I guess you were expecting a very different game. I would challenge calling that “poor execution” though. I personally found the difficulty, the danger of combat, and the atmosphere to be the game’s biggest strengths. I was looking for a game that properly made you feel like a medieval peasant.
Too many medieval RPGs are about fulfilling a power fantasy as some kind of badass, but I really liked that KC:D was more about the vibes of just being a relative nobody in a historically accurate medieval simulation.
I remember vividly the moment I failed a quest because I made the npc wait for too long and thinking “this game is one of a kind”. It does take a while to get used to, but it certainly has its charm.