I like this a lot so far.
First and foremost, I hope you can polish up the choppy combat. A trained fighter does not telegraph their attacks over the course of 2 seconds, that's just asking to die. Your attack animations ought to be quicker and more fluid.
I think Barbarian wouldn't be helpless without her weapons and armor, she should be able to fight (albeit ineffectively) without her gear.
A particularly annoying thing was how enemies would still hit after you interrupted their attack with your own hit. That needs to be solved.
Targeting was also tricky, as you had to make sure your character was facing the enemy perfectly otherwise you'd miss. You could easily fix that with an auto-targeting/facing function.
I wouldn't mind seeing a block button, a stamina gauge, and a disarming mechanic. I think with just those added elements, you could easily make combat more challenging for the players with tougher and more numerous enemies if you're going for the dark souls route.
Because you're building a 3d world action adult game, there are a lot of things you can do with this besides some chopping axe action and pit traps. Puzzles with dire consequences for inputting in too many incorrect combinations, and various obstacles like wall climbing if you're feeling ambitious.
Keep up the good work.