I'll preface by saying that I'm clinically bad with souls-likes.
BUT I love the nightmarish dream-like worlds that seem to be portrayed in them so here we are.
I have played DS 1/3 and completed Elden Ring so I am exactly 0.001% qualified to speak on anything.

I enjoyed this game....especially once I started to understand and groove w/ the combat.
The slower pace and clunky swinging really lends to the satisfaction from connecting while avoiding
or mitigating damage.

I beat the game in a little over 14 hours including idling while snacking, drinking, forgetting what I was doing, etc.

I almost don't want to do pros and cons because I feel like its gonna just look too negative when I did
really enjoy this game especially at its run time and with what I feel was a reasonable challenge for non-souls
vets but here goes.

I like the idea of different 'shells' and their looks, but honestly besides health/ stamina and resolve I didn't feel there was enough variety between them. I would have loved to see different fighting styles with the weapons depending what meat suit you were wearing.

There are only four weapons, and honestly there are only 3 because 2 of the weapons on big bonks. Would love to have seen more visual differences when you upgrade the weapons.

Limited monster variety, but the game world isn't like massive or anything and even if they were reused, they had different skins and themed attacks.

I got lost.... a few times... too much of certain areas kinda looks samey or I don't know where to go. There's no map and early on I kept finding myself scream running around an area trying to get out (and that was before I got my first gland).

Last....being vague. Good lord, I know it's a "SOULS-LIKE" but why does every souls game have to be so vague and devoid of storytelling and even BASIC GAME INFO.... Upgrade your weapon? "Performs an attack". Pick up a new item that you might only find 5 of in the whole game? "Consume to learn more".

Also with parrying requiring resolve to use, I rarely bothered and saved it for weapon attacks.

I would recommend this game on sale even if you're not a no-hit ultra-parry ng+420 god on dark souls.

Enjoy the game. Have a nice day. Watch for bear traps.

This game deserves a neutral review, not a negative or positive one.

The fluid combat with the awesome hardening mechanic is let down by the dull exploration and average enemy design. I actually enjoyed the boss fights, but traversing every area feels more like a chore instead of something to explore since the enemy encounters are repetitive.

The fact that you can't find weapons or armors by exploring (you get 4 weapons i think through the game at the beginning of each new area) is a huge dissapointment that makes you want to rush through the content instead of actually trying to discover every nook and cranny

For a very cheap price it may be worth it, but from my personal point of view you should skip it

Bosses were too easy but it was fun and I bought it on sale anyway so cant complain