i hadn't played a 'Soulsborne' game before this but decided to pick it up after a friend convinced me i'd get along with the FromSoft action games. he was trying to get me into Bloodborne but i thought i'd be better off starting with the first in the series and i'm very glad that i did.
this is an awesome game that works really well at creating enough friction for you to come up against and persevere with an unreal feeling of accomplishment when you finally topple every obstacle.
the world itself is strange and opaque, with the details of each area filling in a lot of the blanks of the story. i really loved the horror-inflected vibe of the whole thing.
my understanding is that a Souls game isn't what it is without its boss design and i think that this is the only shortcoming i can level against this, which i think is in part due to my expectations, but i didn't think that (aside from aesthetic design) there was much that made the bosses particularly special with the exception of a handful (Flamelurker, Tower Knight, Armor Spider) that made the most of readable patterns and learning with each attempt.
this game has a special relationship with its players though and it really does feel like stepping into a hostile, inhospitable world. special mention goes to the incredibly bleak ending - i chose to walk through the fog door and a storybook voiceover tells you that you were released from the Nexus and the Big Bad Old One went to sleep again.. before waking up on the floor of the Nexus with every level reset. i respected how gleefully nihilistic this was - despite my best efforts there is no way to rehabilitate the worlds in this game, which'll be locked into an eternal cycle of evil and soul-eating..
a special game. looking forward to the next lot in the series now.