I do like the game. I think it's a solid 8/10. But we compare it to Hollow Knight, one of the best games ever and one of only two games I personally call 10/10. Thus, as of now, I cannot recommend it. I currently write this review after beating the game with 98% completion rate.

The game unfortunately has many minor problems that accumulate and make it a much less enjoyable experience. Mostly the pacing sucks. Early game was way too hard and while I enjoy this type of challenge, the game should also be playable for people who didn't beat every possible enemy in it's predecessor to enjoy the story and the setting. I know people who won't finish this game, even though they loved the original. That's simply sad. The optional bossess could keep their level or even be harder, while the mandatory ones should be easier.

There's no reason for everything to deal 2 masks of dmg, especially the environment. Parokur in this game is much more prominent and it simply makes it more frustrating to play with more runbacks.

There is no good reason for the beast shard currency to even exist. The tool usage is already heavily limited between benches. If someone gets too many tries on the boss he needs to go somewhere else and farm - so much fun

I don't want to put any spoilers in this review, but I also believe that the progression itself is not very good. Exploration should be rewarded with better items, and key things like needle upgrades shouldn't be locked behind quests.

Also boss rewards feel lacking, most of the time you don't get any immediate reward for beating the boss, which simply feels much less satisfying than in the first game
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