If you're a fan of either the souls series or the metroidvania genre then this will likely scratch an itch for you. Truth be told, it doesn't really do anything novel for either genre and in some ways being close to both can make this feel a bit disappointing. Only a bit. The art direction and Spanish-inspired-catholic music are great. That said, aside from the music and pixel art, this really isn't that exceptional when compared to other games in a similar genre. I think Hollow Knight is overall a superior experience, but this game is still worth your time if you're a fan of the genres.
Movement and combat is fast and mostly fluid. You will need to do a lot of backtracking and like with Hollow Knight there is a decent amount of non-linearity in how you can progress through the game. I did find progression in this game to be kind of lackluster though. Like with Hollow Knight, you have multiple forms of progression. You have traversal upgrades, you have weapon upgrades and you have trinket upgrades. Sword upgrades are interesting in this game. You have a skill tree that you can purchase as you find more sword shrines hidden throughout the world. Each shrine gives you a buff to your sword damage and unlocks new tiers of weapon skills. This isn't bad by any means, and in some ways is debatably more complex than Hollow Knight where you basically only upgrade the damage and size of your nail (sword if you prefer). You do learn actual moves, though none of these are complex. You also learn new spells, can increase your mana and health similar to other games in this genre.
I did find most magic to be lackluster, mostly due to its cost versus benefit. The cost felt pretty steep for the lackluster damage. The only spell I really liked and found useful was one that creates two orbs that spin around you. They block most projectiles and do damage to enemies they hit. This became the only spell I felt was useful and good. I also found most trinkets to be lackluster. Giving you passive buffs to defenses, health or damage. Only a few actually changed gameplay. Such as one that increased the dodge distance and another the lowered the cool down of dodge (both of which I always kept on). I do wish more of these trinkets felt impactful and changed how you played the game.
Traversal upgrades act differently than the typically due for the genre. You have 3 slots and so you may need to swap out these upgrades periodically. Also of note, calling these traversal is a bit of a misnomer. Some aren't for traversal. For example, one allows you to talk to the dead. That said most are so we'll stick with that.
I kept expecting to unlock a double jump, but it never came. Often times when an object looks just out of reach, you actually need to drop down from above using a later upgrade. The game is balanced around this, but it's good to be aware that a double jump never comes (at least that I found). There are more secrets you can access than you may expect otherwise.
I did find platforming to be pretty janky and at times frustrating. It can be very precise and sometimes the rules seem to change. Such as how all moving platforms and blood platforms will not allow you to ledge grab them. Making them more punishing and precise. I didn't love the platforming, but it wasn't bad either. The games bonfires are also fairly sparse compared to souls games. Not necessary a bad thing, but this does result in the gauntlets leading to bosses more time than not feeling like the bigger challenge. Especially with the longer and precise platforming challenges.
Boss fights didn't feel that challenging to me. They were still enjoyable spectacles mind you, but only a few bosses took me more than a few tries to beat. This probably won't be a turn off to most players (it wasn't for me either). Some enemies I found to be more frustrating than bosses. There are multiple narrow shafts you need to platform through, with bottomless pits and spike traps. They often will have flying enemies that shoot projectiles, where one hit will cause you to fall, likely to your death. Still enemies have a great art direction and there is a lot of variety to the roster which is a good thing. There are tons of secrets in this game, including secret bosses and quests. The game is explicitly designed to be played multiple times. In fact, entire questlines and endings are locked behind NG+. I personally don't love this. Each Souls game encourages multiple playthroughs through a combination of build variety and endings. But importantly, none of these alternatively are locked behind NG+. You are free to pursue all secrets and endings on a first playthrough which I personally prefer. NG+ in this game is interesting with you taking on an affix at the beginning. This affix will give you a combination of buffs and debuffs that change gameplay. Plus enemies have higher HP and deal more damage. I didn't feel inspired to play through the game again, but I did legit enjoy my time with it. Just a little disappointed there were whole questlines and bosses I couldn't do on a first playthrough.
Something else that rubbed me the wrong way is with progression. Critical progression can have a very obtuse means of progression. Getting a key in one area, going to a completely different area to get a key item then going to a third and final area to use said key item and all being required to beat the game... this happened a few times and to the credit of Souls games you typically have a clear idea of how to progress even if the game is layered in optional secrets. I, no shame, had to use a guide multiple times to figure out how to proceed. Whereas in a Souls game, which has tons of secrets, that is a rare problem. Given the 2-D perspective of the game, it can be really easy to miss a critical path due to the perspective. Wherein a 3-D space, it's easier for a designer to cleverly direct the player's gaze and direction through geographical landmarks. The game has a sense of geography with some critical locations acting as the background vista for some locations, but importantly you can only move left, right, up or down, which limits your sense of direction and disorients you, unlike a well made 3-D environment.
I also think the Souls game handles their obfuscated storytelling better than here, but it's not bad by any means.
That all said, I did enjoy this. It has flaws, doesn't really do anything novel for the genre, but it has a great art style, music and atmosphere.
The Purpose is fulfilled.
