Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn

When the game clicks, when you parry every attack an enemy throws at you and counter them again and again, this game feels absolutely incredible.

This gets significantly easier as you get more skill tree upgrades... all of which cost Reputation to acquire, naturally.

I liked Nor and Enki a lot, and rescuing old comrades and bringing them together is satisfying, with each character being well-written and having their own story and relationships.

As someone who doesn't like Soulslike games i gotta say this was nice experience

If you are looking for something specifically in the " annoying, irritating, unrelatable person travels the land with a talking fox-thing as a companion with souls-like combat" genre, you can always go play Stray Blade instead of this as it's exactly the same with a more focused vision and a better art style.

In particular, the lead up to the first boss fight, and the fight itself, is one of my favorites in any souls or souls-like period, greatly enhanced by the absolutely fantastic soundtrack for both parts.