Hmm. Lots to process with this game so far. A lot good, a lot not so good, in the early goings.
First of all, it's achingly beautiful. That opening cutscene man, whoof, that was intense. The game certainly has a mood - the art, music, framing, and even the pacing of the gameplay itself (there's a lot of walking around empty rooms and landscapes) all has a pervasive sense of melancholy. It's great.
The platforming with the dash is great fun once you get used to aiming. At first the perspective of the game was a bit difficult to understand in some situations, but I think I've grasped it now.
I like the combat. However, so far I have hit just a few too many encounters that feel less difficult and more... I don't want to say poorly designed, but maybe haphazard. Sometimes the game throws multiple large enemies with attention-demanding animations at you at once, and the low-detail-extremely-well-animated look suddenly becomes a burden. It can just feel like a mess sometimes, ESPECIALLY in fights in areas with trees or other overhangs getting in the way of the action. It's too early for me to outright say the dash not granting i-frames is a bad thing, but right now the combat definitely feels a bit wonky in many of the bigger group fights. It just gets unreadable.
Speaking of unreadable, I appreciate the idiosyncratic HUD in theory, but I'm not so sure about in practice just yet. Again, it feels like a slight clash between the simple art style and the complex nature of what's attempting to be displayed. It's certainly a style, and it's absolutely gorgeous for the most part - but sometimes it feels like it's quirky at the cost of functional.
I'll keep at it! The world and general tone is enough to make me want to stick it through even if I'm not in love with the core gameplay yet.
I need the soundtrack pronto. The 10th can't come soon enough.
