I’ve been playing a lot and it’s the first soulslike that’s genuinely great. It obviously borrows a lot but the mechanics they added in like the arm, skill tree, weapon assembling etc. do a great job at expanding some ideas rather then just copy pasting.
I agree with some people that it’s deceptively more similar to Sekiro than Dark Souls. Even with the first dodge upgrade I feel like it’s a bit undertuned compared to perfect blocks. Dodging feels finnicky because it has little I-frames and many enemies and bosses have insane tracking that’s hard to dodge. Hopefully they might balance it out a little in the future.
I’m very happy the game didn’t turn out to just be puppets as the first few areas suggest. The game really gets going when you come across some real monster variety. The area I’m in now is straight out of resident evil 4.
The one other complaint I have is the dialogue. It’s so hit or miss. Like it’s trying to be Bloodborne but also a comedy? It feels bizarre to see a lot of horror and be completely taken out by Gemminy making jokes. Just doesn’t work for me.