A decent game that didn't grab me
It is a pretty by the book action rpg roguelike with progression mechanics tied to a VN like friend system.
If that's too many terms -
Think a simpler Hades with a friendship meter rather than extensive dialogue.
For the most part gameplay is well done but doesn't try new things save a few quirky items-
Controls are good, combat is fairly smooth, with parry and dodge mechanics and a fairly fast pace.
Perfects require a bit of rhythm for some bonus damage and bosses has some simple patterns to learn to mastery/cheese.
The issue is that almost all of its "character" or unique aspects, I didn't really care for.
I didn't like the blocky 3d art style.
I didn't care for the story or the piecemeal way it's told.
The progression system is slow and it didn't make me want to try and beat it on harder difficulties (I finished at 25% completion with 15 runs, so maybe 10hrs? 40hr for completion sounds about right).
I tried the harder settings for a bit and it also made the combat way more hit and run, in an unfun kind of way.
The gift guesswork matchup was better than the typical give a thousand swords to the sword lover, but like the other progression too slow for me.
Much of this is obviously subjective, but still can't think of recommending it to someone unless they really like the genre already.