I really loved the music and art style of the first game - it was just too damn hard for me. Will skip the sequel, but I'm glad it exists for those that liked the first one.
Best announcement of the direct for me. Everything they showed so far looked to be identical in gameplay to the first game, although admittedly it's a 1 minute teaser. Hopefully there are some new elements to the game that they simply haven't shown yet. But honestly, even if it is exactly the same style as the first one, I'll take it. It's got enough going on to squeeze out a second game without the style growing stale I would think.
Totally. It's got great art and music (classical-inspired. Lots of piano, often hauntingly beautiful). Game has Souls-like influences in combat, but avoids most of the annoying aspects that really turn people (like me) off, namely the lengthy backtracking if you die, combat being excessively slow, and punishing loss of currency that restricts exploration. It's hard, yes, but not impossibly so, and combat is very customizable to allow you to experiment with how you want to deal with these bosses. The map system and exploration is unique; you get enough detail to know where you can go and if you've collected items, but not enough to know where you should go or how to get there. Best Metroidvania ever? Maybe not, but ranks quite highly for me.
The level design wasn't doing it for me in the first game. I had fun beating the witch, but that's where I dropped it. I wouldn't mind playing this if they improved upon the levels.