So I've played Decay of Logos for 90 minutes and I have some first impressions.
Firstly, I honestly don't see how the game is technically flawed and not fun to play. It runs beautifully on my gtx 1060 PC, maxed at 1440p and no crash whatsoever. And judging from the presentation, gameplay, and combat system, it's pretty much a Souls-like.
You use stamina for everything, from running, attacking, and dodging, so stamina management is key just like in Souls. There's light and heavy attack, and you can lock your target and strafe to their side/behind to attack like you always do in Souls. However, the combat is not great, sadly. It's kind of slow like the first DS, and each attack commitment is quite harsh. There's an additional animation at the end of each of your swing, so you can immediately dodge after you commit to an attack. I think it's related to the devs' intended animation direction. It's like The default Witcher 3 movement animation, where there's additional small animation on each movement.
The exploration part is also good. There are secret and off-beaten paths that you can take. In the swamp area in earlier part of the game, for example, there are actually multiple levels to explore with maze-like corridors underground. The game doesn't tell you where to go, it's all up to you. There are npcs that might give you some clue about what's to expect ahead. The game is also mostly silent, with music only running briefly when you discover a new area. Furthermore, I also like how the items you pick up are displayed on your character. You can even see the potions hanging on your belt.
There are still a lot of differences, though. For starter, the artstyle is cartoony (BOTW-like) in here and I love it. RPG elements are not that deep either. There are stats and loot and you can switch your gear, but there is character inventory so you have to swap instead of storing them. To compensate it, you can store item in your deer mount, but it's also limited. Speaking of the deer, it's totally useless so far besides being a portable storage. Moving while mounted is impossible as he's pretty slow and get stress pretty quickly. I imagine there's an unexplained system regarding the deer, like he'll get better after you spend more time with him. Lastly, there's no souls so you only get exp from killing enemies. If you die, you'll get a debuff of stats penalty until you sleep in a camp. It's quite a punishing game.
Overall, the has the potential so I'm gonna keep it. It's not expensive anyway.