After an hour or two of the demo, this is a nice improvement from Soulash 1. The non-murderhobo mechanics so far are enough to feel like you're in something of a world rather than a mindless death land, while not being turnoff complicated like I kinda expected them to be. I also like that you actually have to get money through trading rather than having enemies just drop it when you kill them. Not enough of a connoisseur to pinpoint what changed, but even the basic combat feels nicer than in the first game. Probably helps that you can start with multiple skills, and the new leveling system is a lot smoother than the original one. I did like the feeling in Soulash 1 when you're wandering the world one step at a time, eating rations and finding random caves to sleep in, and you don't really get that feeling of traveling here given the world map, but this game seems more focused on worldly affairs than exploration anyway.
Thanks for sharing your impressions! The Soulash 1 harshness of the world definitely had a different feel to it than the sequel. As things are more contained in their regions in S2 it's also much easier to avoid danger or run away. It's much safer, but areas are now a mix of procedural and handcrafted, so there are fun things to explore, and there's higher replay value for our adventures. I still plan to add some more depth to the world and, especially in Dark Fantasy mode, recreate some of that same feeling from the first game. :)