If you have read that combat is bad, you have been lead astray. If you are struggling with the combat, read this too! The game is not a souls-like and playing it like a souls-like will be a miserable experience. Many go through the game just mashing R1/RB and never figure out why enemies take so many hits and so on.

The combat is way closer to Silent Hill 3 and 4 than anything else.

First thing you should know is that Focus Attacks, the "hold L2 (LT) and then R1 (RB)" is the most important combat manover in the game. The tutorials might make you think that you should use parries and perfect dodges, but those are just fun extras. Focus attacks deal a lot of damage, they stun the enemy and give you a lot of i-frames to avoid enemy attacks.

To perform a focus attack, just hold L2/LT until the moon fills on the bottom left of the UI and press R1. You can listen to the "ding" audio cue too, that way you don't have to watch the meter. Finally if you let go of the Focus button without unleashing the attack, the focus bar will stay partially red - that amount will be lost if you get hit and slowly replenishes if you don't so use that to your advantage.

Single focus attack followed by a simple combo will kill most of the enemies in the game with any weapon. Focus attacks stun the enemy and can even stun multiple enemies at once: if you need space, use a focus attack and retreat. You can also charge your focus attack while running: just press R3/RS to start running while holding L2/LT.

On Story difficulty you'll regain full Focus on every Hokora (save point) visit and even on harder difficulties where the Focus is not restored automatically, you'll still have plenty of items and Faith to replenish your Focus. I recommend restoring your faith on every Hokora.

Next is the weapons: if you think that certain large enemies take too many hits even with the focus attacks, try out a different weapon - for example a kitchen knife. Even with low durability it's extremely powerful. Experiment with different Omamori combos to truly enhance the combat to next level - for beginners any you find that improve your Focus or Stamina are worth it.

Items don't seem useful on Story mode, but they are actually incredibly powerful: try out the item that gives you infinite stamina in a boss fight and you'll see what I mean! Especially Divine Water and Higashi are extremely useful: one gives infinte focus and one gives infite stamina for certain amount of time, giving you plenty of time to destroy any enemy.

And finally avoid double dodging: it might work in Dark Souls, but here double dodging drains large amounts of stamina and stops you and you should avoid that all costs.

After you get the hang of the basics, you can start combining the different tricks. For example, pick Omamori that gives you easier perfect dodges, another Omamori that unleashes a powerful attack with R2 after a perfect dodge, another Omamori that makes your attacks more powerful after a perfect dodge and use a Higashi to gain infinite stamina to devaste bosses in seconds even on the hardest difficulty!

With these few simple tricks, your combat skills and overall enjoyment will vastly improve!