I played on PS5 without any major graphics or FPS issues but the game allegedly has very poor performance on PC so caveat emptor.

This game feels like it was made by someone who doesn't really understand the strengths of the soulslike genre- as if it was a pretty well made wukong clone that pivoted to a different genre to differentiate itself, and is worse off for that decision. Even its fan service-y depiction of the titular main character seems half-baked, as if they wanted to bait the stellar blade gooner crowd without actually sexualizing or empowering their voiceless, motivation-less nothing of a main character. Khazan's oft-shirtless hunk of an Adonis at least pretended to be part of the story, and AI limit's Arissa was charming and hardly sexualized, in terms of contemporary comparisons within the genre.

With that said this is likely the best version of bloodborne combat we'll get, easily surpassing wukong et. al. I don't know where exactly they can go from here in terms of keeping the combat simple like bloodborne and interesting, I think from a design perspective it comes down to encounter design and that's where wuchang excels. Bosses are near perfectly aggressive, suffocating until they aren't with diverse movesets and visual styles that can obfuscate the fact that you are just float-dodge-strafing around the boss in a circle over and over. The future of the genre is in rock-paper-scissor boss design (parry, dodge, spacing, gradient counter.. wait) but this game is the top of the pack when it comes to old school floaty iframe dodge combat design.

The game has the sekiro problem where it's humanoid bosses are truly amazing and its big monster bosses are just good, with occasional camera issues and a bit of hitbox jank.

The graphics are amazing, the snow level is ripped straight out of wukong but its still pretty cool, its sphere-grid style skill tree doesn't really work better than classic stat/skill points (and kills level 1 runs as skills and flask upgrades etc are locked behind mandatory stat improvements) but its fine and novel as long as you don't compare it to the classic customization and meaningful progression choices that are intrinsically and indelibly linked to the genre.

I think where this game struggles is that its big, interconnected mess of levels is cool, but unlike DS1 and its clones, this game doesn't really have meaningful build variety or interesting lore to find. So the big complicated levels don't really work as the incentive to explore is minimal. A wukong or god of war style curated hallway of boss after boss feels likes it would capitalize on the games strength, its combat and graphics, while minimizing its weaknesses. The pacing of the games near non-existant story is especially brutal if you full clear all the areas.

I also have to acknowledge that the general level design is kind of bad. It's going for a DS1 style sprawling mess, which I generally love, but the games non-boss enemies are so laughably easy that in order to create any friction or difficulty the devs added what can be colloquially known as 'bullshittery' to try and tax player resources as they progress through the levels. Unavoidable persistent status effects, barely perceptible traps, just tedious and annoying nonsense with no real counter-play that doesn't incentivize any interesting player behavior. This game desperately needed less environmental effects/traps and more poise/health/damage/moves for its basic and elite enemies. Luckily the devs already know they overdid with the environmental hazards as they already patched the snow land mines to presumably reasonable levels. I also think the average player is going to be deeply frustrated with the infrequency of bonfires, and literally everyone is going to hate the worthless long boss runbacks they selectively add to half the bosses for no reason.

I'll try and keep it brief as its something I harp on but the game has no pause button despite no multiplayer options, and no difficulty or accessibility options etc. Pathetic in 2025 yada yada yada.

The story is just ok and its fromsoft clone quest design and endings are pretty bleh and unsatisfying. The music is pretty okay with some good standouts. The graphics, quality and game length is great for its price point. Pretty good game that probably works better as a near-AAA action game rather than a watered down souls game that fixates on the outdated frustrations of the genre and fails to deliver on the parts that matter (atmosphere, customization, music, etc.).

Overall I liked it. Combat is decent and some bosses are neat.

The highlight is the level design, which is (most of the time) extremely dense. Every area has side paths that themselves have side paths, some of which also have side paths. Although I was a bit touch and go at the beginning, in the end I really enjoyed getting lost in the world, exploring all its nook and crannies.

As I said, combat is alright. I played exclusively with the longsword because it had a good balance between speed and damage, and it had a parry skill. Also, early on you get a whipsword with crazy range that is very fun to use. But there are also spears, hammers, dual swords and magic. Each branch of the skill tree has a lot of skills that can significantly change the flow of combat, so I'm sure there a lot to experiment (which is encouraged by the free and painless respec option).

There is also a fair bit of armour options and you an even modify the appearance of your gear, so item stats are not tied to looks. I spend a fair bit of time customising my look.

The last area was a bummer, though. Very linear, generic, and videogamey. A lot of activating switches to move platforms around that broke all the immersion that this was an actual world and not a videogame level. Followed by a disappointingly boring final boss. So the game ended on a sour note.