Curtis comments previously about the balance are probably right.
The difficulty is about right, but the way it gets there is by giving you an AI buddy that is really useful, they do damage and they occupy enemies so you can heal, attack from behind and let stamina return.
There's a bunch of great ideas and things going on, but crafting seems pretty a to b. I picked 2 weapons early and upgraded them to Max.
I think there's a number of secrets and options for doing things differently, but the systems and particularly the fighting probably isn't strong enough to just hang about fighting for the sake of it.
Could be missing stuff with classes and some of the other things I chose.
What the game does amazingly well though is exploring the areas for the first time.
And the major "dungeons" are nothing short of spectacular.
I'd completely rework the stamina balancing, at least for single player.
Still well and truly in my goty list.
I'll re re re iterate that if you can co op with a mate, do it.
If you wanted to take over curation then that might be your best plan as there is no way for us to give you ownership of the original thread Elf. Would then just be a simple case of unstickying the old thread and stickying the new one in it's place.
I bought this at Christmas and initially enjoyed it but then hit some kind of seemingly impossibly difficulty spike and now I fucking hate it. Can't remember the name of the dungeon but it seems I have to pass through it to progress and after a million attempts I gave up. There was some way to jump at the beginning to avoid half the level but even then there's no way, it just goes on and on with enemies that were wiping me out at the beginning. Fucking hate it.
Expect more dredging up of old threads as I work my way into pile of shame due to nothing to do.
I just restarted to try on new laptop. Lovely on Mac settings with proper framerate.
The sound design is really amazing. As is music. And the voice acting is very very solid.
That first major dangeon is a bit of a jump in harshness on all fronts. There's 3 or 4 major dungeons throughout the game, and the others are better signposted as a major deal so you can do a bit more prep.
I loved it, even with its not too subtle souls like fighting and stamina bar that is a bit too stringent.
The dungeons can be massively harsh and I suspect it was dumb luck I didn't take as many goes as Kow to get through that first one.
Once I got through it though, getting through the next ones was awesome. Some of the most atmospheric and memorable gaming places I've seen in the last 10 years.