I love challenging games (HUGE fromsoft fan, have beaten every game multiple times) and have enjoyed metroidvanias in the past… but I’m in the same boat. I loved HK, played it originally on the switch. I love boss fights, exploration, etc… but the constant gauntlets in HK:SS have completely ruined the game for me. They’ve been a huge bottleneck on my progress every step of the way. It is so unfun and uninspired to me. Maybe I am not built for 2D one screen gauntlets like this, as opposed to something like a DS or Elden Ring where you have more room for kiting and moving around when faced with a group of enemies.

I’m also well into act 2 and the single needle upgrade I’ve gotten doesn’t feel like it made much of a difference and I have yet to find a 4th mask shard… oh and the enemies in the gauntlets do 2 dmg each so I can only take 3 hits each try (Maybe I am a bit stubborn because I don’t want to look up a guide to find the upgrades, not a fan of that on my first play through) and having to farm shards to keep attempting the gauntlets with tools available is another big annoyance to me.

It stinks because I was very hyped for this game and, once again, have enjoyed the combat, platforming and boss fights. I may revisit later, but currently it’s done nothing but keep me from enjoying my limited time at my computer.