Sir Ilpalazzo posted:

Even those games give you "crutches" - what else would you call bombs? Although of course their role varies from game to game.

I get where gigglefeimer is coming from. God Hand gives you plenty of crutches - more than a lot of action games do, really - and doesn't do much of anything to discourage you from using them (like how a lot of action games will use ranking systems to discourage item use, or to try to force you to use your moveset in interesting ways instead of going for maximum efficiency, like in Bayonetta or Devil May Cry 3 / 4). In that regard you could say it's not a "hardcore" game, because most people with functioning hands, eyes, and brains (and a decent amount of video game experience) can beat the game through casual, fairly undedicated play, and since there's no ranking system, there's nothing to strive for after that beyond self-improvement (which a lot of people aren't going to be interested in). However, by that metric, most action games are fairly "casual" anyway, only made especially difficult through their ranking systems and the occasional rough hardest difficulty mode.