Apparently on PC it's a disaster. I'll know if it's the same on PS5 by tonight. Doesn't seem to be from what I've seen online but image quality could be what takes the hit, it being UE5 which very rarely (Clair Obscur) runs well on all fronts. 

I was listening to the menu music there while I let it download and so far so good, if that's any indication. I'll dig in soon enough now. It's only 15gb, I'm not sure if that's a good sign or an omen. 

6 hours. 3 bosses. Ps5. Favour FPS.

Spent most of the time playing with the bosses to try and figure out the game and I'm very unsure one very specific thing. It's a standard Soulslike, the stiff kind that goes for methodical play (Dark Souls, Lie of P) sprinkled with loads of stuff on top right out the gate like spells, combos and a perfect dodge system right out of Wu Kong. Now unless I'm missing something these two things do not mesh together. I'm not even sure this is a direct system or just something I went down the skill tree but it seems to be integral and that is having a reward system for perfect dodges in a souls like stanima limited game, it doesn't seem to work. Everything around this is very fun regardless and hopefully there is a flow to fall into here that happens over time but so far the game wants to be Souls and Wu Kong at the same time and it's frustrating while in the middle of the two. I feel they seen Wukongs success and slapped this on retroactively and hoped it works and now I hope it works too, way to early to comment on it cause progression could alleviate it and Khazan had Stanima issues but that game was actually more fun at the end of the day cause it limited stanima and had progression that was meant to be used to counter a lack of stanima as I found out when I built so far as to make stanima a non issue and broke the game late in NG+. 

Performane/graphics - A good way to describe the graphics is Rise of The Ronin but with far, far more detail. Apart from no open world, that comparison works for the world, NPCs and quite a lot visually. Image quality is much better than Wu Kong so far, with slight little issues that go unnoticed after you stop inspecting like minor shadow pop in, some kind of texture or detail pop in that the eye catches but it's very mild, some shitty textures in random places. Really good all in all apart from one issue in one encounter that disappeared once I lost to it, a boss battle where there was a hell of a lot of screen tearing, there was very slight screen tearing in the first few moments of the game but it went away and hasn't been an issue since. I hope this isn't an issue down the line but from what I've played asides from that one encounter it has not been. The hair is very UE5 and there is some slight fuzz that is noticeable at closer distances to the TV but mainly on character. If there is artifacts it's not gonna matter much cause every move in the game, enemies and you have a blur effect, like WuKong but I have not noticed anything that's made me feel sick. If you managed WuKong, this is emaculate in comparison and if you didn't notice Wukongs issues you won't here. HDR is a treat. 

Gameplay - I'm totally sick of bog standard Souls, Lies of P drained it out of me but here this is weighty, loads of weapons you can switch to on the fly and switch builds anytime and unlike Lies of P it's gorey and feels so much fresher. Plenty of cool skills and combos right out the gate and different across weapons but they do admittedly feel more like weapon arts, a once off thing, some of them and also all magic skills are tied to the dodge risk reward system I mentioned earlier.  Items have that premium feel, something that made WuKong great and what all Souls games need imo. You're plastered with loads of systems and little extra things like different forms of gear slotting and trinkets and what not. I would say this is fantastic in the core gameplay and it'll be phenomenal if that system with the dodging doesn't feel disjointed as it does right now. Much will depend on finding two weapons you like and zi already have my combo, halberd which is more like an axe here and a spear for reach, which is very swift and agile. 

Design - Sound design is cool, VA is... passable to sometimes good. I can not speak on level design yet but so far it's passable from what I've seen, nothing too twisty or winding but multiple paths. The world looks cool, maybe not as cool as WuKong but it has that same charm. The character is decent, I mean the perspective of the camera is pulled bavk so she takes up little space but if you look closely there's a lot of fuzz. She's not overly sexualized as they say, she's fairly armoured up and it's mostly actual useful armour, she's not Eve from stellar blade but she certainly beats a standard Soulsborne body type. There's transport so you can keep a cool outfit and still have armour that works oh and to something I failed to mention, seems you'll be switching armour a lot for stats. All the sounds, item pick ups and the little touchs feel very premium and not at all AA. As I said HDR was a treat above, it may prove an issue with boss telgraphing and perhaps SDR too with the effects spam. Lots of cheap enemy placement, traps, status effects upon status effects, multiple at a time and just annoying design ontop of the fun base much like a Team Ninja DLC or Lies of P. It's a hammering the fun a bit, for instance an enemy that stun locks you where you have to break it with a tapping QTE while other enemies swarm and your head to toe in two different status effects, it's not poor design in itself but definetly a sign that they choose to add this in because they felt they couldn't meaningfully increase difficulty in proper ways again like a Nioh DLC does, it's strange to hit this point so early. 

All in all, really good so far with a few annoyances but over the long haul I'm not sure. The game has hit better out of the gate than many of these types of games over the last two years like Stellar Blade and Wu Kong which took me 7 hours and 16 respectively to begin to start to like so if that core system starts to work I think this might be a hit... but there is one thing I have serious issue with, so far I have found it fun and really cool for the risk factor when I have been so bored of souls being a a currency with a risk factor that I turned it off in Another Crab treaure and loved Khazans treatment of it and WuKongs lack of it, so I do appreciate this somewhat but I can see this getting very, very frustrating and that's obviously the Souls drop mechanic which as you die a meter grows and once that meter maxes out a revenant will be at your grave site and you'll have to fight them to regain your Souls, so far I have not found this difficult nor have I had enough Souls to really be sweating, it just seems like a bit of a slap to punish those that are failing already. You do extra damage but you're more squishy also, weird but it's fresh and so far... until there's three level ups worth of Souls and I'm down and out and frustrated, it's pretty nice. 

I feel quite a pull. It's got me going back in right after a 4 hour session.

Going to download it on Xbox game pass.

Warning: Anyone going to pay money for this game do NOT buy on recommendations without watching the first area up to the fourth boss. I advise this because this game is only for a subset of Souls players. If you enjoy going into Nioh DLC without an end game build, if Sen Fortress is a highly rated area of yours, if you like or don't mind severe status effects and dealing with multiple at a time along with tricks, traps and the game ill preparing you for a boss that increases aggression and speed triple or quadruple that of what has come before (think Lies of P Laxaisia), you will find a fresh experience. That boss I mentioned may be a Genichiro moment, I haven't beaten her yet but I suspect more of a Laxasia moment cause I fear the "difficulty" will go right back down afterward. 

I won't comment further until I spend more time with it cause there is still fun here and despite this design it's fresh and I still want to continue but I know for a solid fact this game isn't for the vast majority as of right now. I also realise the Souls influencer community have shown they are a bunch of shills or extreme hypocrites, I know for a fact they know for 100% certainty that this is not a game for the majority of players and yet mention nothing, the first thing anyone who cared for their audiences finances would warn about the design of this game. People who have spent years complaining about this type of design in FS games. I can only assume some want to be able to milk a guide, the fighting cowboys and what not, whom in particular showed the second area of the game funnily enough cause he knew the first area was a complete trash fire of end game souls spam. Stating he wanted to avoid spoilers but surely the first area would be better suited for that. Instead he nitpick and pulls out the most minor stuff while brushing past such drastic design decisions aswell as enemies all being the same, levels that look so samey they are hard to navigate and other issues. 

Alas, I just want to advise majour caution here, you could end up with a severe dud on your hands depending on what you enjoy out of these games, esspecially if you are a Elden Ring newbie or you are in this for the stellar blade experience. Asides from the frustrating design the game wants to be too many things at once, most notably souls and at the same time WuKong, this could fall into place but I'm five bisses in and it yet has to do so. AILimit is on sale for 28 euro, I wish I had went with that. While I've not played AiLimit the community speaks highly but I'd already recommend going with Khazan which is only 10 euro more, if you need a souls fix and missed that one, that's a really solid game once you get familiar with it's systems and flow. 

I was watching people playing on twitch, not bad, gameplay is cool. Then i noticed a new game trailer on youtube (Morbid Metal), awesome!

Game got a update, seems like it helped a lot but another 'bigger update' is on the works. Anyway just downloaded it.

I'm about close to twn hours in, been very thorough and I'm on the 7th boss I think, I lost count as there were some minor ones, this is the first actually hard boss and it's an insanely different game, I'm swapping out weapons, styles all gear and whatnot and approaching the boss in different ways and it's tough. I hope this is a Genichiro moment but I'm not so sure, we'll see, judging by the health bar size I'll have a while at this boss even though I found some stats that are somewhat working.

I won't comment on the game until after this fight and see if this is a turning point or it'll return to being all over the place with every great aspect having a a terrible aspect in the same area of design, systems and combat. One thing I wanna say though, is I've never seen a game do so well with level design on a massive sale while being so bad in the immediate local area design. It's fascinating how they can connect the game like DS1 but then choke areas at ladder hidden in a sea of noise map design and being so terrible at directing the player with even the slightest cue. I'm not even sure it's a bad thing, it brings back nostalgia for PS2 games where you'd get stuck, there is something to be said about this kind of design but at the end of the day it feels like they just slapped the world down and put goals and enemies in it, haphazardly with no reason for the world asides from being a backdrop and I know some Souls players love that, Like DS2 fans.

Sad to say it's a hard no on this game. Save your money. It is mid to good with a lot of areas where it is excellent but equally those areas are brought down by many terrible aspects. Just two example, exploration at a large scale is brilliant but immeadiate exploration is dogshit and the cor combat and systems are amazing for this type of Souls but none of them work together, the game wants to be Dark Souls, WuKong and now Sekiro and none of them work together and often don't work independently either. Like the first boss difficulty wall (which is not a Genichiro moment but an awkward side step into what feels like a different game) where the game funnels you into a styles of play close to Sekiro, you can technically play any weapon you want and they all counter the boss but there is a massive disconnect, it feels like the systems don't gel and it all feels like it's held together with ticky tack. It just feels poorly designed. That said, the game has a strong pull and despite these flaws it has some claws. I'll probably continue on but it's more Stockholm syndrome than enjoyment.