I don't like comparing games too much, but I will say that Homura Hime is everything I wanted from a theoretical non-gacha full release Honkai Impact title. I jokingly called it "Honkai 4th" while playing.
It's also clear that it has other primary influences like Sekiro and especially Nier (this being a major one that even has roots deep in its story).
I wanna just say that the game doesn't have fat. It is a solid story-driven action game that knows exactly what it exists for, and that's for satisfying combat and good storytelling. There's a point in the game where you have to go through all of the stages again for story reasons, and in my opinion it beats out my usual complaints with NG+ modes by restructuring and shortening the stages to the point that you could finish two of them in the usual time it takes to beat one.
There's no side-missions that doesn't directly tie into the stages, and nothing that stops the player from immediately getting back to the core gameplay loop for too long. And I mentioned the story, which completely surprised me. I expected it to be more of a gameplay-centered game, but instead, it takes its time to build a compelling story from the start, which I immediately caught on to from the moment the first boss was defeated. I knew that we were in for something deeper, and I was not disappointed.

youmu on crack. combat is fun
BUT level design is so boring.
sound effects could have done better.

Homura Hime is a really fun little indie title inspired by Devil May Cry and Nier series. It a hack and slasher with a generous parry mechanic with a little bullet hell mixed in. Its not meant to be hard and it doesn't try to do that. It only has two difficulties and it might as well be normal and easy. It reminds me of Okami where its simply a game you play to enjoy a little, nothing too crazy but still fun. It also runs smooth not one hiccup or glitch well besides a few spelling errors in text. In summation its fun little hack slash indie that is actually play tested and running smooth.