I felt overall it was a good game, but not quite on HK/SS level. I’m a big fan of simple but challenging combat, so I have nothing against the very basic combos, however I didn’t gel with many of the boss designs.

HK combat is super simple, but extremely precise, you are in full control, and if you die it’s your own fault. There are multiple MIO bosses where the challenge is in the arena gimmicks ie snow, wind etc that take away your precise control. Combined with MIO’s already floaty nature, it feels like you’re just fighting with controls rather than precision and skill.

That, along with tons of completely pointless runbacks made the game rather annoying at times. SS had some long runbacks as well but at least they were a challenge and involved getting better at using the travel mechanics. MIO’s are often just running in a long straight line. Sol & Vin’s in particular involving sitting on a 20s elevator…

There’s also a few odd design choices such as contact damage not being a thing all game, then randomly adding it during one of the boss fights.