izigame.me

I think that this is a very high quality game when you take into account that it is coming from an indie dev team. I feel like folks who are coming to this title from other bigger budget titles might be setting their standards and expectations a bit high, and it is fine if they want to do that. From my perspective, I think it is important to acknowledge that Jyamma has not made a game of this scale before (seriously look up some of the other games that they have made), they are not From or NCsoft, and arguably different standards should be applied when evaluating games from this developer. Why? Well, if they have potential and a supportive fan base, maybe they will make bigger and better things in the future.
Why am I recommending this game? Well, first and foremost, I think that they have done a great job with world building, and I find the game's art style to be rather unique and impressive. I also think that the scope of the world from a purely visual perspective is pretty amazing (even if in actuality the game is not necessarily massive in scale). I think that this also makes exploration more engaging. The combat in this game is also significantly better than what you could find in many, if not most, first attempts at making a soulslike game. However, I will acknowledge that the complexity of the animations and some aspects of the parry system are not on par with what you can find in AAA+ titles. I also think the mask system, elemental damage types, and skill loadout systems are relatively unique even if they are not fully breaking the genre's mold.
As far as critiques go, I can understand why people do not appreciate the limited move sets (each weapon of a particular type is basically the same with very few exceptions), enemy hit tracking, enemies commonly holding off their attacks, and the amount of bosses that are simply knights. These are all things that happen to be in the game, and it is up to you to determine whether or not you can live with them.
**Edit: I will add that there is pretty much no animation canceling, e.g. you cannot attempt a full combo and cancel out of the third hit to parry. This is likely why many folks feel that slower weapons are not viable and part of why folks feel that the combat is clunky. I will agree that this is somewhat irksome because it detracts from the fluidity of the combat and makes it more difficult to focus solely on offense, but it does not ruin the game for me.**
There are also a number of critiques that are simply inaccurate. Maybe there are points in the game that feel like a "parry simulator," but I feel like saying that this is all the game is after the second area is an exaggeration. Even if it was true, I can think of at least two games that have been well-received that lean more heavily on the parry mechanic. I also think that heavy weapons are viable, but you might have to be familiar with attack frames and spacing or be good at parrying and/or dodging to use them; it is definitely not the case that long sword is the only viable weapon type. Lastly, performance is great on my PC, and I have worse specs than most of the people complaining about it (who have i9s and RTX 40XX GPUs).
Lastly, I will just point that it is incredibly easy to respec your stats and invest in passives that do not relate to your current build, many of the hardest enemies seem like they are optional and/or are meant to be fought after exploring other areas, and a key remapping feature is on the way.
Anyway, sorry for rambling. Hope you enjoy the game. If you don't refund it.