Some people have termed this game as "Darksouls for children" and in a sense they are not wrong. In my opinion, this is the perfect game for people who have never played dark souls and want something easier to start with. This game is simply amazing in all aspects. The story is great, the combat mechanics mimic Darksouls accurately, the world is beautiful and interesting to traverse.
This game might be the "gateway game" for people to get into FromSoft's games more.
The combat and gameplay:
The game acts like your typical souls-like. You can block, dodge and parry. The timing on those is iffy at best, but generally it does a great job. The healing is on par with Dark souls, the game introduces some additional things like a fishhook to bring enemies to you. So it does differ a bit. The platforming is where the game shines. You can pretty much freely jump and climb everywhere, and reach higher areas with a hook shot. The platforming is very interesting, and it brings the different areas to life.
In a nutshell, this game is a combination of Dark Souls + Banjo & Kazooie + crabs and the sea.
The "stowaway amulet" system could have been better, but it works fine! The stats are also very basic. My only complaint is that it is difficult to create a build of any kind.
The world building and design:
The game is amazing. The environments and settings are breathtaking, and the "Zelda Breath of the Wild" graphics work like a charm. I like how trash builds this world. The cities are built with bottle houses, receipt bridges and decorated with ketchup packet banners. The game does get a bit dark late game when you reach the depths and start dealing with the gunk infection. So it's not all sunshines and rainbows.
Enemies holding combs and cue tips as weapons make it artistically genius in some way. The shell system making enemies able to use any hollow item as a shell is genius as well.
It's simply beautiful to look at!
The Difficulty:
The game is as hard as any other souls like. I was shocked how quickly the game threw the first boss at me when I didn't even have a shell equipped. If you aren't good at souls games, you might struggle with this one. However, they added a special "assist mode" where you can tweak health and damage to yourself and your enemies. I am not in favor of such options because it waters down the game removing all accomplishments, especially when you are given a gun.
Perhaps make the gun unlockable?
The Story:
The story of this game seems to be simplistic at first, but eventually you realize that it has an interesting way of presenting environmental problems. By the end, the story had turned into something completely unexpected, which I viewed positively. They managed to take the desolate, sad world of dark souls and adapt it to the theme of trash in the ocean. It's not "Bloodborne" caliber, but it's pretty good.
The negatives:
The first problem I have had with this game is the parry system. As a souls veteran who has beaten all of From Soft games up to Ng6-7+, I am pretty good at parrying. I have found the parry system in this game to be a bit weird, working half of the time. I tested it various times on enemies to get the timing right, and it simply isn't efficient.I am still puzzled whether you need to parry on hit, before hit, or if it is simply random.
I have gotten stuck a few times within walls. During a battle, the enemy pushed me inside a wall. I even remember during the last battle, I pushed the last boss off the platform and the game simply bugged. It's not as bad as other games, but I have noticed it 5-10x during a play through of 10 hours.
I really hated the map because unlike other games, you cannot Zoom In/Out or move around. So basically you are stuck looking at a static image without the possibility to plan your next destination. Map markers aren't really necessary, but a simple journal for quests would be nice.
The umami skill tree should have been different and some of the abilities should have been giving straight away at the start of the game. I played over 7 hours before realizing I could use a fishhook to bring enemies to me.
The Bobbit Trap Adaptation is overpowered and needs to be nerfed. You can literally stun a boss in perpetuity. Just equip umami regeneration item, spawn a Bobbit trap under a boss, while he stunned hit him to recover umami and rinse and repeat.
They tried to sneak in a little bit of "gay pride" with one of Krill's costume. As a conservative, I don't think topics of this nature should be in games especially for kids. You want to debate this topic, do it with adults. Luckily, it's barely noticeable. A warning to game companies, stay out of politics if you don't want to bankrupt!
I feel as if the bosses were too generic. A crab with chopsticks, a crab with a fork and a knife, a crab with a steamroller. What about all the other sea creatures out there? It's not like there aren't enough.
What I would have liked to see more:
More puzzles to be solved with different shells (like with electric fuses and magnets)
More varied enemies. A sea of creatures and only crabs, prawns and shrimp? The game has barely any fish besides your typical sardines. What about sharks? whales? Rays? etc..
Areas above the sea level. Besides the beginning and the very end, you are underwater the whole time. Above sea level, your swimming ability disappears, which could lead to new platforming.
Different adaptations! Having watched many documentaries on sea creatures, I can tell you that animals have tons of different ways to survive.
Different skills in the tree! Many of them seem useless or generic.
Adaptations and skills should allow each individual player to make a build. Crystals should be scarce, forcing the player to pick a style of combat over another. In this game, you pretty much unlock everything by the end of the game. The ability to specialize is what keeps players coming back.
CONCLUSION?
It's an amazing game for both souls fan and newcomers to the series. If you aren't good enough to beat a soulslike, you can still play this game with assist mode. It's also visually beautiful. It's worth it!