Yeah, the combat doesn't really change much. You get a gun that charges up by whacking people with the baton form, and pickaxe that is both for platforming and for heavy attacks to break the armor on a new type of enemy. Beyond that it's the same 'yellow = parry, red = dodge' mechanic from the beginning. I'm in chapter 3 now and it's really not all that engaging. The Ch.2 quests in the town hub were the basic run slowly jog and fetch variety. I'll probably stick with it a while longer, but it's really not what I expected. Glad it was on Game Pass at least.
At this point I'm more interested in the other game that dropped unexpectedly today, Thaumaturge.
Edit: Also, the whole time I'm playing I constantly feel like it should be on a Switch in handheld mode rather than a 65" TV. The pixel art really does not lend itself to being massively increased in resolution.