Few gameplay questions

[Kuukuna]

One of the tags is soulslike, what does it mean for this game? I take there's parry and dodge, but is there corpse run? "Souls" used as xp? Healing items refresh at a save point?

Is the combat itself actually challenging, or are the areas just littered with instant death traps, spikes and bottomless pits?

What do you lose on death and from how far do you need to usually restart?

[Shamex]

You lose xp that hasn't been accumulated enough to become a skill point and money on death. Depending on the enemy or death you either kill what killed you or pick it up off the ground. There's a Jade modifier that let's you get your stuff back with a specific kind of attack.

I'm good at platformers and okay with boss fights in this genre so difficulty is subjective but I haven't died in the overworld more than a couple times to mini bosses, only died to the 1st boss 5+ times, none to the 2nd or 3rd, and I still haven't beaten the 4th with 20+. There are no instant death's aside from occasional stunlocking but there's a skill to circumvent that, you fall and get hurt and pop back up on the ledge you fell from.

The runs are usually short since you can open alternate pathways.

[Scorpix]

1. Yes there is "corpse" retrieval after death from place you died. You need to get it back or you will lose all gold and exp gathered before death.

2. Healing item works like Estus flask.

3. Combat is challenging and there are no instant death traps.

4. You always restart from the last visited "bonfire" which is usually in the middle of the sector, so it isnt hard to reach the place where you died. Map is now detailed from the start, so you wont get lost.

[Kuukuna]

Damn, rip. Had hoped it wouldn't have corpse run, literally the worst soulslike mechanic. It basically forces you to go back to explore that area instead of choosing different route. No clue why a lot of metroidvanias try to copy soulslikes so much as if they had no original ideas. I'd rather take reloading a save over corpse run.
Bloodstained was so good, salt and sanctuary and blasphemous weren't.

[Shiro]

"Corpse run" danger means you don't want to leave your corpse far from "bonfire". Try moving back to safety as your hp and pipe are depleted; if you do die, take careful approach, get the corpse and retreat. Then you are free to explore other area. So its slightly annoying, but not critical.

Worst case scenario, you can abandon some exp and gold if you didn't have too much. While this isn't Tunic (where you lose at most 20 gold out of hundreds or thousands you may be carrying), you still can abandon your money and go somewhere else if you really want to. Try to not run into danger with lots of money tho, if you see you have a lot - spend it or maybe farm a bit so you can buy big thingie.

[Kuukuna]

It's a stupid mechanic and devs should stop copying it. It discourages exploring after a death as you'd be leaving your corpse and all the xp behind. It actually also makes the game easier, as it only matters if you can get to the item/chest that's in a difficult area or not as you can just die after looting if you don't care about the xp you have. You will just be teleported back to the previous bonfire with the looted item.