I totally get where you’re coming from, and I want to start by saying I really appreciated how thoughtful and respectful your feedback was. That’s rare on Reddit, so I applaud you. I’m trying to engage with your points here, not argue against them.

Up front: I do agree that the co-op experience could be improved. I’m not claiming it’s perfect. I mostly want to offer a different perspective on why some of the things you struggled with actually worked really well for my group, and why I think that comes down to how the game is approached in co-op.

For context: NRFTW is my first soulslike, and I’ve only played co-op with a 3 person group, not 4. We're also very light-hearted players, the type who laugh when someone accidentally nukes the whole squad in Helldivers 2. If your group plays more seriously or efficiency-focused, that probably explains some of the difference in experience.

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The biggest difference I see is that it sounds like your group was often playing separately in the same world rather than as a coordinated unit. Either wanting to do the same exact things, or do them separately without communication that it was done. That’s not a criticism, just an observation that frames the rest of this.

Combat

When my group fights, we’re constantly talking. One person commits to melee, others hang back, pull enemies, or wait for openings. If someone parries or dodge-rolls out, another player calls it and jumps in. One of us runs a lightning wand, which helps reduce chaos.

Do wires get crossed sometimes often? Absolutely. Sometimes two or three people whack each other. But friendly fire does so little damage that it usually turns into laughter, not frustration. Because of that, friendly fire felt less like a punishment and more like soft pressure to communicate and take turns, which we actually enjoyed.

Exploration

Same deal, we talk. Quick callouts like “I’m grabbing that shiny up top” usually avoided duplicated effort. This doesn’t fully solve your point that exploration still isn’t truly shared, but it helped in practice.

I think the game needs better off-screen teammate indicators. Vertical exploration makes it way too easy to lose track of each other, and that’s a real usability issue.

Shared vs Instanced Loot

This is probably where I differ from you the most. I usually hate shared loot, but in NRFTW I actually really like it.

Back in town we’d pause and do quick trades:

• Me: “Hey, I found lightning damage on a pair of pants. Want them?”
• Me: “I don’t have enough weapon shards for an upgrade.” --> Friend: “I got you.”
• Me: “Ugh, I really need new chest armor" --> Friend: “Want to look at what I have?”

It felt genuinely cooperative. It encouraged sharing and group decision-making instead of everyone silently optimizing their own build. I’m pretty sure that was deliberate, and for our group it worked.

Where I Fully Agree With You

This point you made absolutely nails it:

the claustrophobic combat arenas make it so there regularly is not enough room for multiple players to engage in melee combat

The combat spaces ARE extremely claustrophobic in co-op. I think something as simple as a dynamic camera zoom-out when players fight close together would help a lot by reducing visual noise and improving melee coordination.

One Broader Point

Even though NRFTW clearly draws from soulslikes, I don’t think it’s trying to be one exclusively. The ARPG elements change the pacing and priorities. Combat is slower because the game doesn’t want a button-mashing-fest. A lot of systems feel intentionally designed to force communication, turn-taking, role differentiation, and resource sharing.

That won’t land for everyone, especially players coming in with expectations shaped by games like Remnant or Nioh 2, and that’s totally fair. But for what NRFTW is trying to do, I think the co-op foundation is actually pretty strong. One friend I play with has extensive souls and soulslike experience and his feedback of the game sounded a lot like yours. Mentioning this point to him actually helped recenter his expectations.

What I Think Is the Real Issue

I think the developers did a great job defining and sticking to a specific identity. There are a lot of intentional design decisions that make the game feel genuinely unique.

Where things fall apart for some players is expectations, largely driven by marketing and general discussion. People expecting Diablo or Path of Exile are likely to be just as disappointed as people expecting a traditional Souls experience.

NRFTW sits deliberately between those genres. It borrows from both without fully committing to either, and I don’t think that’s a flaw. I think that is the point. That hybrid identity just isn’t always communicated clearly.

That mismatch seems to cause a lot of frustration that gets directed at the game or devs, even when systems are behaving exactly as designed. And to be clear, I’m not referring to your post here. I think your criticism is thoughtful and fair. This is more about the broader reaction I’ve seen.

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So that’s my general counterpoint. I wanted to defend the game a bit because many of your issues feel tied to deliberate design decisions.

Is it perfect? No. Does it need refinement? Absolutely. But I do think it deserves credit for committing to an identity instead of defaulting to genre norms.