A Hack and Slash game resembles a Third-Person Shooter, but instead of blasting away enemies with a gun, the main hero of the game wields more primitive, close range melee weaponry. This genre resembles a third-person Adventure Game whereby the hero has a goal to accomplish. But the real goal of the mission level is just to kill as many enemies as possible.
To increase the hero's casualty potential, the setting of the game may include large armies, and having the hero serving in one of them. Most of the enemies encountered on the field will be one-hit-and-they're-dead grunt soldiers, but occasionally, tougher bosses will show up, usually officers and generals.
Since randomly killing large groups of enemies can become boring, most Hack and Slash games will often incorporate other genre elements into their gameplay. For example, the game may include a multi and single-player Fighting Game mode wherein players can pick characters from the game and have them square up against each other in a tournament setting. They can also incorporate story modes which provide more of an Adventure Game feel. The Stylish Action genre is more or less an offspring of the Hack and Slash genre born out of making the fights as cool and awesome as possible (not to say that regular hack and slash games can't look cool and awesome, they definitely can).
Meanwhile, Role-Playing Games with a Hack and Slash component have been around since Action RPG titles like Dragon Slayer and Hydlide in the 1980s, and it is a mainstay of many Wide Open Sandbox games.
Action-Adventure games can have levels that are purely Hack and Slash built into them to mix up the game play a little — and oftentimes, just to help the gameplayer relieve a bit of stress.
A related genre can be found in the Beat 'em Up, where the action is more oriented towards punching, kicking, headbutting, and so forth.
Not to be confused with the comic Hack/Slash, the Bumbling Henchmen Duo from ReBoot, crappy slash fic writers, Guns N' Roses, or the video game Hack 'N' Slash (which is actually not this type of game.)
Games in this genre include:
- Afro Samurai
- American McGee's Alice (combined with Platform Game)
- Anarchy Reigns
- Assassin's Creed (partly)
- Astral Chain
- Asura's Wrath
- Baldurs Gate: Dark Alliance
- Bayonetta
- Berserk: Millennium Falcon Hen Seima Senki no Shō
- Blades of Time
- Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War
- Bleach: Soul Resurrección
- Bujingai
- Castlevania: Lament of Innocence
- Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
- Chaos Legion, though the hero can't change weapons
- Clone Drone in the Danger Zone
- Conan
- Crescent Pale Mist
- Crimson Sea
- Cröixleur
- Crystar
- Cyber Troopers Virtual-On MARZ is a Humongous Mecha Action-Adventure version.
- Cyberdimension Neptunia: 4 Goddesses Online
- Dante's Inferno
- Dark Messiah
- Darksiders
- Darkspore
- Dead Meets Lead is a Top-Down View version.
- Deadpool
- DeathSpank
- Demonsteele: A Doom mod that's been lovingly dubbed Hideki Kamiya's Doom
- Devil May Cry — also codified the Stylish Action genre.
- Devil's Third, it doubles as a Beat 'em Up and a Third-Person Shooter with first-person shooter aiming.
- Diablo
- Drakengard (with mixes of Flight Sim)
- Dungeon Explorer
- Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom and Shadow Over Mystara
- Dragon's Crown
- Dragon's Dogma
- Dust: An Elysian Tail
- Dynasty Warriors - based on Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it would spawn multiple Spin Offs and a Crossover.
- Samurai Warriors (based on the Sengoku Period of Japanese history)
- Warriors Orochi (Crossover involving mainly Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors)
- Warriors: Legends Of Troy (based on The Trojan War)
- Dynasty Warriors: Gundam
- One Piece: Pirate Warriors
- Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage
- Hyrule Warriors
- Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree's Woe and The Blight Below
- Dragon Quest Heroes II: Twin Kings And The Prophecy's End
- Attack on Titan
- Berserk and the Band of the Hawk
- Warriors All-Stars (Crossover involving multiple Koei Tecmo propertiesnote )
- Fire Emblem Warriors
- Persona 5 Strikers (Sequel to Persona 5)
- Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity (Prequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild)
- Eitr
- FATE
- Fate/Extella: The Umbral Star
- Fat Princess Adventures
- For Honor
- Furi (a boss-fight only example, fused with Shoot 'em Up)
- Gaiapolis
- Genji
- Ghost of Tsushima (combined with Stealth-Based Game)
- Grim Dawn
- God of War
- Golden Axe (More of a forerunner to Hack and Slash genre, but the 2008 game Golden Axe: Beast Rider is a straight example of one)
- Gotcha Force
- Hand of Fate
- Heart&Slash
- Heavenly Sword
- Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
- Hunted: The Demon's Forge
- Hyperdimension Neptunia U: Action Unleashed
- The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing
- I-Ninja
- Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II
- Kamen Rider Battride War
- Killer Is Dead, a Spiritual Successor to killer7
- Kingdom Hearts
- Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders
- Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
- The King of Dragons
- Knight's Contract
- Knights of the Temple: Infernal Crusade
- Legacy of Kain: Defiance
- Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
- Lollipop Chainsaw: Spiritual Successor to No More Heroes
- Lost Soul Aside
- MadWorld
- Magicka
- Magic Rampage
- Magic Sword: Heroic Fantasy
- Malicious
- Marlow Briggs and the Mask of Death
- MegaTagmension Blanc + Neptune VS Zombies
- Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
- Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
- Minecraft Dungeons
- Mitsurugi Kamui Hikae
- Monster Madness
- Moonstone: A Hard Days Knight
- Muramasa: The Demon Blade
- Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3: The Hack and Slash-styled gameplay of the Ultimate Ninja Impact game for the PlayStation Portable has been carried over to this game for story battles.
- NieR
- Nights of Azure
- Ninety-Nine Nights
- Ninja Blade
- Ninja Gaiden
- Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z a Spin-Off of the series.
- Nioh
- No More Heroes
- Odin Sphere
- Onechanbara
- Onimusha
- Orc Attack: Flatulent Rebellion
- Otogi: Myth of Demons
- Overlord: Fellowship of Evil
- Path of Exile
- Prince of Persia
- Princess Crown
- Protect Me Knight
- [PROTOTYPE]
- Punishing: Gray Raven
- Redeemer
- Mark of Kri and Rise of the Kasai are a mix of this and a Stealth-Based Game.
- Rising Zan: The Samurai Gunman
- Rune
- Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzan!
- RWBY: Grimm Eclipse
- Sacred
- Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
- Sengoku Basara
- Senran Kagura
- Severance: Blade of Darkness
- Shank
- Shinobi
- Seven Samurai 20 XX
- Silverfall
- Spartan: Total Warrior
- Spawn: Armageddon
- Splatterhouse
- Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005)
- Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
- Stories: Path of Destinies
- Swords Of Destiny
- The Sword Of Etheria
- Sword of Sodan
- Sword of the Berserk: Guts' Rage
- Tales Series
- Titan Quest
- Torchlight
- War in the North
- Warhammer Chaosbane
- The Vagrant
- The Wonderful 101
- Undead Knights
- Untold Legends
- Utawarerumono: ZAN (Utawarerumono meets Senran Kagura, without the forced Fanservice of the latter.)
- Van Helsing
- Victor Vran
- Viking: Battle for Asgard
- Vindictus
- Warriors of Might and Magic
- World of Mana
- X-Blades (Russian made and is considered by many to be a Panty Fighter)
- Xena: Warrior Princess
- X-Men: