After the platinum trophy and three playthroughs I think it's time to drop my thoughts.
This is a pretty stellar game, definitely among the apex of soulslike games and likely the best of its style outside of FromSoftware. It's obvious the aesthetic and regain system (basically rally, with some tweaks) are Bloodborne inspired, and the combat a mix of BB and Sekiro's parrying but there is enough of an X factor to give it its own flavor and make it stand out on its own terms.
First, what I wasn't a fan of:
The weight system really brings it down, if you want to give yourself some survivability while you learn the enemies' attack patterns you'll likely be given the mid-roll which feels really enough to use against the faster-than-Bloodborne enemies. A few bosses were demanding to learn even by souls standards, it's possible that this game might be the hardest game in the genre (except outside of Elden Ring's more infamous bosses).
With that out of the way, some things I liked, in my particular order:
The game introduces a mechanical arm system that gives the combat a really nice flavor. I mostly used the Puppet String grappling hook (I want to mess around with the others in a future playthrough), it's a great gap-closer and the maxed out version has an attack with high stun capability. The parry system, known here as Perfect Guard, has a much tighter window than Sekiro does so it really demands you get better (generally speaking, it's super hard on a first playthrough to find gear to overpower everything).
Many people have lauded the weapon assembly system, where the handle of a weapon can be used to give a moveset to another weapon's blade/edge/tip. Obviously the match damage types will work better than mismatched ones, and while I didn't really mess around with it I already have a few weapons I wanna try (the greataxe's head on a dagger's handle is hilarious, and still effective). The boss weapons were more my speed, my personal favorite being the Puppet Ripper scythe (not quite as magical as BB's Burial Blade, but still had my NG+ playthrough be tons of fun).
There is a decent amount of enemy variety, ranging mostly between puppets, mechs, and humanoid abominations. Most are fun to learn, and there are enough variations between the enemy classes throughout the game that it never gets old. I do think the final chapter of the game does go a little overboard by having mobs of super tough enemies in succession, but it's not gamebreakingly annoting.
Bosses mostly delivered, after three playthroughs I feel I have a decent feel for them but definitely want to continue to get better. The gank fights are definitely my least favorite, the first version being not too bad since there's one additional add at a time, but the rematch is kind of bad and I honestly might get get the specter next playthrough. My favorite fights are chapter 8, 7, and the final boss, all of them test your parry and dodge timings in different ways (final boss especially checks your parry skills).
I was surprisingly invested in the story. The true ending got an emotional reaction out of me I didn't expect, and that ending with the extra context in NG+ really makes the story feel that much more lively. Refraining from potential spoilers, you'll likely know when you get there.
One type of collectible are records, which you can listen in the hotel, and listening to them in full boosts humanity. The track "Feel" was genuinely so beautiful it gave me pause. I tend not to be super attentive to music in most games, but this game's soundtrack had some incredible pieces.
While the game is not perfect, it certainly shows lots of potential from Neowiz. If they take the lessons from this game to heart and make more soulslikes, we could be in store for something truly special that would make From blush. I'll probably level up some more on NG++ before I wait for the DLC (if they do what FS does, it'll like an endgame area that's much harder than the main game, and I don't want to make myself TOO miserable going through it first time). Definitely a must for souls fans, even if you feel tired of the genre's style you might find just enough here to sink your teeth in.
9/10
This is a pretty stellar game, definitely among the apex of soulslike games and likely the best of its style outside of FromSoftware. It's obvious the aesthetic and regain system (basically rally, with some tweaks) are Bloodborne inspired, and the combat a mix of BB and Sekiro's parrying but there is enough of an X factor to give it its own flavor and make it stand out on its own terms.
First, what I wasn't a fan of:
The weight system really brings it down, if you want to give yourself some survivability while you learn the enemies' attack patterns you'll likely be given the mid-roll which feels really enough to use against the faster-than-Bloodborne enemies. A few bosses were demanding to learn even by souls standards, it's possible that this game might be the hardest game in the genre (except outside of Elden Ring's more infamous bosses).
With that out of the way, some things I liked, in my particular order:
The game introduces a mechanical arm system that gives the combat a really nice flavor. I mostly used the Puppet String grappling hook (I want to mess around with the others in a future playthrough), it's a great gap-closer and the maxed out version has an attack with high stun capability. The parry system, known here as Perfect Guard, has a much tighter window than Sekiro does so it really demands you get better (generally speaking, it's super hard on a first playthrough to find gear to overpower everything).
Many people have lauded the weapon assembly system, where the handle of a weapon can be used to give a moveset to another weapon's blade/edge/tip. Obviously the match damage types will work better than mismatched ones, and while I didn't really mess around with it I already have a few weapons I wanna try (the greataxe's head on a dagger's handle is hilarious, and still effective). The boss weapons were more my speed, my personal favorite being the Puppet Ripper scythe (not quite as magical as BB's Burial Blade, but still had my NG+ playthrough be tons of fun).
There is a decent amount of enemy variety, ranging mostly between puppets, mechs, and humanoid abominations. Most are fun to learn, and there are enough variations between the enemy classes throughout the game that it never gets old. I do think the final chapter of the game does go a little overboard by having mobs of super tough enemies in succession, but it's not gamebreakingly annoting.
Bosses mostly delivered, after three playthroughs I feel I have a decent feel for them but definitely want to continue to get better. The gank fights are definitely my least favorite, the first version being not too bad since there's one additional add at a time, but the rematch is kind of bad and I honestly might get get the specter next playthrough. My favorite fights are chapter 8, 7, and the final boss, all of them test your parry and dodge timings in different ways (final boss especially checks your parry skills).
I was surprisingly invested in the story. The true ending got an emotional reaction out of me I didn't expect, and that ending with the extra context in NG+ really makes the story feel that much more lively. Refraining from potential spoilers, you'll likely know when you get there.
One type of collectible are records, which you can listen in the hotel, and listening to them in full boosts humanity. The track "Feel" was genuinely so beautiful it gave me pause. I tend not to be super attentive to music in most games, but this game's soundtrack had some incredible pieces.
While the game is not perfect, it certainly shows lots of potential from Neowiz. If they take the lessons from this game to heart and make more soulslikes, we could be in store for something truly special that would make From blush. I'll probably level up some more on NG++ before I wait for the DLC (if they do what FS does, it'll like an endgame area that's much harder than the main game, and I don't want to make myself TOO miserable going through it first time). Definitely a must for souls fans, even if you feel tired of the genre's style you might find just enough here to sink your teeth in.
9/10