u/Moto0Lux

This post kind of made me want to make my own expansion to the discussion, because thinking about this question has made me better understand my own gaming preferences. This has contributed to me appreciating a wider variety of games, Character Action Games or otherwise, from high production value titles to niche indie games with less than 100 reviews. And I feel like that's much healthier than endlessly lamenting how "the genre is dead" and some such.

A couple of quick notes/premise:

1. I avoid a check-list definition that lays out a bunch of mechanical features. I think what is defining of CAG is the gameplay experience produced through combination of mechanics, rather than the mechanics themselves. This is because I think a given mechanic can produce varying gameplay result, depending on how it's balanced and how it functions in the context of the whole game.
2. The gameplay experiences outlined here are the common features I think are present among the genre classics. In a sense, I'm trying to answer the question of "why do I (and many others here probably) like both DMC and NG for similar reasons, despite the games being pretty different in mechanical design?" I also try to tackle the question of "why do I enjoy Nioh combat in a similar way despite the stamina meter, and why does Magenta Horizon drive me crazy without being a 3D action game" as well, while also trying to find out "but why does my unhealthy obsession with Monster Hunter feel different from these?"
3. In bringing up certain games as CAGs, I am not speaking of them as "better" action games than not-CAGs. Genre/subgenre labels are meant to communicate a specific set of expected gameplay experience, not quality. Some days I'm simply in the mood for Magenta Horizon, some days I'm in the mood for Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate. The point is they are different.

With that out of the way, I think CAG can be defined as "fast-paced melee action game that primarily focuses on proactive, technical combat."

Fast-paced

The "fastness" of CAG is related to choosing the action of our character, whether in terms of selecting and executing our own move (DMC combo for style meter) or enemy prioritization and crowd control (NG, Magenta Horizon). I've always felt that some bosses in Elden Ring and Monster Hunter are arguably "faster" in animation and attack strings than some CAG bosses, but the gameflow felt slower. It's likely because in those games, a fast reaction is required, but not so much decision, as their structured combat encounter ("turn-based" action if you will) doesn't lead to a hectic decision-making or quick, varied inputs.

Melee action

Personally, the most controversial part of my definition. For one, I am not specifying 3D because I love Magenta Horizon too much, among other 2D action games. For two, "melee" excludes shooter games like Vanquish and Ultrakill, which seem to produce all the other gameplay experience I would call CAG. My justification is that the positioning and distance logic of a melee action game and shooters are different enough that they are different "moods" to me. That, and I suck at shooters what can I say.

Primary focus

This is my answer to why I love Nioh 2 combat so damn much, but my mood for the game is a bit different from DMC, NG, Magenta etc. The thing is, Nioh combat requires significant understanding and engagement with its RPG stat and lootfest. These non-action elements deeply interact with how the overall combat encounter plays out, especially at higher level. Both the action and RPG are equally the main focus: I would riot if Team Ninja watered down the RPG aspect (though a bit less loot spam email would be nice).

Some other superhero games with "CAG combat" could perhaps be ruled out of the subgenre for similar reasons. The games also place a lot of focus on being the superhero – whether swinging around the map as Spiderman or investigating crime as Batman. Story-rich Nier Automata wants you to follow a well-written, superbly acted story while also cutting down tin cans. Vernal Edge features a pretty intricate combat system that allows some creative combos, but also gives a lot of satisfying traversal options for its metroidvania style exploration.

Combat action experiences aren't the primary focus in these games, which explains why they are slightly off from my CAG mood.

Proactive, technical combat

So, what is a technical combat? Per Cambridge dictionary, the word is defined as "relating to practical skills and methods that are used in a particular activity." The keyword I think is "particular" – properties and rules, or combination of them, that are specific to a given game (or series). This includes everything from character moveset, enemy hitstates, physics, context-specific interactions, enemy behavior etc.

A key contrast is the idea of universal design feature, things like enemy wind-up, i-frame defensive options, found in almost any action game you think of. Comparing Fromsoft's Souls/Elden and Sekiro to their Armored Core line highlights this contrast. Both are "difficult games," but one's difficulty is based on an elegantly simple implementation of universal features, while the other is quite technical with very detailed weapon properties and movement/aiming techs not really found elsewhere. This kind of specificity is at the core of a technical action system, and we degenerates love learning and relearning the diverse toyboxes these various games offer.

As for proactive, it means that better gameplay is expressed through player-initiated actions, rather than reactive play to what the game presents to you. This sort of balance is achieved not just by having a big moveset pool or lack of stamina bar, in my view. In Nioh, Lucah: Born of Dream or Unsouled, learning the mechanics around the stamina bar opens up a huge array of decisions to exploit, kinda like learning jump cancelling in DMC, while in Elden Ring the stamina is always going to be a soft cap to the number of attacks I'm allowed per boss opening.

How reactive play is positioned in the whole combat flow also matters. Sekiro-likes' "parries" and Dante's Royal Guard mechanically belong to the same, one-button universal answer to enemy attacks kind of defense option. However, in Stellar Blade these are the highlights of player-enemy interactions, while in DMC this is merely pauses to the cuhrayzee combos, or in NG it shows you are not managing the crowd effectively. It's also a pretty basic strategy, compared to niche choice like Coyote-A sliding into Judgement Cut End. A lot of times, enemies in reactive action games would "force" the reaction, via things like unavoidable positioning before attack (aka the "suck-in"). This is unlike in Strangers of Paradise, which still lets you choose to walk out of an attack if you want, giving proactive choices in your reactive defense.

Conclusion

If you've read through everything, thank you. Hope this was worth your time. I'm not pretending that this is some definitive answer to the question, more like a food for thought. In a way, this was a roundabout way to say "why I love this subgenre of action games" I suppose!

Thank you for attending my TED talk (is it still even a thing lol).

Quantum Beast Stage 1, Hard, S Rank, with Turbo mode on. Gotta say the 1.15x speed makes the game feel perfect.

The game, per the developer, is inspired by Ninja Gaiden and God Hand. It has quite a bit of intricate interaction between our moveset and the enemies that are rewarding to explore. It's a really cheap game too, only $5 when I grabbed it last year. It's a criminal deal to be honest, hope more folks give it a shot!

Gretel can be pretty damn fast on the ground.

Magenta Horizon: Neverending Harvest, Stage 3-3, Reaper Difficulty.

Back when I started this game, Blücher is the boss that made me reduce the difficulty to Wandering Soul (one level below the "normal" Wraith difficulty). Needless to say, not the most pleasant experience, even though this dorky train is a really good character.

Now, I'm thinking: what a fun boss with awesome soundtrack, I'm not even mad about the helicopters (they're my least favorite enemy in this game lol)

No, I have not cleared this stage yet lol

Edit: Not isometric, it's top-down. lol

In other news, it's a fast-paced 2D action game focusing on aggressive crowd-control against enemies that want to kill you, with a risky but satisfying counter mechanic on top. Tons of contextual/environmental interactions too. There are so many mechanical designs in the game I appreciate (hidden in spoiler for those who want to discover them themselves).

>!Three complementary resources that make "stamina management" feel less like a restriction on player action, but a pool of fuel for an improvised pixelated carnage.!<

>!Contextual (guard breaks, grabs, status effects) and environmental (collision, wall slam, ring outs) interactions that can be caused by our moveset.!<

>!"Chain system" - a combo counter that registers every action as long as it is done with precision.!<

>!Diverse defensive options that don't pigeonhole my response to enemies. Clearly the Issen-like counter is the "best" choice, but I did not feel any loss doing a more positioning-centric playstyle, as can be seen here.!<

>!Aggressive enemies with fairly complex moveset and clear "roles" in encounters, complementing both the offensive and defensive tools we have. !<

>!Stellar bosses. I was surprised how open to being manipulated the bosses are, as you can see in the video. When done right, I can stunlock and wallslam them to death. Yet, most of my deaths in the game are from bosses. They really felt like fair fights between fantasy martial artists fighting on the same playing field.!<

>!Really thoughtful difficulty/accessibility options. I know "hardcore gamers" are quick to scoff at these features, but I wanted to shout out this game's implementation. Tweaking the strictness of input frames, adjusting aggressiveness of enemies just a bit, giving some help in comboing - these feel like features that a really good action gamer designed with "me when I was bad" in mind. Eases players in to the genre easier, without completely taking away the fun of "learning" an action system.!<

This video is me playing the highest difficulty in a fresh save - in other words, with the "default" stamina. Even then, I could do this much zipping and zapping, and me running out of stamina was almost always a result of playing sloppily.

This is (yet another) indie gem of a "CAG." Don't let the stamina bar deceive you into thinking this is a Souls-like, or even a Nioh-like. It's an NG-like experience expressed through a different architecture.