I didn't expect to like this game as much as I did. Souls likes are often a miss and I wasn't impressed with the game beta. Well this is ended up to be a major surprise.

The game begining was very friendly and it felt the game was more concerned of being enjoyable than hard. The game often gave many mini shortcuts and checkpoints. The initial bosses were on the easy side as well. That was a great way to keep me hooked. The game does many good things despite it carrying its inspiration proudly. The parry mechanic is tighter than most games. The healing back system was interesting twist on the Bloodborne one. Weapon assembly lead to some cool weapon creations. For the first time in one of those games that I played and leveled many weapons. The legion arm and fable arts were good additions. The game might have had too many systems but I think that keep the playthrough fun.

The levels was a highlight for me. Both from aesthetic and level design. Each place felt unique and lived in. The city of Krat felt like an actual place with reasonable locales. The enemy placement was genuinely fun and each time you felt there was a need for checkpoint there was either a stargazer or a checkpoint.

The bosses were another highlight here. Most of them felt fair and their moves were easily telegraphed. Some of the bosses are gonna end up among the highest in the genre for me.

Finally, the story and characters was another pleasant surprised. I liked these characters and felt for them. Which is not something I normally care about in these games. The plot had some nice twists and turns.

My major con is the game often feels like an imitation and veered too close on being a copycat like some level layouts and some boss designs. Another slight nitpick for me is the lack of major optional areas to explore. The levels had some secret paths and hidden items but there was no major area to explore with a boss and unique enemies.