You can build a hundred systems and still have a game that feels like moving chess pieces. This round put new toys aside and worked on weight. That's the kind of thing you don't notice when it's done right and can't stop noticing when it's missing.
Start with your own feet. Move now and a little grit puffs up beneath you, and when you break into a sprint the puffs grow into real kicks of dust. Dodge, dash, vault a pew, or come down from a leap and the ground answers with a burst of debris where you land. It's a small thing, and it changes everything about how the Penitent reads on screen. Suddenly there's a body with mass moving through the world instead of a sprite gliding over it.
Every blow got the same treatment. Land a hit with a sword swing, a lunging strike, a nova, a projectile, or a slam from a leap, and a small burst of dust and debris kicks off the point of contact, layered under the warm spark that was already there. Connect with something and it reads as connecting. Multiply that across a crowded fight and combat stops feeling weightless.
The spells learned to announce themselves in their own tongue as well. Cast something fiery and it blooms in flame. A cold spell shatters outward in ice, lightning cracks down, and a curse boils up in sickly green, while the holy and the physical answer in a pop of arcane light. Each element now has a visual voice at the moment it lands, so a fire build looks like a fire build and a frost nova looks like winter. (Which effect belongs to which spell is still being auditioned, and some of these picks may yet change once they've had a few fights to prove themselves.)
The other half of the round was about the dead earning their keep. Until now your raised acolytes were presence and free damage, but the enemies ignored them and walked right past to get at you. Now, if you raise the durable Bonewrought tank, it becomes a proper wall. A handful of the nearest foes turn and swarm it instead of you, while the rest of the pack keeps coming. It never peels a whole mob, and the biggest threats and bosses stay locked on you, as they should. It still buys you room to breathe, and it makes a tank build finally mean something.
Nothing here shows up on a feature list, but it is the difference between a demo and a game with a pulse.