Some of these will make combat “easier”, and again I think there should be a matter of difficulty systems implemented. If you just cater to the masochists you won’t get the sales you need (and I say that as someone who plays hard games). And I say all of this as someone who can hit the parry timing and succeed in the game.
First off, just make parrying a matter of block timing. Dark souls parrying system is garbage, no one likes it and that’s why no one emulates it. Block/timing based parry systems are what people enjoy, and if we’re getting rid of enjoyment for the sake of difficulty, the game will just not do well. Also pairs well with difficulty options, that window can be narrowed or expanded easily.
Have better enemy stagger. Even small, light enemies don’t stagger at all but stagger the player endlessly. The combination of no stagger and bad parry system means you’re stuck going just “hit one, roll, hit once, roll” until you finally get enough focus to cast an ability. It reduces player options (heavy weapons are completely pointless without stagger) and makes combat feel less engaging/interesting.
Don’t do the inverted difficulty curve. I just finished Drova and it suffered from this too, it leans to much into the “we want players to feel helpless when the game starts” which is a neat idea, but it just makes most people bounce off the game. Let us pick a damn starting weapon at least instead of hoping that we happen to explore the correct corner that finds a weapon that fits our playstyle.
Ranged enemy tracking is insane. I’m playing on a big ultrawide monitor and still get hit from offscreen, their ability to track through rolls is crazy. Slowing down the projectiles a little bit would help make them more managable too. When your heals are this precious and you’re getting peppered down by something offscreen that you can’t react to, it feels real bad.