Played for another hour and a half just now after defeating the Cleric Beast last night, and then turning it off to go eat. Then the electricity went out for awhile so unable to resume last night.
But, once the combat starts to click, and you start exploring and seeing the shortcuts and the way the game doubles back on itself to lanterns, you really start to see the usual genius of the Souls games.
That dread in your stomach when you're climbing down a ladder to an unknown spot, and you hear breathing/something making a terrible noise, it sometimes goes from "I'm brave, I can do this" to "I've made a huge mistake".