Fall of Light: Darkest Edition

II have, as of the time of this writing, tried my best (for 5.8 hours) to like this game. But there's so much that just drives me insane about it. For instance, the entirety of it is an escort quest for a character that is necessary to be able to use save points, and can get kidnapped, including when the game forces you to split up. Disabling your ability to save and level. (I should note, for fans of customizing your character, leveling is strictly for gaining health- though that is, in fact, helpful). Also, for fans of tweaking your character, while different weapons exist- you can't actually carry weapons you aren't using in one of your two loadouts, so I hope you like leaving items behind in miscellaneous areas if you want to try out something different - especially since the game doesn't tell you any details about their damage, how much of an upgrade something is versus their predecessor- or anything useful about them, other than, what their (very infrequent) status effects are, and if they are a basic variant or +, ++, etc. Oh, and while this says its a soulslike- you can't retrieve all the experience you lose when you die. And the game will get you with cheap gotcha deaths, with a few tied to items you *could* retrieve, but that it will punish you for doing so. (Also, if you die, the girl dies and needs to be retrieved if you want to save or level. Unless she's kidnapped, in which case you need to find where she's been stashed to fetch her). ...Oh, and combat is a -slog-. It either tends to involve stunlocking an enemy with daggers, so they don't get a chance to act, or dealing with enemies that are faster than your attack swings, have solid attack range, hit like a truck, and happily dodge back or hop away - all but requiring you to trade with them. Unless you luck out with the aforementioned daggers, and even then- it might take a solid 30 seconds or even a minute to finally get them to stop hopping around and leave an opening to actually get in there, given- they are frequently joined by friends. Which is cool when they're *constantly* surrounded by instant death falls, in a dungeon that's a good couple minute hike from a save point (as opposed to putting 1 at the dungeon start). Also, the game is abysmally dark, and provides you a torch that runs out fairly quickly, despite it's tenebrous state of being. Which is funny with those aforementioned instant death pits. Oh, and this game could really use a map, especially given there's a lack of a funtional fast travel system, at least as far as I found. Like, I found locations that certainly seemed like they -should- be fast travel points. But, no dice. Maybe they would have procced after I cleared the first dungeon- but, Despite me breaking a switch that should have let me progress forward, my path remained barred. Which was very cool. I don't even know if it's just some switch lodged in a far unseen corner, or if my run has just janked out, but my enjoyment of the experience has long run dry, and I would need another few drinks in me before I decided to give this game a try again. Like, even with my progress being blockaded, the overall experience is just tedious and unfun.