters Bosses. Aside from some outliers, I like the Bosses and the systems at play in these games. They are fair and feel rewarding. 

For Bloodborne, movement and acclimation to the gun parries are key. And in some cases the game rewards aggression like in Nioh, Sekiro, TFB: Khazan, etc. But Bloodborne still manages to make the fight feel engaging without dragging it out. This is the main reason why TFB: Khazan just didn't work for me. I realized the games goal, and immediately dropped it at the Demo. 

Large Health Pool Bosses with High Damage used to be a big blunder. But now, it seems to be the new normal. This is one of the reasons why I opt into Big Sword. So I can avoid long fights. But that isn't even enough sometimes. But to pick on TFB: Khazan again, the weapon variety is also concerning. Like, Code Vein's appeal to me was that weapon and ability variety. 

You have your weapon and then you have your Blood Code. The Blood Code is there to enhance your build. So, you could run a Venom focused character using the Darkseeker Blood Code for example. And the set would come with a myriad of passive abilities and active moves, like a projectile. But the caveat to Blood Codes was that you needed to find all the lore or Vestiges for that Blood Code in order to get the full set of moves. This system is something that allows the player to engage with one of the game's core mechanics more instead of just dumping points once you unlock it and then moving on. 

And that's just one of the Blood Codes. So, the games depth hinged on the player's willingness to engage with the world. A novel concept that I think was executed well within the structure of the game itself. But ultimately I care a lot about game feel with Action Games. 

Games that have good hit feedback are typically Hack-n-Slash because they want you to perform combos. It doesn't matter whether it's long or short. Getting any amount of a combo string going is enough for me on a basic level. Even the tiniest amount of Hit-Stun feels great. So, standard enemies armoring through moves is beyond frustrating. I can do Izuna Drop a billion times, and it feels good every time. Getting punished for taking my turn sucks ass. 

I think that Action developers have become too preoccupied with making their game hard. The difficulty should not come from wars of attrition. The best battles are ones where both fighters can explode in a Blaze of Glory. I want to fight more NGII Genshin-likes, and less NG3:RE Theodore-likes. The fundamental difference between these two fights is the root problem. I have to react to Genshin, while I just need to match the rhythm with Theodore. 

I just feel like I could beat Genshin two or three times before I finish one of Theodore's fights. A harder boss done faster simply because the game is balanced around the idea of killing as fast as possible. So, I am wary of Ninja Gaiden 4. Simply based on the trend in Action games. It is not enough to play the game. You must suffer for it.

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