The game is excellent.
This is coming from someone who didn't back the game nor have I kept up with development. All I knew was Castlevania, lol, and that was enough for me.
I'm not a pro at these games but I enjoy the gameplay, which is fantastic in this one IMO.
I've come across a few bugs and whatnot. One bug made my character fall through the floor and I ended up getting stuck/not having my character show on screen. I restarted and it was fixed. Never encountered it again. There's also the occasional slowdown/framerate which doesn't happen too often. There was one room in particular where you could really feel/see it. I need to go back and look at it again to make sure it still happens.
The problems I've described never got in the way of the enjoyment of the game. I've put about 20 hours into it and have beaten it with the true ending. I was stuck multiple times and went around, looking for hints. It was driving me CRAZY, lol. Sometimes you'll forget you have to talk to someone or you may need to kill an enemy. Or you may need to do something out of the ordinary.
Through my 20 hours, I've taken my time. Currently have a 99.80% map completion. Looked through every nook and cranny. Tried to collect as many shards as I can. Craft whatever I could and there's still plenty to do for all the completionist out there.
Normal mode does become easy the farther you get in the game. If you search everywhere, get some good drops from enemies and level up shards, you'll have an easy time. That's not to say the game becomes boring but I understand the complaints of not being able to choose your difficulty from the start.
If I had to give this game a score, I would give it between an 8/9 out of 10. It's been a while where a game grabs me and keeps me awake until 6am, lol.
