Lords of the Fallen

Man, this game still racks in the hate even to this day. Look through Community posts and comments to see how people despise it due to it being a Souls-Like game "ripoff", but also hate it for not being a straight Souls clone because it doesn't play exactly the same. Contradictory? Well, that's the mentality that many that down this game on every point seem to have, damned if it does, damned if it doesn't. Then they proceed to personally go after the devs, as if saying they didn't like it and moving on with their lives wasn't enough, this is one of few games where I have seen such unrestrained emotional response to a video game.
I won't say the game doesn't have shortcomings or issues, it's launch was definitely rough due to bugs and such. Doesn't seem the case for everyone or me currently as I haven't dealt with any real detrimental bugs, and only CTD only once in my entire time playing, so I can't say I have experienced most of the issues a number of people in the comments expressed.
So anyway, aware as I am how much crap this game has gotten, some criticism earned though, but for the most part it was die-hard Dark Souls fans that immediately hated it ( for being, I believe, the first actual and AAA Souls-Like to follow suit) with a passion, and would have done so even if it didn't have the technical issues it did. My thoughts on just why it got such a strong reaction, even before it released, was simply how damn good the game looked in comparison to the Souls games. Visually, it crushed them (Dark Souls 3 pretty much evening it out 4 years later). The devs did an amazing job with visual presentation and overall design, from characters, enemies, and definitely armour and weapons. I will give the game that hands down, there is enough variety of unique and badass gear in your arsenal to customize and swap freely to suit your playstyle. I got the impression there was fear it would have been equal to if not surpassed Souls that stemmed the animosity it got from "those" fans, which it might have if some areas of the game were tweaked differently. But I guess that depends on a persons level of brand loyalty and bias. That said, let's not pretend all the Souls games were flawless.
As for the gameplay, a very highly criticized part of the game, I at first, nearly completely agreed. I knew straight off it was more than likely wasn't going to be exactly the same, and did not want to approach this game like it WAS Dark Souls, I read enough on the game beforehand that forewarned against judging it directly as such as it would skew ones perspective on what it was on it's own merits. For the game being slower paced, yes, but this can also depend on your selected armour and weapons, ranging between light, medium, heavy. Heavy obviously making you a turtle, a very tank and badass looking one from the armour available to that playstyle. I started as a Rogue with light armour mostly throughout, only mixing in a few medium armour pieces here and there when they may have been more useful than a piece of light armour. Weapon wise, I stuck to daggers, dual swords, only two staves, and my gorgeous, skull-crushing, Heirloom ( I fucking LOVE that hammer!) as my heavy weapon backup. Thus, I didn't deal with much problems in relation to mobility. But different abilities help get around where speed may be lacking for some.
However for certain lighter weapons, I will say they could have had faster animations as Harkin could have been capable of utilizing them a bit faster. On the note of Harkin and the game's perceived overall sluggishness, people seemed to skip over one obvious fact in order to criticize rather than use common sense....Harkin himself. He isn't a small guy, and his size and frame actually make sense for there to be weight to his movement and attacks, even the highly criticized rolling animation. Why would a man of his build, in a reasonable to a shitload of armour, be moving like a man half his size in light armour only?? One aspect people related it to Souls inaccurately, when the devs apparently did this on purpose to add more of an actual sense of weight to things, this is balanced by enemies being of a relative speed, minus the obvious enemies that are supposed to be faster and lighter equipped, or inhumanly strong (as the Rhogar are) enough to wield heavy weapons faster than a human.
The story is okay for a Souls-Like, as there isn't ever that huge a focus on story. However it does focus on lore (mainly through items and scrolls] that ties into the history of the world, and surrounding events of the game and characters. I'd say there is more interaction with given characters in this compared to a Souls game, in quests and otherwise.
There are conveniences in systems in place in the game, such as an experience multiplier that rack up the more kills you get without using a checkpoint. I have seen people whine about this too, though if anything this pushes you to get better in order to rack up points to level up attributes and skills. Also, there is an EASY and alternative save method the game tells you about, even when coming to a checkpoint, in which you simply hold the left stick down as you press Y (on an X-Box One controller) to save without losing your multiplier as you do with normal saves. Just you also don't get the benefit of restoring Health and Health Potions. This system is a present incentive to wager building up experience and getting stronger, faster, at a risk. I enjoyed it myself. The game also has Small and Large runes that drop from enemies that are useful later in the game when you meet the Blacksmith, that allows you to use them to up stats or add status and elemental effects for weapons and armour, or apply them to your gauntlet (projectile weapon). There are no maps, but they aren't really necessary but for maybe two areas, as you learn the layout, as was intended.
I've seen people infuriated about there being no I-frames which Dark Souls used. That being said alone points to an obvious flaw in judgement, LoTF ISN'T Dark Souls. People were getting their asses handed to them because they couldn't learn to adjust to the games's specific pace, and the fact their were no I-frames to rely on as you have to actually judge distance, and utilize the timing of rolls and blocks. Though personally, in my playthrough as a Rogue, I never used my shield but only for a handful of times it came in handy for blocking a projectile attack. Otherwise, learning to judge distance and timing is all you need, especially since this game isn't actually as difficult as Souls games, but will still kick your ass if you take it for granted, like some learned.
Comparing it to the much faster paced, The Surge, it could be almost said the creators deliberately made it faster overall to show they pace the games intentionally to each games own flow. Yet, The Surge, like Lords Of The Fallen, (and most Souls-Like) is still heavily focused on learning timing and dodging over straight blocking or using anything like I-frames as a crutch. There shouldn't be much difficulty in the game once you adjust to these things about the game, aside from a few enemies that can be a pain, and a few of the bosses that actually present a challenge. This game is pretty good at introducing you into Souls-Like games (for those reasonably new to them), as I have seen people say they improved in different ways at similar games after playing LoTF. It all comes down to your mindset and bias, like with most things, when approaching this game. Especially because of the heavy criticism and comparisons to Souls it gets.
Aside from the game's pacing which can be an issue for some, the rest of the game is fine. If interested, keep in mind that it isn't Souls, it's Lords Of The Fallen. Comparisons aside, it's a good game on its own, also depends on if you face technical issues similar to others.

---{Graphics}---
☐ You forget what reality is
☑ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don't look too long at it
☐ Paint.exe
---{Gameplay}---
☐ Very good
☑ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Starring at walls is better
☐ Just don't
---{Audio}---
☐ Eargasm
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ Earrape
---{Audience}---
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Human
☐ Lizards
---{PC Requirements}---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☐ Decent
☑ Fast
☐ Rich boiiiiii
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer
---{Difficulty}---
☐ Just press A
☐ Easy
☐ Significant brain usage
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☑ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls
---{Grind}---
☑ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if you care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second live for grinding
---{Story}---
☐ Story?
☐ Text or Audio floating around
☑ Average
☐ Good
☐ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life
---{Game Time}---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☑ Average
☐ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond
---{Price}---
☐ It's free!
☑ Worth the price
☐ Wait for sale
☐ If you have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money
---{Bugs}---
☐ Never heard of
☑ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs

My biggest reason for liking this game is definitely the art style. Everything is dark and spiky and wonderful, and exactly to my liking, not to mention that the visuals have aged pretty gracefully. The story is relatively flimsy, but you gain better understanding over the course of the game (and multiple playthroughs), especially once you have a sizeable collection of audio-logs. The combat works well - you won't find that there are broken mechanics or ridiculous bugs, and least not from my experience. You'll probably have a better grip on combat whilst using a controller though.

First of all this game is pretty FREAKIN GOOD For a "Less then 10$" Base game.
I got the entire collection on sale for 4.99$
Saying that the i will go into the pros and cons of the game.
Pros
1. The game has an amazing art style (if you like 15th century Gothic style fantasy)
2. The character development is quite interesting. With your classic three class system, but then they add a kind of perk system.
3. The armors in my opinion look just strait up brutal.
4. IMO the combat system seem pretty balanced if not a little unpredictable. ( which keeps it from getting boring)
5. The story seems linear yet more open then your typical hack and slash level design
6. Not to much mystery so you do not get confused, But there are some good jaw dropping moments
7. The general feel of the game is pretty smooth.
8. There is a simplistic choice system great for novice gamer's.
9. The game is not demanding at all (I've played to the end on an HP Pavilion Laptop with R5 Graphics 512 MB VRAM)
Cons
1. If you are a Veteran Souls-Like player this might bore you.
2. If you are used to Hyper fast game play this will seem sluggish
3. This can be pretty unpredictable if your not careful
4. If you prefer super challenging games DO NOT BUY
5. There is a pretty choppy tutorial stage.
6. You can feel stuck sometimes
IN CONCLUSION
The game seem like an introductory Souls-like. The game is not to hard, but might be for casual players.
If you want to transition to hard Souls-Likes this is perfect. The game its self is overall satisfying and quite fun.
I 100% recommend this game to all casual players looking to get serious.
I 0% recommend this game to players that are level 9999/NG+9999 on Dark Souls 3 ( If you catch my drift)
Lets just say i wouldn't waste 45.5 Hours of my life on something that shouldn't be played

Disclaimer: I played Dark Souls trilogy, Bloodborne and Nioh.
I like this kind of games mostly for the atmosphere, exploration, secrets and cautious combat. Taking these areas into consideration, Lords of the Fallen is a very fun game that is worth playing.
Dunno why the hatred towards this. It is my understanding that the two major complaints are the lack of build variety (I don't care about this since I only go through a game once) and the slowness of the fighting (honestly I usually go for quick weapons and in this game I had no problems using the heavy slow ones). Recommended.

Thank you for making this game. I wish the best for the sequel.
Lords Of The Fallen is an amazing game. I first picked it up on Xbox One and felt like it wasn't for me. I felt like I couldn't do anything, and I gave up when I got to the fight with The Worshiper. Years later, I pick the GOTY edition on sale, and I decide to give it another go on PC.
At first, It was the same thing. I felt like I didn't know what to do. Maybe I wasn't playing efficiently? Maybe I wasn't playing a class correctly? And then it hit me. People think this game is clunky and poorly made, and give it hate and just give up like I first did, when all you have to do is literally FIGURE OUT YOUR PLAY STYLE.
I picked up the Warrior Tree, I loaded myself with medium to heavy armor, I gave Harkyn the weapon selection of Axes, Hammers, Swords, I gave him what he needed, equipment for the righteous, strong and noble. I slayed beasts, I slayed Rhogar, I conquered lords, and inevitably, I had to conquer myself.
Within the many trials and errors people would like to assume this game is like Dark Souls. Yes, Lords Of The Fallen is an ACTION RPG, That should respectably and rightfully be what it is. You have optional quests to go on, you can hack and slash and follow through with the story, but if I were to choose what kind of game this reminded me of, I would say Fable 2.
Final Thoughts.
Lords Of The Fallen gets a 8.5/10 from me, because as its own game, it is great. I love the game. It has replayability, it has fun gameplay, it has challenges, it has stat leveling, RPG elements, etc. I only recommend one thing, and that is to understand that you can't just rush your way through this game and expect to get somewhere in a couple minutes. You need to understand what you and the enemy is doing. It sounds pretty simple on hand but in actuality, I've seen a lot of people who give up on the game just head butt the game with a barbaric mindset and no strategy at all. This isn't a game you can simply mow down and expect that everything will be fine. I feel like this game implements a lot of classical unforgiveness, with a twist of modern story driven action rpg. I feel like this game got a lot of hate that wasn't needed. This isn't Dark Souls, nor will it ever be Dark Souls. This is Lords Of The Fallen. A game of it's own, for players to play, as it is someones great idea created and virtually implemented for us to enjoy. I wish you luck on the Sequel, as I, of many, will be looking forward to.
Thank you for reading my review, I hope you enjoyed reading my thoughts and opinion about Lords Of The Fallen™

This is a tough one to review for me. I think most of us are here for the same reason, we need more of what Dark Souls provides. That being said, LOTF is able to deliver albeit with some caveats.
To make this easier on myself I'll sort into PROS and CONS.
For the PROS:
*Design of the world, weapons, and enemies is done well and differs enough from the DS series to make it fresh.
*There are a lot of options for combat, including a plethora of weapon types, armors, special abilities, spells, and an upgrade system, allowing you to differ your play-style more than I expected when I first started playing. I basically ended up playing a regen monk build with light-medium armor and staves for the entire game.
*Spells and special abilities are very powerful but are balanced by the pace of combat. My monk relied heavily on the Shelter spell from the Cleric school but some bosses and enemies made it impossible to cast.
*Characters are animated and voiced, with dialog choices.
CONS:
*Some of the design of the world is a little too much in a way I can't quite put in to words. The best way I can explain it is "edge-lord" but it's not quite that bad.
*The writing for the dialog between characters isn't always great, but I'm guessing this might be due to localization or first language issues.
*I got lost A LOT. You are always told what your current objective is, but it is often vague, or slightly misleading. For such a small world, I likely spent half of my playtime searching for how I was to progress the story. This isn't anything new, but it put me in a mood I'll describe more thoroughly further down in the review.
*Combat Pacing feels very slow and was hard to grasp - This is not necessarily a CON as I can't guarantee it isn't due to the pacing of other games such as Sekiro making it hard to adapt. I found that I was never quite able to get good at using rolls to avoid damage even when doing light rolls. This led to me largely using shields, and later a large health pool and a regen build to mitigate this issue.
*Boss fights are often longer than they are difficult. This may be to your liking. If there were more phases I may have enjoyed this, but as it stands I found it tedious for some of the bosses.
All told, I did enjoy Lords of the Fallen. However, about halfway through my playthrough I found myself wondering how much longer it would take to finish the game. I had spent a lot of time retracing my steps, revisiting old areas, and was finding it tedious. I found myself wishing to find the most direct path to the next boss, and therefore the end of the game. I still recommend the game, especially for completionists, those that need more of that souls flavor in their life, or those that enjoy a bit of Warhammer style grim fantasy.