After a long mid-game hiatus to waste a few weeks on Football Manager and then do a NextFest deepdive I am finally back to Withering Realms, which I will finish this weekend. I guess with an asterisk that there is a post-game/NG+ mechanic that I am unlikely to engage with at this point in time, and will probably save for next year and the full release. It's actually a Soulslike so for once I am following the tenets of this community instead of talking about other types of games here like an irreverent filthy casual.
I think a combination of sparse bonfire placements with a "Stake of Marika" type system is perfect for me. For exploration I love the tension of getting through an area with few bonfires, I love the relief of finally finding the next bonfire and I love when clever level design and shortcuts let you reuse previous bonfires. Cathedral of the Deep in DS3 is a great example.
But boss runbacks? Pass.