Definitely the best 2D Souls-like I've played. Now it's obviously got a lot of Metroidvania elements as well, but the Souls influence is heavy and they're all adventure games anyway...
Now that aside... The single greatest element of this game is the art. It's gorgeous; it's fluid; it's unique. There's clearly a lot of passion in all of the little animations and half the fun of the game is witnessing all of it.
Gameplay-wise, this is a very technical 2D platformer. The controls are super responsive and very geared towards reaction gameplay, to the point where you can screw yourself over with accidental inputs. To put it in car terms, it controls like a race car: if you know how to drive well it rewards you, but if you can't you'll hurt yourself. I've been told it's a difficult game, but outside of the optional challenge content and a couple platforming sections, I didn't really find anything to be that hard... but I'm almost 100% sure that's because I can handle the controls. I felt like I was using years of experience playing Smash Bros. I loved it, but mileage will vary greatly.
As for the exploration side of the game, I enjoyed that a lot as well, though it did start to get more tedious the more of the map I had filled out. People who are really into manually mapping things out will have a ball here as the map itself is progressively unlocked with missable pickups. If you're not hot on that idea, it thankfully gives you just enough to get you through, but you will likely lookup a guide more than once. I got through without a guide for 87% completion and somehow managed to miss a traversal upgrade that could have sped things up, as the section of map it was in I thought was explored, but it turned out I missed a big chunk because the map doesn't reveal in high fidelity. That might sound like a negative, but I actually love that fact. It does make the game a bit more exhausting to play, though.
There's not too much more to say, this game knows what it is and doesn't try to be more than that. If any one of the aspects I've described sounds intriguing to you, give it a try: it's definitely a unique and memorable experience.
Now that aside... The single greatest element of this game is the art. It's gorgeous; it's fluid; it's unique. There's clearly a lot of passion in all of the little animations and half the fun of the game is witnessing all of it.
Gameplay-wise, this is a very technical 2D platformer. The controls are super responsive and very geared towards reaction gameplay, to the point where you can screw yourself over with accidental inputs. To put it in car terms, it controls like a race car: if you know how to drive well it rewards you, but if you can't you'll hurt yourself. I've been told it's a difficult game, but outside of the optional challenge content and a couple platforming sections, I didn't really find anything to be that hard... but I'm almost 100% sure that's because I can handle the controls. I felt like I was using years of experience playing Smash Bros. I loved it, but mileage will vary greatly.
As for the exploration side of the game, I enjoyed that a lot as well, though it did start to get more tedious the more of the map I had filled out. People who are really into manually mapping things out will have a ball here as the map itself is progressively unlocked with missable pickups. If you're not hot on that idea, it thankfully gives you just enough to get you through, but you will likely lookup a guide more than once. I got through without a guide for 87% completion and somehow managed to miss a traversal upgrade that could have sped things up, as the section of map it was in I thought was explored, but it turned out I missed a big chunk because the map doesn't reveal in high fidelity. That might sound like a negative, but I actually love that fact. It does make the game a bit more exhausting to play, though.
There's not too much more to say, this game knows what it is and doesn't try to be more than that. If any one of the aspects I've described sounds intriguing to you, give it a try: it's definitely a unique and memorable experience.