I haven't discovered an "easier" phase yet, but the game gets harder when the "moon" is moving from 2 to 4 o"clock, as well as 8 to 10 o'clock. That's when extra enemies get spawned in. The flipside is that even basic enemies have a higher chance of dropping loot during this time.

Regarding the question: there are ranged weapons in the game. Simply put - all sorts of shooting blasters, etc. However, they also use stamina, so they don't seem to break the balance (judging by the reviews). That is, the game does not turn into this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mju1EhU1Z4I

A lightsaber would be too OP weapon for Souls-like games:
Extra light (the "blade" weighs nothing at all), as a result - extra fast and at the same time would spend very little stamina.
However, I would also like such a thing ... For example, for the conditional, New Game + mode (like a Handcannon, which becomes available after complete Dead Space 2 at the maximum difficulty level).

All those concerns can be answered with game design.

Blaster/Laser rather than using stamina (that can be weird) why not slow the laser just like one shot rather than rapid fire. Also use ammunition like energy pack or cartridge. And since it was set after destruction they can limit the amount of ammo available for those weapons. The bigger and stronger the weapon is, the more energy it consume.

Also if you concerned about damage, why not making you and your enemies use coated armor or force field to deflect or stop laser shots so you ended up had to rely on melee weapons more. Also why not making shield out of pure energy as well? It work pretty well with Star Wars and Gundam.

Lightsaber can work too, make it consume energy continuously and coated armor reduce the amount of damage created, and force field negate lightsaber as well. Even when lightsaber move so fast it can be used for a short time before running out of energy.

The point is not avoiding challenge but how to embrace it and make it part of the game.

Demo had lasers and other ranged weapons. They use energy, which gets replenished when you do melee damage.

Not sure about light sabers, but I'm not too far into the game yet.

There are no difficulty settings per se, but there are ingame items that scale enemies easier or harder (though I haven't tried them, and I don't know whether they only affect the current area or the whole game).

That said, what I played yet seemed easier and definitely less geared toward frustration than the Dark Souls series.

Game lists "coop". 100% pure offline direct connect/LAN play without account requirements?

Well, there's split screen...

Do you even play Dark Souls? Do you remember that Pyromancy and Miracles used to be limited and in DS3 it has mana pool but still limited as well. But people with magic build still use them efficiently and terrifying result. Do you expect to just fart out magic like you just finished binging a large can of beans in a souls like game? Go play Skyrim you weak noodle. We return back to game design, just because there's coated armor and energy shield doesn't mean it became a "baseball fest": like you said. Just like in Dark Souls not every enemy has strong poise. Since we replacing poise with energy barrier I don't see that much different. Put energy barrier in certain enemies just like red and blue eyed knights in Demon's Souls and Gwyn's Silver and Black knights in Dark Souls. Just because Disney crapped on your fun doesn't mean you can judge other games like that as well.

Also a good reminder that in the old Star Wars lore before Disney took over there's some materials in the world that can block light sabers like Cortosis and Phrik (heh) and it was considered canon.

This is not the same as having a mana pool. There is a restriction on the use of ranged weapons here already (Energy which is "mana" here).
But your own weapon (melee) will depend on batteries. A battery-limited lightsaber is b*llsh*t, whatever you tall tales about the Dark Souls.
Generally a stupid example, when we already have a limitation mechanic in this game.

Exactly, it turns into a baseball fest. The example with Dark Souls is generally stupid - there is no lightsaber or anything like that in DS.
What you suggest is: We will replace the sword with an "energy" sword, and the shield / armor with an "energy" shield / armor.
At the end, we will get exactly the same battle as it was, only with "energy" special effects. Nobody needs such an "energy" sword (decorative - only look, not work).

You're probably not very shy. It’s not about what Disney did with someone's fun, but that it’s a good example of what the end result would be if implemented the way you suggest. It's ballfest, but with special effects, yes.

These materials in games did not "work" at all: they simply reduced damage, did not affect the swordfight at all, whether you were wearing armor based on such materials or not. What is happening on the screen in both cases is completely the same. So, yes, the remembrance is very nice:
Firstly, it was in pure RPGs (lke KotOR, in fact, there was simply no "fight" with sabers - you just could command to attack with a saber, and then just see played animations that had nothing to do with actual damaging enemies), and secondly, it worked in games just like this clumsily: https://youtu.be/OOwTEJQCV78?t=131
I really love both KotOR, and this gaming convention is completely understandable, but no one really needs to get such a "saber fight" in a souls-like game.

This is exactly what I am talking about. No one need a energy sword that works the same as a regular sword, with the "explanation" this is because the enemy has energy armor. In this case, there is no point in making such a sword (which we usually see in games).
And no one need n a game a lightsaber that just hummms and glows. The uniqueness of the energy sword (lightsaber in particular) is not in its special effects, but in its combat properties - how it works.

And if you just need a glowing stick, than say so. This is often not difficult to do, replacing textures and sounds, for example.

Why you're so miffed about energy sword getting limitation like projectile weapon? It push players to play more tactically. I mean look at Doom Eternal, it got this super strong energy sword that can slice and dice even the baron of hell to pieces. But the kicker is the sword can only be used three times before it run out of energy and require energy refill. So players are getting smart and only using it to kill strong enemies. Why can't it be implemented in other games?

And do you even read my argument about baseball fest stuff? I said the one who use energy barrier/shield can be limited to only a handful of strong enemies. It can be designed like rock paper scissor mechanic where people switch to bladed weapon to kill enemies with energy barriers. Once again Doom Eternal show a great example of this with their possessed marines with energy shield. To kill them easily player need to switch into plasma rifle and overload the shield until it explode. This is just like Phalanx fight/the first Demon's Souls boss where you fight against shielded enemies but you can kill them easy if you use fire bomb or put resin on your weapon and set it on fire.

In the end you simply just want a one hit kill lightsaber where you just run around and decapitating everyone. Do you know what it looks like? Bushido Blade 1 and 2 on PS1. The game can be finished in less than 30 minutes because you keep decapitating everyone thanks to super realistic sword fight mechanism where most fight ended in seconds. Sure it can be satisfying but it's also get boring very quick.

Any ETA on when the achievements gonna start working?

How do the controls feel?

You should try to open a thread in the sub forum dedicated to the game, there is a developer that responds to the various bugs of the game.

For the same reason that you don't want your sword to disappear from your hands in Dark Souls during the battle.

It can be. There are many of games with powerful hand weapons that are limited in use. But Doom is a different genre. Shooter: you always have another weapon, if the sword runs out of energy, you change the weapon in 1 push of button and that's it. This is not the case in Hellpoint (as in most games of this genre).

I read. You can come up with any restrictions for such a sword, it is understandable without your descriptions. It's only when you read that cortosis is resisting the lightsaber that you think "ok, let's move on". When you see how it works in games ... well, it doesn't work: you either see how the lightsaber stops working like a lightsaber (and then why is it at all? For special effects?) Or it works as it did, and cortosis just reduces damage (then why is cortosis in the game other than worsening the lightsaber)? Therefore, there was no cortosis in Lucas's films.

You start talking nonsense again. You can think of a thousand reasons and ways to limit the energy sword in the game. Only an energy sword that "does not work" as an energy sword is useless. It's easier to add the usual one and that's it. This is exactly what happens in games.

Well, I want a realistic lightsaber. After all, this is how it works and should work. And this is how the
energy sword (lightsaber as most famous example) would work in reality if it existed.
Otherwise, what's the point of having an lightsaber (energy sword) in the game if it doesn't work as an energy sword? I don't want just funny light effects. I specifically mentioned in the example of a Star Wars games where, due to the requirements of Disney, it was done exactly like this: a lightsaber that does not work as an energy sword (as the lightsaber worked in the movies). Nobody liked the result of playing with such a lightsaber.
And, yes, it would be a super OP weapon. And that's why I compared it (upon receipt) from the very beginning to the Hand Cannon from Dead Space 2. A weapon for fun.