The game’s friction and slow nature forces you to immerse yourself. You have to learn the combat just like you would normally. You pick up a new weapon and swing it around to get a feel for its combos. If you aren’t trained, practiced, or strong enough then you’re not going to be efficient with those types of weapons and have to struggle to improve.

Lack of fast travel and it’s dense, hostile world makes you learn the environment to know where to go and where to avoid until later. The map isn’t that big but things are spaced far enough apart with danger in between, and the day/night cycle being considerably longer than other titles, forces you to consider what you’re doing to not burn daylight and be caught out in the dark.

Early you have to be careful who you mouth off to or trust because it could get you beat the fuck up and you’re shit stolen or you piss off the wrong person and now you need to find another way to progress or accept that you fucked up. Dialogue and character action becomes more than just fluff.

Leveling is slow and gaining learning points takes a while but the investments are well worth it. Specializing in doing something actually feels incredibly better than becoming the typical jack of all trades but also putting a few points here and there still feels like it makes a difference when rounding out your play style. It makes you actually weigh your options if you want to get better at one thing or try and branch out.

Yea, some of it makes the game frustrating at times but that frustration is what makes finally getting improved enough to overcome it so rewarding as an immersive experience. Everyone loves a power fantasy but this game isn’t that, an immersive RPG is different from a power fantasy action game. Immersion benefits from friction.