True, somewhat of a “look for the story and you’ll find it” dark souls vibe. I got the impression from dev logs that the end goal is a more traditional RPG story

Exanima, it’s mostly a testing ground for a game the devs want to make around this concept. It’s a good time, and also exactly what I think you’re looking for.
Not to bury the lede, it is a fairly full featured action game, but there’s not really a story element at this stage.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/362490/Exanima/