Fall of Light

Honestly, I did not expect such a fine game. Great atmosphere, fantastic music playing at just the right time (boss fights) rather that being looped constantly as well as a touching story.
Fights are nice and tactical, especially using sword and shield. Difficulty curve is reversed. It starts rather hard and get little too easy towards the ending (especially if you manage to collect the most powerful weapon).
As for your companion, she really shines (both figuratively and literally). She is cute, unarmed and in need your protection. She can die easily, can be kidnapped and since you grew attached to her during your journey, you don't want it to happen. During fights you need to consider not only your position, but hers as well. Also, her voice acting and behavior is great, you smile when she laughs and doing some innocent stuff like chasing seagulls, running into the pond etc, you are terrified when she screams after you leave her too far and she gets kidnapped. Thanks to that, when the true purpose of your journey is revealed, you really wish them to succeed.
It's a nice little gem

I actually got immediately hooked on this game. I got it during the Halloween sale and wanted to try it to see if I like it, and I immediately got hooked. It does remind me a BIT like Dark Souls, but more like ICO and Aragami. I've seen complaints where the attacks are sluggish, inputs are slow, slow response, etc. Well, there is a stamina bar, and the heavier the weapon, the more you have to carry and swing, and the more it wears you down, which also means the character is not Hercules and thus must prepare to swing whatever weapon is available. I find it refreshing that it takes time for a warrior to seem to actually show using strength to swing a sword bigger than he is instead of swinging it like a rapier.
I do agree that falling off narrow paths when dodging made up most of my death count, but I combated this by leading the enemies to a bigger area. Sometimes it works, sometimes it didn't, but if you step of a ledge in real life, there is no invisible wall to catch you.
The music and design is subtle and pleasing, not epic and grandiose. The storyline is actually pretty interesting and for me, seemed influenced by the concept of darkness/light, good/evil and that story running parallel to an underlying story. I hope I explained that right. Hard to explain it. The concept, story, and design seemed cohesive, but fights did get repetitive and after a bit I did feel like I was grinding to level my character, but it's not as bad as many other games out there where grinding is a necessity. Here is just an "environmental hazard" as killing enemies are needed to traverse the game's world, rather than backtracking and waiting specifically for killing re-spawning enemies JUST to gaining levels.
My only complaint is there stereotypical multi-phase end-boss. Many games have done this, specifically the later Final Fantasy Series. The If-you-hurt me-I will-only-get-stronger! stuff. You can't just defeat the boss, you have to defeat them and their two higher steps of raging from smacking them.
NOTE: This is my opinion and thoughts of the game and not an overall view of the game for general audiences. As with many reviews and opinions, take this with a grain of salt and do your own research. This notice should not be necessary, put is included due to previous inflammatory commentary on reviews from previous games due to people being "butt-hurt" that I said either something bad about the game.

Pretty good, but you really want controller to play this game. Without controller you'll struggle to block attacks or land them.

I loved the game, but I can see why it's getting mixed reviews.
TL:DR If you're not nit-picky you should have fun for some hours with this “souls-like”, more if you go for all the endings, which is not worth it.
Story/Lore?
Shamelessly copy-pasted out of Dark Souls: darkness consuming everything as light fades and you gotta fix that. And I’m not even kidding, from second 1 you see similarities so evident that makes you laugh and wonder how the developers didn’t get sued. All in all, it adds some of its own spice, a little of its own way to presenting the struggle with the whole Father and Daughter fighting darkness as you start to discover what actually is going on… and does that really well so, surprisingly, that’s enough to keep you engaged.
Setting?
Amazing. Even with its minimalistic style, all the areas feel well crafted, from enemy placement to ambient sounds and decorations. With that said, some areas need some tweeking. Also, be sure to set the game’s brightness all the way up, otherwise some areas will be black. Not dark, black, you just won’t see a thing without the lantern. For me that was fine, as it added more to the feeling of traversing a world that’s going down the sinkhole as it is consumed by darkness.
Combat?
It’s alright. There nothing special about it and not too many things wrong with it. There’s no magic, the one ranged option is “meh” and 2h weapons are broken: almost no hitboxes, super slow and neglectable damage, except for that one “secret” 2h sword that’s intentionally OP. Aside from it, dual wield heave into light combo worked best for me.
General gameplay?
Again, nothing special. The “ICO” mechanic of escorting and protecting your daughter from enemies and kidnapping shadows doesn’t get in the way but doesn’t add much either. It’s just there to give a different feeling to the story and the game, and does that well so it’s welcomed.
Leveling and customization?
Practically non-existent. You pick your cape at the beginning, loot better weapons with different move sets and passive effects, and grow stronger when killing enemies and resting at statues. That’s it.
NPCs/Voice acting/Sounds?
Some are amazing, truly on point; others feel out of place, and don’t expect anything that you wouldn’t find in a Dark Souls game when it comes to dialogues and personalities. As for sounds… the whole game screams “royalty free ”.

honsetly surprised that the voting tendency isn't a bit more positive.
combat is soso. still had fun with it.