Having enjoyed other metroidvanias (primarily Hollow Knight and Silksong), I thought I would also enjoy this game. However, if I called this game a metroidvania I would be lying. The game is incredibly linear, where you explore one area and then fight a boss. The exploration is boring and the areas aren't particularly interesting. Almost every area has some vague technical theme. Exploration consists of a lot of waiting for moving platforms. Movement abilities are picked up at certain points by resting, and your only reward for exploration is either money or a talisman (an equippable). This makes exploration even more boring as it is entirely unrewarding. I understand this linearity is required for the game's story telling, but the story was trite and derivative. It's like the authors heard "show don't tell" and got it entirely backwards. You just sit and read pages of dialogue. I don't know if I'll even finish the final boss because I can't be bothered to suffer through another annoying fight (see below) just to finish a story I'm not interested in.
My next issue is with the economy of the game. There isn't really enough jin (money) available to reasonably buy most items. Nothing is gained via exploration and everything costs money. Health vials cost money, health increases (mostly) cost money. Weapon upgrades cost money. With the Soulslike drop-money-on-death mechanic, it is very easy to lose money as well. Especially with how punishing the game's combat is. Random adds can take away health very quickly, especially when fighting multiple enemies. I don't think the combat is particularly suited for multiple enemies despite how often the game sends 3-4 at you simultaneously. Since parrying does not stagger, you end up having to parry every single hit from multiple enemies at once. Pair this with awkward timing and hitboxes on some enemies and exploration becomes an uninteresting chore. Also the map sucks and you cannot pan between areas while zoomed in.
The art is nice enough, nothing stunning like other reviews say. Given how uninteresting most of the environments are, I can't call the art good since everything looks the same. The soundtrack is incredibly boring too. Again everything sounds vaguely techy and I can't recall any specific part of the soundtrack. Lady Ethereal's boss soundtrack was alright and that's the best I can say.
Boss fights were also underwhelming. Most have 3, maybe 4 attacks they repeat in succession. Barring the final boss, chains are 2-3 moves with little variation. Bosses take an absurd amount of damage to kill while also killing you very quickly. This makes bosses mostly an exercise in tedium, especially because most second phases add little variation other than stage hazards. As a result you spend 2-3 minutes repeating the first phase you already learned (often hitless) just to instantly die on the second or third phase which makes learning the second phase a test of patience.
Overall I was just bored and frustrated with this game. It's underwhelming for how much it's praised.
