I think there is definitely a small lack in the critical engagement with Souls influence being the medium through which a reinvestigation of the mechanics established for character action in the PS2 era is now underway in games that are less inspired by the Souls games design than by the developments From Soft allowed to take place in character RPGs. The slowing down of combat, the newer focus on world design as intiated by honing of mechanics with depth as opposed to breadth, and expressionistic play favoured over prescriptive mechanics are all things that the medium is working over in the same way that, after RE and Super Mario 64, designers worked over camera/movement integration within spatial play. That reckoning has just as much to do with the slower pace and decidedly pathos driven storytelling of GoW as does the growth in the storytellers understanding of the character Kratos is in the hands of an older generation of players, and I think if there is anything that Souls influence still can potently do, it's show how mechanics effect more than strict play.