OVERALL SCORE: 9/10

+ Visually stunning
+ Top-tier level design
+ Beautiful soundtrack
+ Incredibly professional voice cast (especially the Spanish dub)
+ Unique and memorable bosses
+ Fun and balanced combat that rewards skill and enemy knowledge
+ Rewards exploration
+ Genuine feeling of growing stronger with progression
+ Free DLC (with even more amazing bosses and additional challenge modes!)
+ Difficult without ever feeling unfair

- Debla of the Lights prayer is too OP, can two shot bosses in NG+ with right setup
- Some bosses do not feel aggressive enough
- Shrine fast travel is too expensive to unlock
- Crisanta of the Wrapped Agony
Only 3 attack strings, damage sponge, spends most of the fight in a parry stance, can spawn on top of you after the teleport slash attack, and can easily get stuck off-screen. Overall a boring boss.

Honestly one of the best games I've played this year. I actually wish some parts of it were more difficult now that I look back at it, but NG+ easily scratches that itch.

Combat feels very balanced and polished apart from the OP prayer mentioned in the cons. Esdras in particular has become one of my favorite bosses in video games. His combination of having an aggressive ai, greed punishing attacks, interesting 2nd phase gimmick, and varied moveset with each attack having a specific pattern or cue for the player to recognize exemplifies everything I believe defines good boss design.

This game is easily worth its full price and I highly suggest that any fan of souls-like or metroidvania games try it for themselves!

EDIT:
I'm sorry to say this but the 2nd DLC (Strife and Ruin) is honestly disappointing. The challenge rooms are more annoying than fun for two main reasons:

The first reason is the length of some of the rooms are fairly long considering you have to restart from the beginning when you fail. What makes them feel so long is the amount of time spent waiting on platforms that move at a snails pace, which makes some sections feel like auto-scrollers. The bigger reason is the time limit for the rooms, which make them feel more like trial-and-error than actual skill due to the need to rush (especially with how finicky ladders can be when they are moving). There are times you need to know what you need to do ahead of time rather than react to what is happening at present.

I was really hoping they would just be an amped-up version of the challenge room in The Brotherhood of the Silent Sorrow, as the break-away floors were more than enough to keep you moving at a fast pace.

Keep in mind this criticism is coming from a guy who 100% the Crash N. Sane Trilogy, so I'm no newbie to platformers. Time trials worked in that game because you had to already complete the level once to unlock the time trial, that way you would already know what to expect when you did attempt the time trial. Regardless, this DLC is unfortunately a low point of the game for me.