>>250421
The game's level design also has what I can only describe as an insecurity complex. This game doesn't just take inspiration from Dark Souls, it is actively attempting to outperform and exceed Dark Souls in exactly the same ways Dark Souls is constructed. There is literally a Firelink Shrine elevator in the main hub area, and next to it is a larger elevator shaft which you'll only unlock after getting to the endgame. "Fuck you, Firelink Shrine - I can do it better!"
This would be fine - funny, even - if the game didn't have some of the most atrocious, painful level design right near the start. The biolab area is a mandatory, long, linear area which you unlock after the airplane graveyard and which you must complete before unlocking the majority of the central hub. Not necessarily a problem, except that the jump in difficulty from airplane graveyard enemies to biolab enemies is enormous, there is a miniboss prowling around in the biolab's courtyard area, the area is covered in patches of toxic corrosive goo (which of course the enemies are immune to, even though they aren't wearing hazmat suits).
Also, there isn't a bonfire for like 20-30 minutes.
Also, the bloodstain in this game runs on a timer (which gives you a bonus if you get there fast enough, to discourage you from being too patient).
Also, there are traps in the underground maintenance tunnels.
Also, you can't open shortcuts to make subsequent trips easier.
Also, you can easily get gangbanged by two enemies in a tight corridor and just die for seemingly little reason.
It is fucking excruciating. I cannot imagine how many people not nearly as stubborn as I am would have simply quit the game because of this one shitty area. It's quite strange to consider how smart the level designers must have been to design the entire game, yet how stupid they must have been to place this kind of rage bait right at the start.
Then you realize there's a DLC area in a pleasant corporate theme park environment which takes place right across from the biolab area, and which is full of open-ended areas and enemies that are much less hassle to fight.
...Ah. It falls into place.
I should be clear that these issues were fixed in patches, so the process of running for 20 minutes, gritting your teeth, making it four inches further along, and dying to a new dark enemy in a cramped maintenance tunnel will not happen if you play the game now. But it sucked.