Thymesia (2022)

Thymesia is not souls-like, rather it's Sekiro-like. The combat is very fast-paced and in the later stages it puts real focus on parrying rather than dodging. Seriously, one boss is purely about parries.

For a beginner, it's a very hard game, cause the difficulty can be all over the place. The very first map after tutorial gives you some hints here and there, but overall doesn't really push it to extremes. And then Odur comes. Your first boss. Suddenly, the game is 10 times faster, he dashes all over the place, attacks from invisibility, his ult is barely escapable and gives you very little space to breathe. This is a difficulty spike that, I'm sure, can deter quite a lot of people. Which is sad cause the combat systems are pretty good. Once you learn them, it's quite satisfying. The irony just is, that it's Odur that forces you to hard-train those mechanics and after him, rest of the game becomes quite easy.

I read zero lines of the story, so I don't know anything, the maps were fine but ultimately a little maze-like and quite bland. The "tutorial" map is really good and then...some forest with a circus and yellowy fog? Like...huh? That sort of destroyed he atmosphere. There are four different zones, though, so you still can find your favorite. The only shame is that each zone is quite disconnected from the other, losing the overall sense of the connected world.

Funny thing: game has quite interesting Alchemy system, that is SO uneaxplained, that only 9% of people managed to craft a recipe. You don't even get to know there are some recipes (3 ingredients that not only give you bonus from each ingriedient, but has bonus effect) at all. You don't find them in the world, you don't see them anywhere explained. I found out about them through achievements.

All in all: if you love the genre, go for it. It's not a long game and the time you spend with it is quite fun. It CAN be very frustrating, as some enemies seem to break the rules of the game, but ultimately it's (probably) like your first souls/borne/sekiro game: it is frustrating until you learn their damn moves and then you watch them die with utmost satisfaction. It's a rollercoaster, but fun one.

P.S.: And taking into account that this game was made by seven people, the results could've been a whole lot worse. Good job.