I am a fan of Metroidvanias and Soulslikes, and I have completed both Hollow Knight as well several Souls Games (among others). I fall squarely into the target audience for this game, and unfortunately, I cannot recommend it to anyone, even though I wanted to love it. The art design, the music, the themes, characters and story are all great. The moment-to-moment gameplay is incredibly tight. The problem with this game lies with its poor difficulty balance, very punishing encounters, and tediousness. This makes the game a frustrating, unrewarding experience rather than an interesting and tough challenge. Many times, the game feels actively hostile and antagonistic towards the player. The main issues lie not with the difficulty of the boss fights themselves, but the tedious runbacks, repeated and unskippable gauntlets, and some truly baffling design choices (such as having to farm shards to use tools, a major mechanic in the game). All together, this leaves you with the feeling of wasting your time, and beating a boss does not feel rewarding, rather you feel relief that you do not have to do this part of the game anymore. This is a shame, since the game, otherwise, is briiliant, and the issues it has have long been solved by other games in the genre (Elden Ring being the prime example). Of the target audience for this game, I believe only a small fraction will find it enjoyable. The rest will find their enjoyment overshadowed by intense frustration and a sense of wasting one’s time. Hence, I cannot recommend it.
