Above all else this game succeeds on an aesthetic level. Detailed pixel art on 3D backgrounds that have change angles is a late 90s look that not a lot of modern games follow. The character designs are also great, committing to that biomechanical look the original had to move away from.
On the gameplay side, the initial impression is pretty positive, enemies and player alike have no invincibility frames until they hit the floor so you can get into lengthy combos, as can enemies. Unfortunately throwing more enemies at you so they can stunlock you is where most of the difficulty comes in. You can escape this with a burst mechanic straight like Guilty Gear, but the fact that most fights increase the difficulty by piling more enemies on rather than increasing complexity is unfrotunate, I feel the game could've benefited from more enemies/enemies having more abilities. On the defensive side, you get a brief invincibility dash and a SF3 style parry. The dash doesn't function so strongly as other invincible dodges in modern action games so that's nice, some attacks have long enough reach that you'll just dodge into them if you're not careful. The individual zones associated with each boss do feel like they set themselves apart enough that they stand out, as do each of the bosses.