Has anyone played Nine Sols? Just started it the other day, and I'm really enjoying it. Metroidvania style 2d game. Closest comparison is Hollow Knight meets Sekiro. This one stands out in several ways though.
Simple but challenging combat so far. Controls are very smooth. Combat consists of basic attacks, charged attacks, a limited use but high damage bow, dodge dashing, and a parry system. Might be more later, I've only beat the first two major story bosses. The parry system allows you to build up Qi, which you can use to plant talismans on your foes and detonate for good damage. There's also a secondary parry for when an enemy uses a "green" attack. For these, you have to jump over and time the parry, but if you do, it will stun the enemy. Getting the parries down is pretty crucial to survival, especially in the boss fights. That being said, there was one boss fight with a Centaur like enemy where parrying pushed you well out of attacking distance. After a few attempts, I found that dashing in and then just doing repeat jump attacks absolutely shut things down quick.
The world is what will really draw you in. Artistically, it combines Taoism and Cyberpunk themes with some body horror as well. Some of the scenery is absolutely gorgeous. The art style has a mostly hand drawn feel, especially with the characters, but also uses 3D to great effect. There have also been several scenes so far that have been downright shocking in what they portray. I won't go into the story simply because I feel like I don't know much yet, but will say there's a larger mystery and things are intentionally kept very vague, slowly unravelling over time. It's a mystery I'm very much excited to solve. Exploration feels very similar to Hollow Knight - it's very easy to get lost, and the game has intentionally led me down several paths where I hit something I couldn't get past yet, causing me to backtrack and figure out the correct path. Thankfully the map is pretty good, feels closer to Metroid Dread in this case. You can view a world map with each section, and indicators as to where/how they link together, but you can also drill in and view the details of each section to see paths you haven't traveled to. If it weren't for this, I probably would have had to look things up.
As far as character progression goes, things will be familiar for anyone who's played a game in this genre. You find upgrades in the world that open up new areas/traversal paths. On top of that, there's a badge system similar to Hollow Knight called jades, where you can equip buffs and various helpful effects in the style of adding chips to a computer. There's also a level up system with a skill tree. There's a money system, and this is what you drop on death that can be permanently lost. Does not impact the skill tree system, which is pretty cool. The money so far has been used for more jades, upgrades to equipment, and to purchase items that can be traded for upgrades. And even with all these systems, the game still manages to be challenging.