The best way to do a souls like Imo if you want it to be combat focused is to stay away form the fromsoft style as much as possible. Do a Nioh, or something entirely different.
Devs are trying to emulate a formula that serves many elements but they only focus on 1, the combat
To me almost every new soulslike falls flat, because it feels like the devs are focusing on the wrong things and that is extremely elaborate, ultra difficulty boss fights. Sure DS1 was sorta difficult, but to me it was more about the exploration. That's where it absolutely shone