Beat Act 1 last night, mid way into act 2.
I am enjoying the game a lot thus far but I would say for those wondering that the game is more like Diablo 3 than PoE (at least at this stage). The loot is more similar to D3 but there are more affix types on items to get so there is more diversity. There really doesn't seem to be that much depth in the stat point allocation, if you are a crit build you go Ferocity, if you are a DoT build you go the other route but generally you get enough in one damage type and then Toughness the rest (I have like a 60-40 spread and it has been comfortable thus far). I kinda want to put more points into Agility though but I seem to get enough from the skill tree as well.
General impressions thus far:
*Game for me seems very optimized, honestly better optimized than PoE despite looking like 1-2 generations ahead tech wise. I only get some texture pop ins at the start of a level and some stutter but once it gets going it looks really nice especially lighting and particle effects. Haven't run into crashes yet.
*Character customization was really basic however there is a very in-depth transmog system to customize your gear and that more than makes up for it.
*Story doesn't seem to be much to write home about but the voice actors give it their all. The soundtrack is pretty damn nice too. Haven't really gotten too attached to any characters yet but the Cultist dude in act 1 was cool, very ham.
*Aesthetic is like gothic horror + Warhammer type. The main characters look like something out of a Warhammer game but when you are out exploring and killing monsters it has a more gothic feel to it. Production values are pretty high actually, they are using real time cutscenes in some places with like zoomed in camera angle for cinematic feel which not even Blizzard does (they just have pre-rendered cinematics that aren't realtime, there are realtime cutscenes here).
*The skill tree is very cool and even the pathing nodes are very meaningful. Probably among my favorite parts of the game. I spend like good 10-15 mins staring at it and revolving it around to see the combinations I can path through. Lots of specializations and builds you can make through this.
*I like the active skill system but at least at my level there doesn't seem to be that many skills to play around with (even on the vendor which I have bought most of them). For starting out I would HIGHLY recommend using dual wield playstyle of two different classes of weapons so you can use a larger variety of skills at the start (using a gun and an axe so far so I can use ranged and melee abilities). Just make sure you use force stand function when attacking from a far otherwise you will dash into the target (that you can turn off but sometimes you may want to do it on the fly). I am hoping to see more cool skills in the future. Generally, I would pick one Resource spending AOE clear, one resource spending single target, some utility skill that is on a cooldown (like a buff/power up), a debuff on an enemy (for single target), a mobility skill (mostly to get out of bad situations when you are surrounded because the basic dodge roll can't phase through enemies) and a skill that you can use off cooldown that has some crowd control. I don't expect this to remain in the end game but this has worked out fine for me.
*Combat is very chunky and meaty. Most attacks have a wind up so you get that whole sequence of build up, active frames and recovery that you expect from an action game. Enemies blow up in nice bloody explosions from rends. The biggest complaint I have is this weird input delay but that seems to be a known bug/issue (I am playing offline). I would rate the combat feel even higher than D3.
*Game desperately needs various quality of life changes/options. I should be able to see the items stats on the ground by doing something like CTRL + click it or something. I want to see advance item mods. You should be able to rebind your main attack to another key and then put force move on to left click.
*They gotta improve the loot system over time, it's basically just Rares with the occasional Legendaries and even rarer Uniques. The Uniques are the more interesting items in the game that are worth hunting, the Legendaries so far just seem to be sooped up Rares. I expect most builds to use a mostly Legendaries and then 1-2 uniques that define the build. There are no set items so that's good at least. You can apply reagent to non unique items to give them a special property, haven't messed with this. There is slotting in of gems with different color/tiers but there isn't much depth to that, you just match the gem to the socket type for whatever benefits your build.
*Insane bug/oversight ran into where the bats in the caves in act 1 have such tiny hit box that pretty much all my attacks whiffed on them and I couldn't even target them with my cursor. I fixed this by using melee and AOE skill but this was insanely frustrating when I ran into it. Honestly aside from this and the input delay I haven't ran into any terrible bugs, has been fairly smooth for me.
Honestly for a launch title, it's pretty damn solid thus far and it's a good base to work with. I will revisit these impressions when I am deeper into end game and have actually completed my build. I hope the build enabling uniques aren't too hard to get. Curious to see what future updates they have planned for the game.