Overall 8/10 -- Had an amazing time playing this, and it truly captures the spirit of the original Piranha Bytes style like everyone is saying. It is a little flawed though.

Pros
- Combat's challenging, but difficulty is flexible in settings, which was very welcome to save time
- Plot is excellent, choices matter
- The music is memorable and strongly fits the setting
- Lots of secrets, exploration is very rewarding
- Talking to every NPC leads to good quests and rewards, and each of their concerns are interesting. It's fun seeing how relationships progress and where a few of the anchor characters end up as you make your way through each chapter.

Cons
- A boatload of random women as warriors and leaders, breaks immersion/realism. I'm not saying this as some anti-woke thing, but it's a bit like making cats fiercer and tougher than the pit bulls around them, it just doesn't make sense when the reigning champion of the arena is some hulking lady lol. The strong emphasis on modern feminism doesn't suit the genre at all.

- Writing sometimes leans on the millennial side for what should be a serious medieval RPG (not surprising, considering what I wrote above).

- Lots of running around and fast travel is spotty + costly -- but not without good reason. Some areas are hard to navigate since there are very specific ways to get in and out that are hard to remember.