Whats new is the introduction of firearms and blood tinge trait. They kind of remind me of magic attacks in Dark Souls but faster where my character doesn't do the magic pose. Blood tinge basically is the trait that determines your firearm damage.
There are shields in the game but does not help much especially in boss fights. Parrying has been removed and replaced with stunning which is done by shooting the enemy while it attacks and hopefully it connects. The other method is to do a sneak charge attack behind the enemy.
The trick weapons are cool. They can transform into different kind of weapon. An axe transforms into a poleaxe. A cane transform into a whip. A saw sword extends it blade. There are more but its more fun to try them yourselves. I prefer Ludwig's sword. A silver sword transforms into a great sword.
Visually the game looks great. The victorian era setting looks very convincing. The bad side is that the enemies look great too. Allow me to list the scary bits. Creepy howling and screaming. Check. Deformities. Check. Extra amount of grotesque. Check. Later in the game the enemies just get weirder and more deformed, or formed with limbs, skulls, and eyeballs.
I haven't finish the game. I just reached the nightmare of mentis. I got tired of the difficulty of the game so I'm taking a break from it. I hate the frenzy effect. Once it reaches full bar, instance lost of most of your health. Hopefully I can bring myself to finish the game.