Theres a lot to see, but God of Wars designers have been creative in how they minimize backtracking. Generally, you can see where youre going or from where you came, as paths through castles and cliffsides have you doubling back, creating shortcuts or secret passages back to the main route. (You eventually gain access to a tool that makes travel simpler and faster, all without breaking the games single long camera take. Its neat.)
It sounds Dark Souls-ish because it is Dark Souls-ish. That comparison extends to the combat, which especially in the extremely difficult postgame content does a good (if imperfect) impression of everybodys favorite masocore series. Borrowed inspiration isnt limited to the Souls franchise. Fights involve an unusual but effective hodgepodge of genres: Ax melee attacks handle like an old-fashioned beat-em-up; ax throws work like a sniper rifle, the weapon returning to Kratos with the tap of a button; Atreus (whom you can command to fire arrows) behaves almost like an RPG party member, flanking large enemies and stunning packs into position for attacks.
In fact, God of War takes a good deal from role-playing games. Gear can be purchased or found, then upgraded or modified, to increase Kratos status, which is displayed on the pause screen like a tabletop character sheet. The ax, the shield and the bow have upgrade trees. Kratos fanciest attacks are culled runics, and you assign one light and one heavy runic attack at a time. Runic attacks replace complex combos, and are performed with a simple tap of the shoulder buttons. No pressure to master reflexes and motor skills. Instead, precious brain juice can be spent on strategy: Does a zone call for attacks that stun large groups of enemies, setting up a sequence of brutal takedowns, or does a big boss warrant narrow but powerful damage-dealing blows? Tough battles are made easy when treated like puzzles to be solved with the right combat approach.
Polygons 10/10 review makes it look like it does have some similarities to Souls and has some RPG elements after all, allowing you to build Kratos combat style to your liking, upgrading trees, weapons, abilities, etc. with XP.