I pre-ordered Deluxe Edition as soon as it became available and now and after playing a demo... I CANNOT WAIT for the game's release.
Like, yeah, it's nothing like the old games, that's for sure, but it is still an incredible combo-driven action game in its own right and I love it to death! If Ninja Gaiden is mostly a one hit kill game (excluding bosses), here's it's all about combos, using different abilities and mixing everything together in extremely satisfying, smooth as botter gameplay and absolutely perfect controls. You can kick enemies in the nuts from sprinting, launch a few basic attacks to kick them in the air, then launch heavy attack, dash forward, launch heavy attack finisher, throw kunai and then use one of the abilities, all of this in very quick succession and it looks and feels amazing! And it's only the beginning of the game, imagine what else is there the more you'll be playing it.
Honestly, what's not to like here? If it were clunky af with input delays and just in general wasn't all that satisfying and animations wasn't as god-like, then yes, I can see why some people might not like it, but c'mon now, it's anything but that. They fuckin' nailed it!