The hubris of naming a game "____ Souls" in 2015 is astounding.
Reducing a combat-focused game to a series of boss fights is not an intrinsically untenable concept, although it certainly raises the question of what value a large and barren overworld brings beyond adding a load screen between each attempt. The issue is that this design puts tremendous pressure on the design of the combat and the bosses to be stellar, since the game has nothing else to offer. And stellar these bosses are not.
Of the six fights I beat and eight I played before setting this game down in exhausted disgust, I'd consider every one of them to be a "puzzle boss" in the context of other combat-focused games. The challenge isn't in mastering the combat system, and sightreading is completely out of the question when a single hit is fatal. The challenge is always just engaging in trial and error until you find the cutesy little weakness every boss has and manage to eyeball the correct arrow angle in your half-second opening. It's the worst parts of the worst kinds of bosses you'd expect to see in a generic Metroidvania, not something worth showcasing as an entire game.
Reducing a combat-focused game to a series of boss fights is not an intrinsically untenable concept, although it certainly raises the question of what value a large and barren overworld brings beyond adding a load screen between each attempt. The issue is that this design puts tremendous pressure on the design of the combat and the bosses to be stellar, since the game has nothing else to offer. And stellar these bosses are not.
Of the six fights I beat and eight I played before setting this game down in exhausted disgust, I'd consider every one of them to be a "puzzle boss" in the context of other combat-focused games. The challenge isn't in mastering the combat system, and sightreading is completely out of the question when a single hit is fatal. The challenge is always just engaging in trial and error until you find the cutesy little weakness every boss has and manage to eyeball the correct arrow angle in your half-second opening. It's the worst parts of the worst kinds of bosses you'd expect to see in a generic Metroidvania, not something worth showcasing as an entire game.