Man, I'm pretty disappointed in this game after some early positive reception and even some good reviews. My experience with Lords of the Fallen isn't great -- I bought it and disliked it, so I figured this was an opportunity to give these guys a second chance. If it even matters, I'm a souls veteran, and I'm not really having any trouble with the game at this point difficulty-wise (On the fourth boss, however far that is into the game).
My biggest critique of it would be that I think it's dreadfully boring. Environments in these kinds of games are extremely, extremely important to not only the enjoyment of one's first run through (and of course, keeping subsequent playthroughs interesting). What I've seen so far is extraordinarily boring industrial design; and it's not the fact that every environment has a consistency to it that is bad. For example, a lot of the environments in Bloodborne felt tonally consistent to me; they are all dark and creepy gothic / lovecraftian worlds, but they evolve over time, making every area feel unique and driving the experience forward. You can easily build mental maps of these worlds into your head thanks to many instances of landmarks. Here, it's boring sci-fi hallway after boring sci-fi hallway. The way the environments are chained together is through non-descript hallways that all look essentially the same. There's nothing *in* the environments themselves that makes one wonder, or want to know more. I couldn't get interested in the world at all, and world-building is one of my favorite aspects of these games.
The combat here is equally dull, even if the mechanics behind how you level are novel-if-limiting. Enemies themselves have the *worst* tells I've seen in a game like this, making a player want to choose the safe strategies even if those strategies make the game more boring. When enemies do hit you, it's not with a satisfying thunk -- sometimes you can't even tell they made contact at all, with the dropping health bar the only indication that something has happened. Many enemies are unsatisfying to even fight, leading the player to avoid them at all times (and it is extraordinarily easy to avoid them -- Nioh this is not! They will stop chasing sometimes feet away from where you met them in battle). The worst are the many one-shot style enemies in the game; in most good games of this variety, big attacks have big tells. Here, don't be surprised if you die from the simplest-looking attack. The lack of inv frames overall can make this a frustrating experience for people who haven't gotten used to dying in other games like this. Except, in those games, it often feels 'tough but fair' -- here, enemies range from boring to fight to exceptionally cheesy.
Build variety is something I like in this kinds of games, and it's not here. Simply put, this is closer to Bloodborne, but perhaps even worse; differentiation comes from weapon and suit choices and nothing more. I'm sure someone will find this to be tenable, but for me it's just disappointing.
Bosses are, and I have to stress this, *horrible*. Complete piles of actual garbage, all of them gimmick bosses (with the exception of perhaps the one I'm fighting now, though even he has a gimmick component). Once you know their weakness, they are completely trivialized. This would be fine, except the lead up to them (the levels themselves) are so boring.
And fuck, I hate to shit on this game completely because there are 3 or 4 things it does that are brilliant. But the rest of the game ... feels like a complete waste of money and time :\ My dreams for a unique sci-fi Souls-esque game are in another castle.