both better and worse than circle of the moon
good:
1) the combat is more satisfying
2) only gear and consumables is farmable(you can still find those lying around the castle)
3) The magic tomes mechanic is cool and also makes a good reuse of sub-weapons, since magic tomes change their movesets based on the kind of tome you're using
bad:
1) the music causes more headaches than music from cruelty squad(cruelty squad's music is intentionally bad)
2) the main feature of constantly traversing through both versions of the castle turns the game into a painful maze. i got a bad dream after playing it
3) goofy ahh animations