I think the block binding wasn't set up by default, so after the first fight I rebound everything to lmb - attack, rmb - block and a mouse thumb button to lock on. With that setup, combat felt alright.
I did most of my fighting in the caves, and I don't think that suited the lock - on style that much. It feels like that needs some more open spaces. I also found that I wasn't sure if my blocking was effective. Is it a quick block that you need to time or something you call hold? If it's the former then I think the enemy attack animations need a visibile wind - up and brief pause before they strike, or some kind of indicator like the batman games.
I also think in a full game, the combat tutorial could do with dragging out to cover each move. Training swords that barely hurt + a "now try blocking my attacks" phase kinda thing.
The character controller felt pretty good. It's steep slopes handling was maybe a bit too forgiving. It felt like my route out of the mountain was more glitch than planned path. Other than that I'd just want to spend more time in other environments to get a feel for it