The king of hack and slash games has returned and its selling amazingly well! I am seeing positive effects of God of War on players who would have never touched a hack and slash game become a fan. There are people who considered hack and slash games as button mashers that have changed tone when they played God of War. This is the start of a new trend that could favour hack and slash games.

The hack and slash game we know is evolving to hack and slash RPG like Nier: Automata and GOW because people associate RPG with depth so that is what the developers are giving. I see Devil May Cry 5 doing the same. Its done wonders for the genre as some years ago there were 1 to 2 games made and they were all Platinum games with varying quality. The best on was exclusive to a failed console. Not anymore as it got ported to a console that sells and it is selling well.

Devil May Cry 5 will benefit from this. God of War released and people like the gameplay and they will not have AAA hack and slash game to play till Devil May Cry 5. Bayonetta 2 will benefit from this. Switch players who don't have PS4 will see God of War and Devil May Cry 5 and play something like that on their system. Nier: Automata will benefit from this. PS4 players will play games like God of War and it is the closest to it on the system.

Is it even really a hack and slash anymore though? To me ti seems pretty far removed from the genre.

If you played the game you will know it is still a hack and slash game 

The "king of hack n' slash games has finally returned"?.

I don't really see it as being the so called king of that genre, and the latest iteration isn't as hack n' slash as it used to be. Certainly not on the same level as Bayonetta.

I don't see this game "influencing" future hack n' slash games.

I don't think the gameplay was the most impressive feature in this game, I think the storytelling and cinematics really sold this game. So I think if other games wish to replicate its success to some degree, matching it in quality, storytelling, and cinematics will be a good guide to go by.

I wouldn't really call it a simple hack and slash game anymore, it's more a cross between your classic hack and slash and Souls-like gameplay.

That said, the king of hack and slash is actually a woman - Bayonetta.

Queen of hack-and-slash but I think the first to start it all was Ninja Gaiden or Devil May Cry I think...

Well I haven't played GoW4 yet to say how it is...

But GoW have been the king in review and sales, saying Bayonetta or DMC are the kings is wrong.

Pretty much this, but I don't wanna go into spoilers, people saying this is not a hack and slash game just haven't play the last third of the game yet or just don't have it 

I dunno how much it'll revive the hack and slash genre, but it's definitely revitalized my interest in mythology and made me crave more fantasy games that aren't just Tolkien rehashes. It also certainly raised the bar for what's possible in melee action games.