I've always wanted to play this game since I last saw the release trailer for the PS5 (but didn't want to buy it due to the price...and it was also a PS5/4 exclusive for a while). Since I got the game at a decent (discounted) price, I decided to play it - and I wasn't that disappointed in the game at all. Here's my review.

Scenery/Ambiance:

I'm pretty much a giant ♥♥♥♥♥ when It comes to games with a creepy/eerie ambiance (not cause its scary, but cause i'm very easily startled) and honestly, this game's ambiance at times can be quite scary. some parts have dark/moody lighting and some parts have melancholic lighting - if its moody, then its moody, but if its melancholic, its melancholic. Shibuya and some parts of Tokyo are very pretty to look at, but some parts are extremely creepy, making you look over your shoulders at times, hoping there isn't a ghost popping up near you. The scariest part for me would be just right before you fix the bike.

i'd give the ambiance about an 8/10

Graphically:

The graphics are pretty nice, but there are some parts I absolutely despise, actually let me correct that, there's one thing I absolutely despised in this game (graphically). Its the rain...the rain looks like absolute dog ♥♥♥♥♥. I mean, the raindrops are absolutely massive; once it rains, it makes the game look clunky and you can't really see much. Besides that, the graphic is visually stunning, The magic looks amazing as-well (it's almost like a doctor strange simulator.

I'd give the Graphics about a 7/10 (the rain ruins this score)

Combat:

The combat is REALLLLY fun for me, although I've heard some people talking about how it gets really repetitive. For me, personally, it wasn't too repetitive, mostly due to the fact that I was switching it up a lot (I assume the people writing about the repetitiveness of the combat are mostly just using wind-form) by choosing the perfect elements for each fight (and i was playing on the hardest mode): fire is good at penetration (when it comes to the umbrellas or staggering bosses) and water is good for a wide area when you're being surrounded; wind is just good in general for spamming at mobs (although I recommend leveling up the attack speed of the element). The bow is kind of lackluster, I don't really find myself using it too often, especially when you can just replenish mana by smacking mobs with you fists or aiming for perfect parries. Sadly, even though I enjoy the combat, there are definitely some improvements to be made, for example: having to replenish mana to fight is a little annoying, It makes it so that you don't really want to waste mana fighting small mobs all the time - its just not worth it; and a plethora of other improvements (not ♥♥♥♥♥♥ to talk about it)

Combat would be about a 6/10 (some weapons are kind of useless)

Enemy Variation:

You could probably count the amount of enemy types on two hands (which isn't exactly a good thing), There's: Hanako, schoolkids (two variants, but the same thing), the rain doll, Ice ghost (which I've only seen once during my whole main story play-through), Fat boy, police man, skinny boy, female that shoots red coom at you, a child that you never fight, Scissor lady (kinda hot), oh yeah, and finally the generic white/grey cloth ghosts. The bosses don't count, you only fight them once anyways. The mobs aren't even that strong, even at the hardest game mode, some of them are just kinda tanky; extremely easy to just stay far away from them and spam.

variation of enemies is about a 4/10

Boss fights:

The bosses are kinda lackluster, and weird. The bosses just pop up at weird points in the story, not really spread out properly (especially near the end, u just have a back to back boss fight). the only boss I found slightly difficult to fight was the spider ♥♥♥♥♥, cause she actually had a mechanic (in-some-way), but the rest of the bosses just require you to dodge; its like fighting the other mobs, just re-skinned (the wolf/fox boss doesn't count, all you do is pull its tail out, it's not really a fight)

Boss fights I give about a 4/10 (hella boring, besides the spider)

Story:

The story is kinda of interesting? Idk, you're required to play the prequel if you want to understand some parts of the story a bit, or understand where KK comes from, and the prequel doesn't even look to interesting (and its super long), so most people won't bother playing the prequel. Some parts of the story is kind-of stupid; how and why is Mira (the MC's sister) chosen for selection to be sacrificed. Idk, the story is really boring at some points, its just running around and doing small things. Although, i'd have to say, I quite enjoyed the company of KK, but it is weird that KK and the MC got along really fast (since they were fighting for control in the beginning), I felt like they could have explored the idea of them slowly getting used to each other and building trust near the end, but they kinda just said "oh well, we good now"

I'd give the story about a 5/10

Artistic intention:

This game is artistically beautiful, the game could almost get away with being called an art exhibit simulator. Some parts are gorgeous and a the game includes a-lot of imagery, for example the ending imagery with the flowers (red spider lily) wilting away, symbolizing death. Its gorgeous. This game is an art student's wet dream, that's all I can say. If you want to understand what I mean, then play the game.

I'd give artistic intentions about a 9/10

Equipment:

Equipment is an L...Mid...Dog-water...whatever else adjectives I could use to describe it. Most equipment is useless. I haven't used the decoy or the bush talismans at all, there's no need. The stunning talisman is useless on bosses. the weakness is also useless on bosses; normal mobs are already weak enough, which doesn't incentivize the use of the weakness talisman. The bow, as I already said, is trash.

not a lot of equipment, not a lot of useful ones, so its a 3/10.

To sum it all up, the game is fun, but some polishing is needed. A final score of 5.75/10
its good, just not worth paying full price. Would be more if the rain was decent.