I save scummed my way through the first because I felt the difficulty was a little punishing for the first half of the game. Once I got the mechanics down I restarted and played it legit, for me combat came down to just jumping in and out for a couple of hits, or just one, wash rinse repeat. I like sci fi games though, I like a sci fi Souls’esque game and want more.
I will be playing this, most likely, unless it gets trashed. I liked lords of the fallen too, however I got it for free a year or two after release so my experience was well patched. Lords of the Fallen was better than Sekiro, so was The Surge.