After nearly 200 hrs into this game and I'm still on my first playthrough (coming into it blindly as a true FromSoft newb) I have to say that I'm wholly impressed with what has been created. To trust a ghost in a chair to drop down a hole? To follow a path set by a faint guiding light? To say screw that and just explore? The game poses many challenges, some very straightforward like an enormous knight on a horse patrolling between the starting point and the first church. Give him a wide enough berth and he pays you no mind.

This game reminds me of what it felt like picking up Zelda for the first time. Clueless, wandering, attempting to unravel what it is I need to do and trying my best not to die. But after seeing "YOU DIED" ...well: Learning enemy abilities, remembering traps, and on and on. The sheer openness of the Lands Between is obviously inspired by current open world games, but this does without the gamification of tasks, which is a breath of fresh air.

The game is unforgiving, punishing, and brutal. Tons of fun 9/10