Requiem is a better game than the first one, but here's the thing, I've like 10 more chapters left to play but I think at this point it is safe to say that I've seen if not everything the game has to offer gameplay-wise, but for sure most of the stuff, so, here it goes:
Asobo should've completely got rid of the sling mechanic, combat and stealth related stuff tied to it cuz.... it's fuckin' stupid and extremely bad beyond believe. Not only you literally don't have any way to make it better in combat or stealth... but come the fuck on, throwing rocks at boxes with armor pieces to move enemies out of the way or to get past sometimes very idiotic stealth sections, which otherwise could've been easily avoided? Why would you also need this pos in stealth if you can throw rocks (and pots) by hand? Oh, but wait, somehow it does not count and even though enemies can clearly see that something is wrong... they can only react when you throw rocks at boxes with armor pieces - wtf is this bs? Literally in 99% of other games it works exactly as it should but nope, not here, cuz we have really stupid mechanic we want to force you to use, which makes stealth sections far worse than they should have been. Why can't you just give an effin' bow to Amicia, let her use rocks like a normal person in many other games and use alchemy in stealth instead, especially if it is possible to use it like in Thief games where you could take out torches with water arrows, create surfaces to safely step on and so on and so forth? There's so many ways you can make the game better, but stupid sling mechanic still holds it back. They have almost everything in the game already to get rid of the sling completely, you can even use alchemy with cross bow and what's stopping you from using it to get rid of torches, lanterns etc.?
I'm sorry, but this had to be said cuz sling is by far the biggest problem Requiem has and Innocence as well... and... maybe half of the stuff you can upgrade using resources. Is there even one person who used knives in the game during the first playthrough to kill enemies instead of finding and opening secret workbenches and upgrade stuff? The last tree related to tools and upgrades and most of the stuff related to pods are completely useless during the first playthrough, cuz for example you can take out enemies without helmet easily with your sling in two ways at least, 2 of which almost exactly the same if you're using pots as an alternative. Also, why the fuck you can't stealthly kill enemies with helmets using sling? WHY?!
I mean, damn, they shot themselves in the foot by sticking to sling the second time and at the same time not really offerying anything interesting when it comes to upgrades, most of which are + - the same as in the first game, but here's the thing, the same can be said about TLOP2 in comparison to the first game, and yet it's a miles and miles better game than original, Requiem also could've been like it and they almost did it... but, you know.
Goddamin it, Asobo, I effin' love Requiem, but combat and stealth still is not fully there... again. But at least you can't die from one hit, checkpoints are far better and there is an option to hide under tables etc., which still and even with all other flaws. makes the game far better to play than Innocence and hide from enemies way easily.