Ok, so I've played 4 hours, I know I have a long way to go but...
... game is ... ok. It's not like stellar or anything. If this game really was hyped for years, it's going to be a dud in that respect (It will still do well, but it will be overhyped). So far I'd give it a 6.5 MAYBE 7 out of 10. All these really high reviews and piled of praise this game is getting is baffling me and I have to assume its solely because it has a strong female lead and she's a badass and runs circles over all the guys who are cliched and dumb (I believe this is reviewing in the low 90% so far, but on steam it's averaging a 7/10). Don't get me wrong, I'm totally down for a badass female lead in games, but it seems very forced in this game like LOOK AT ME IM A BADASS, rather than just showing off your badassness because you are.
The controls are god awful. I find myself constantly jumping away from walls when I'm trying to do the side jumps. It's really awkward, especially when you need to swing your axe to hold, hop up, then do side jumps. You have to time your axe swing for initiative almost perfectly to get initiative, and if you don't the monster will get it and you are almost guaranteed to lose the fight because you usually start off at half health. Then let's add the fact that the battle controls add a layer of complexity that would be OK if needed, but it's not. For example, monsters you have to fight with Anja only to break defense (Up+X, then Down+X to break defense). Then, everyone else can attack. Just seems.. awkward. The aforementioned complexity makes things rather difficult for a rather unnecessary reason. I do not fully understand the design choices here. There seems to be a lot of things added that serve little to no purpose. Maybe I have to continue more? Combat while a unique take on real time battle system, boils down to do as much damage as you can as fast as you can and be done with it so all this added strategy does nothing but annoy.
The platforming is simple, yet not terribly fun given the controls mentioned earlier. But even if you did master the controls, you don't really get a lot for exploring besides maybe some stat boosts, and the like through the crystal things to pick up. The rewards for really exploring everything seems rather weak.
Good things? Well again like I said the battle system is a really unique take on real time battles. The "transitioning" in and out of battles is rather unique and there's very little to no load time in this entire game aftrer the initial loading. Even when you die BOOM your back to pre-battle next to what killed you. Not very often do you actually lose progress. The female lead IS a well written character, and I like her attitude. She's a bitch, and I totally dig that. The level design is fantastic. The music is generic but decent, more good than bad for sure.
I'll write one more review/write up after I finish the game, I do want to, despite the issues.