I would have much more trust in their vision if the creative director did compare it to a deck-builder instead of more souls slop.

To be fair it‘s not clear to me whether the author of the article or the CD made that comparison but seeing how many huge and beloved IPs they‘re throwing around doesn‘t make me hopeful unfortunately. I‘d rather see them show off their (hopefully deep) understanding of the toolbox they‘re working with than dropping big names like Mass Effect, Baldur’s Gate 3 or Darksouls.