Thanks for posting! Been getting back into fighting games after many years break and it's been great.
For anyone looking for a silly and fun different take on 1v1 I'd highly recommend "Rounds". It has a fun comeback/rogue-like mechanic and my buddy and I have been using it as a great warm up or cool down game.
Also been really loving learning Rivals of Aether as a PC platform brawler and Guilty Gear Strive as a new 2D fighter.
Thanks for the share and write up! I'll have to check it out. I've played and beat all the main souls games and am always looking for good reasons to try new soulslikes.
The original Demons souls was what got me back into gaming back on the PS3 in college. I haven't revisited yet as a dad now with 2 young kids but can say that Elden ring took me an entire year to beat as my main single player game - with a total playtime of somewhere around 140 hours.
Recently I've actually really been loving the streamlined play and linear areas of FFXVI - Taking on a hunt or some small quests with plenty of options to do smaller quests has helped me feel more "progress" despite only playing in short bursts. I know open world is the rage but with small kids that linear gameplay has been so refreshing.
Yeah I'm pretty pumped for it too. I had a nice small weekly smash game with some coworkers but that has fallen off so RoA with some friends has been great. Really loving the look of the sequel.