Amazing game with 3 free dlc's included in the base game, and the game is really fun, it sure is hard too, but its as hard as your average souls like game, struggle, learn patterns, get better at learning patterns and dodging and gg
The art is wonderful, the scenarios are amazing and playing it from the beginning to the end was satisfying, specially after beating a hard boss
Now, the only downside to me so far are the bugs, i had to suicide a few times cuz enemies got stuck in the middle of their animations and wouldn't take any damage as well in a challenge room, so i had no way to leave such place other than dying

A fantastic game with a few glaring flaws. Worth the time and money.

Pros:

• Excellent artwork
  
• Strong world-building and plot
  
• Tight, soulslike gameplay
  
• Large world to explore

Cons:

• Instant death spike pits
  
• No true movement upgrades
  
• Easy to lock yourself out of the true ending

A strong artistic vision undermined by poor game design.

Good: The art, the worldbuilding, writing and atmosphere are amazing. The soundscape is nothing to sneeze at either.

Ok: The combat system itself is alright, with directional attacks, dodge roll and a parry. I do think it is insufficiently communicated to the player, which attacks can and can't be parried and when you can and can't roll through enemies. This makes for occasional frustrating trial-and-error situations, but it wasn't a huge issue overall.

Bad:
- The map design is less than great. Shortcuts are not like in Dark Souls, where you can feel the world opening up by activating an elevator or opening a locked door. Instead, they usually save you one or two screens of walking. There is alot of backtracking here (not unusual for Metroidvanias, and can be implemented in a rewarding manner), and the fast travel stuff is usually unlocked at the end of an area. This means
1. That prior to the unlock, you have to run through the whole area again to bang your head against a difficult boss or platforming section.
2. The fast travel points cluster around the edges of the map/their area, leaving big empty spots in the middle you still need to walk through to get somewhere.

- Loot and some Skill unlocks are just bafflingly useless. There is no real variety of builds or playstyles. Most of the spells are trash, while others (thunderstorm cough cough) are so strong they are a must-pick. I experimented a bit with rosary beads and their effects are so miniscule, that there is little point in using them at all.

- The boss fights are boring. That's it. Some are way too easy and predictable, while others have way overtuned damage or weird hitboxes. And their respective gimmicks are just not fun. So I either figured the boss out and then stood there bored for 2 minutes chipping away at their way too big healthbar. Or I walked up and two-shot them with the thunderstorm spell.

- Bugs: I do believe, that I had an above-average number of bugs, but still. I got stuck in walls, stuck in enemies, stuck in animations. Bosses got stuck in animations off-screen, so that I had to restart the game and thus the fight. The candle things that boost your health/Fervor, only work in a certain order (might not be a bug instead of just a stupid idea).

Conclusion: In terms of art direction, this game is very nice. But when it comes to game design, it feels like the devs wanted to emulate certain "Souls-Like" Characteristics without understanding why they work in their respective games.