I hate to call everything a souls game, but it's got that souls like feel to it, which I do like, and the PS2 low-poly aesthetic is great. It definitely has the bones for a interesting game. It has some flaws to which are.

1. It's extremely gamer based if I can describe it as such. For example, lockpicking, looting, and the way you interact with certain stuff. It's not very intuitive for the average person unless you've played with things similar before. For example lockpicking I understood immediately, as the mechanic was very similar if not the same as dying light so I knew what to do. But if you don't know, you would have to just guess. Similar backtracking, you may not know to backtrack, but I will give credit, you are given a key so logic would suggest that door that says you need a key will be utilized as such.

2. Dying is of no consequence, perhaps because it is a demo but there's no reason to not just die and reset the level to grind XP.

3. Combat is a lil clunky. There is seldom point in blocking as there's just not enough time to riposte so it just becomes a kiting game.

There's also some map clipping and collision based issues such as escaping out of bounds or enemies clipping into crates. But overall, I was quite invested. I really liked it, and it reminded me a bit of Barony, a game of which I also really enjoy. I think adding some controls, and volume control, might give players a bit more help. No need to Ubisoft it, but a gentle nudge like the arrows by the bridge to signal shooting the ropes to teach mechanics.

Vod section from 1:17:42-2:16:30 https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2866219017

Hey I gave the game a play.  I couldn't get passed the locked door after pulling the lever.  I didn't find a key, and couldn't figure out how to use the lock picks.  I like the non-linear level design where you start in the same place but unlock shortcuts.  I've got something similar in my own game.  Everything felt very slow, like the sword swing and block.  Luckily the enemies weren't too hard to handle once you got used to them.  I'd definitely like to see more content, but I didn't want to just play the same part over and over since I couldn't figure out how to progress.  Maybe adding more UI hints about how things should work (it took me a while to figure out how to equip the sword without going into the inventory).  

Played up until the locked door that requires a key, couldn't find it anywhere. Knight didn't want to talk to me again after I talked to him the first time and then died, lockpicks couldn't (?) be used.

Love how the game looks. I realise its an early version so I won't go that in-depth about most things because they'll probably change anyway. But some stand out things I noticed were how hard it can be in certain areas to navigate because it looks very samey, like the starting area. Blocking needs to briefly stun/stagger enemies or there isn't much point to it, rats were extremely annoying to fight without getting hurt.

A very promising project, hope you keep at it.

• Youtube Link / Twitch Link
• Graphics : Generally fine, going for a PSx retro look.
• GUI : Really needs work in many places. Text is overlaid in spots. The inventory and skill menu look very rough.
  • The skill menu is particularly dire , it's a bit slapdash, things are scattered all around, kerning seems wonky , hover tooltips are off kilter , can't level up agility as the "you've leveled" notification stays on the screen perpetually.
  • The settings menu is nearly entirely bare, no video options , no sound volume options, etc.
• Performance : Flawless
• Music / Sfx : 
  • Music : So quiet I can't hear it over practically anything else.
  • SFX : Needs work , a lot of sounds are far too LOUD!
    • Daggerfall skelly screech , +1
• Gameplay :  Really quite rough in it's current state , it felt better to just ignore a lot of enemies and run past them. Is the game trying to be more of a King's Field type of thing, Souls like thing, skyrim, etc?
  • If attempting to go for a more KF feel , ATM it's practically impossible to circle strafe enemies , aside from some instances where you can swing once then backstep, there's basically no way to avoid just health trading with enemies. It just becomes a 'you need a bigger number' fight rather than having any part of skill on the player's end (feels bad!).
• Misc Issues : 
  • Why is the death screen in an entirely different resolution?
  • You can entirely bypass rescuing the guy in the cell and find him at the camp.
• Notes : 
  • Please do not give up , I like dungeon crawlers and I want more.
  • Please think about adding more options for melee, a charged attack so that I can step in, do a big swing (for a lot of stam) then backpedal , or a secondary attack (e.g. a stab with swords , maybe other attacks for other weapon types) , or both.
  • A shield to block attacks , it seemed like parrying with sword wasn't a flawless way to prevent damage.
  • Blocking consumes stamina constantly , maybe have a grace period before it does so , to emphasize proper timing
    • As it is it feels rather pointless to TRY to parry/block due to slow speed. Making it snappier could be nice so the player can actually do an attack AND parry within a reasonable speed.
  • There's a map, I like that.
  • Lockpicking can be touched up , sfx and just general 'feel' , I broke a picklock pretty quickly.
  • Everything feels very slow atm, movement, combat, leveling up, etc.
  • Enemies give paltry amounts of exp , and the level up values are pretty finite. There's no con stat for extra HP so is there armour to offset taken damage at some point?
• Final Thoughts : This was a very rough demo, both in a playing experience sense but also just the current status of the demo, I want to like it but it's too rough and early in development.