A The Last of Us Part II level of combat and effect would be very good. Not for everyone though, so it would be better as an option.

What irks me a bit is that some characters often say "Machines tore them apart", yet when you arrive you see perfectly intact human corpses lol

Bloodthirst

I really liked the blood effects in Elden Ring and also they had options to turn off or decrease the amount of blood in hits. When you headshot in HFW there's a weird cloud of red mist that kind of irks me so I think yes, there should be gore