Probably the best game I've ever played, almost everything is perfect, from design and music to combat mechanics and level structure.
I, a person who played the hollow knight, did not expect much from this game, assuming that it would be another clone of the hollow knight, which was assembled on the knee without understanding how to properly work with the game world and so on. Honestly, it was a big mistake.
Gameplay: 9/10. In fact, you can bet 10, but more on that later. In many ways, the gameplay is built around combat with occasional platforming sections. And what’s surprising is that YOU CAN FIGHT ADEQUATELY HERE! Even in the hollow knight, I didn’t understand how I could counter some opponents, like the same flies flying with acceleration and others. Also, the fat opponents there were incredibly annoying, with whom even with a pumped-up nail they died from 7-8 hits. Another point that has stagnated is the absolute inability of the protagonist hollow knight to resist bosses; there are no ways to interrupt the chain of boss attacks or seize the initiative. As a result, boss fights turned into constant memorization of the boss’s moveset and dancing around attacks, which is not so bad, but perhaps not for me. In nine sols (yes, I just got to the description of the game itself) they decided to completely rework the combat mechanics and give the hero more tools for fighting opponents; magic was replaced by various talismans, the charges for which you gain by parrying enemy attacks, and then you discharge these charges by inflicting good damage to the enemy. In this game, not only with the help of parrying (Ideal and non-ideal, which causes internal damage to the hero), as well as concentration (the same parry, but for this you need to charge concentration, it is able to reflect special attacks that are not capable of reflecting ordinary parries, as well as normal attacks). This change made the combat system more aggressive; by the middle of the game, with sufficient skill you can simply stand still, repelling the attacks of all bosses. It may seem unbalanced, but bosses are excellent at ruining the player's plans and combining their attacks so that they are unprepared for any attack. Moreover, the set of opponents is also quite diverse; flying opponents, fleeing opponents, unkillable opponents and others create lively interest when you first enter a location.
The only negative I discovered during the game is: They don’t let us go crazy. What I mean is that when you develop your skill sufficiently and upgrade all your abilities, you will have no choice but to end the game. What is especially sorely missing here is the same coliseum from the hollow knight or the boss rush mod.
Plot: Here you can also pour out dozens of sentences, but I’ll say it simply. There are several endings that differ fundamentally in meaning; depending on the completion of the side quest, a secret boss phase opens. From some moments I was shaken, there is a tearful ending, and the background plot itself, which we will understand as the game progresses, is quite interesting. There is one drawback: the plot is directly related to the gameplay, in the sense that as you go through the plot you will see cut scenes and staged moments. So, having completed the game 3 times, for all endings and having received “platinum”, I’m honestly tired of listening to stories over and over again without the opportunity to skip this plot, which I already know. The game also suffers from complete linearity. You may remember that in the hollow we could, with the help of abilities, get into locations that were too early for us to go to. So, here any entry into a new location, or rather the transition from solo to solo, completely depends on the gameplay and open skills.
Otherwise the game is great, one of my top 3 favorite games, it would be great to see a dlc or something, oh yeah. Platforming is also not implemented, there are a lot of different devices, but except for 1 moment there are absolutely no places where the player could enjoy heavy and challenging platforming.