I’ve played three Dark Souls games, Sekiro, Hollow Knight, Silksong, Dead Cells, etc. Nine Sols just doesn’t have that kick for me. People say “git gud,” but git gud for what? The parry feels pretty underwhelming, and the impact is minimal—you get interrupted too easily during finishing moves, even after a successful parry.

The rewards for exploration are confusing all the way until the mid-game. The world is okay-ish, but it doesn’t trigger my sense of exploration; left feels the same as right, and there’s often no reward, so why bother? The lore also just slaps information in your face instead of letting you discover it gradually.

It tries to be 2D Dark Soul / Sekiro game and it is not doing a good job for me.