>>719037583
Hey essayfag, I appreciate you trying the demo. Last time I told you I had the same apprehensions about the puzzles and posted an answer but you vanished and thread died. Same fears and hopes that the demo isn't representative of the whole game.

About combat difficulty I had to bump it to Hard. General theory, that most people probably agree with on this board, about Asian vs Western games. Japanese games (arcade) excel at tight mechanics and balance, West (computer) is more about game systems or gimmicks, player agency or immersion. I think you see that difference when you look at Souls knock-offs with the Korean and Chinese ones being focused on fun and flashy gameplay but not capturing the world design, and the Western ones being more focused on exploration or adventure gimmicks but having sloppier combat. That applies to a lot of other genres.

Only a West dev would mix souls-like with OW-like.

I expected the combat to be mediocre. Janky but overall OK, a few novel mechanics, fun for a demo but might get tedious over whole game. Balance is not tight. Heal pulse introduces risk-reward but too easy to rely on. Lazy save points placement. Lack of enemy variety.

I expected combat mediocrity and so I'm way more curious about if the investigating and exploring parts live up to expectations. I don't expect to excel either, but just be a bit more thoughtful (and elegant) than average AA/AAA.

I was excited for it when I first saw previews and Belletete sales pitch. It echoed what I kept thinking about for my ideal adventure/detective game. Frustration with Soulslike genre going in wrong direction + lack of combat in my mystery games. Mash-up proposition that perfectly lines up with my subjective tastes but I expect execution to be... too safe. I call that the AA limbo. AAs are weird because they're typically just shittier low budget clones of AAAs, instead of big-budgeted indies. Terrified of risk-taking.

Did you end up playing that GoW clone?