Monsters have vastly too much HP in the beginning and it is litterally impossible to kill them without getting swarmed.
Looking at the QTE and dodging at the same time did not feel possible to me, so i resorted to just clicking randomly on the arrow keys while moving.
I suggest you do it in a slow-motion mode and player either fail or succed, but the spells need to have a much greater impact then they do now, i bare felt they did more damage then the auto attack.