Strayed Lights Review (somedude)
I only played a little but I like it already. Basically ignore the "souls like" tag the marketing suits stick on everything these days and approach it as just an action adventure game. It actually reminds me the old Soul Reaver series for some reason.
It's pretty abstract and atmospheric (environments are huge in size), but what stands out the most is the involved combat system with switching colors and parries (of the matching color!) filling out ability bar. It's got the regular jump, dodge, parry, attack, ability etc... The dodge must happen right when the opponent connects so you have to watch them. It's got a pretty interesting progression system. If you are into timings and quick reflexes this is your game... I enjoy this kind of stuff. If you are into invincible roll dodging everywhere and spamming the fast attack button on everything that moves play dark souls I guess this is not it...
this game doesn't also seem to have a convoluted tedious "story" associated with it which I also appreciate, I just enjoy the atmosphere but people who need to be led by the nose through some "interesting story" should go back to Elden Ring
And the great thing I appreciate is the HUD is minimal and actually disappears altogether during adventuring, not many games do that. Helps immersion. The few pointless cut-scenes at the beginning are annoying as they take control from you, but that's the modern game design I guess, and this game doesn't overdo it (like Dark Souls)