Saw this one show up a while ago, and waited for the price to drop a little before picking it up. It's another "Souls" like, meaning if you don't "git gud," you're gonna get your butt handed to you on a platter by puppets, carcasses & the giant monstrosities that are the boss fights. Not gonna lie - threw my controller on the ground on the boss for the 4th area, and popped the L1 key off my controller. Thankfully it snapped back into place, and I calmed down a bit. Now I'm in the Barren Swamp area and had to refrain from doing the same thing over again. Then again, I'm only on my 20th attempt, and still not much closer to beating him yet. Time to grind & get stronger again - which is what I had to do on the Venigni Works boss.
Definitely not a "Souls" veteran, but it has helped my adjust my approach & learn how to take more deep breaths when it comes to gaming in general. Those tool tips that pop up after a death have began popping up less, but during the Barren Swamp boss, they came back a few times, reminding me that Decay damage is bad! More salt in the wound, thanks game. Though, in terms of other "Souls" like games, they have gotten a little nicer and slightly more forgiving, from what I could tell on my play through, at least. Though gravity is still your enemy, and if you get in a dodge/roll loop, you'll likely fall off the ledge, or still get hit by a hapless enemy, fall anyways, and watch as they resume their post before you see the "Lie or Die" animation come up, before you have to start again.
I do like that you don't slowly become more decrepit the more you die, but you will lose Ergo, the game's currency & upgrade material. I will say - DO NOT USE THE BOSS ERGO TO LEVEL UP. Once you hit the Cathedral area, you'll find a special merchant that will trade those for either an epic weapon or an amulet which will greatly improve your chances of survival. I used the first 1 on, and apparently missed out on what some people argue is the best weapon in the game.
Also, after you finish the Grand Exhibition area, you'll be able to re-adjust your upgrade points, so if you were building to be more of a heavy damage dealer (motivity build), but figured that wasn't your style after all, you can pay Gold Coin Fruit (another collectible in the game, picked up after the Monad district) to reset & readjust your points & try a Advance build (Damage Over Time style). The more you do that, though, the more costly it becomes, so it's more difficult to switch the more you do it.
There are areas where you can grind a bit easily - next to a Stargazer (equivalent of a bonfire in Dark Souls), which will refill your life & Pulse Cells (healing potions, essentially), as well as all the enemies. If you just can't get the parrying or Perfect Guarding down, level up, and try again on that area you just can't seem to clear. Then again, I've seen a few videos of people playing through without leveling once, because they've got the parrying/guarding down to an art, so there's that, I suppose.
Some reviews I've seen for people that cleared the game (after a few playthroughs on new game + & ++) are racking up nearly 200 hours (with about 10-15 hrs of idle time, probably looking up guides & how to's that are better than the standard "git gud" responses in Reddit forums), so I know I've got a ways to go - hitting around just 30 hrs on my first play through. I did restart a few times (3-4), and realized I shouldn't have ignored the 1st vendor, and purchased all the starting weapons, so I could adjust by approach on some enemies - made my life SO much easier.
In general, be patient, learn enemy weaknesses (fire, acid, electricity, etc.), practice blocking & parrying (something i've got to get better at), and EVENTUALLY you'll get through it. You'll certainly get your money's worth out of it if you do that.