Lords of the Fallen is my first exposure to the "Souls" level of difficulty that pushed me into playing Dark Souls 3 and 1. I would like to preface that I had no issues with crashing during my playthrough that others have claimed, but that could have been a result of me playing an already updated version, so bear that in mind

In Lords of the Fallen, you play as Harkyn, a prisoner of multiple transgressions that are unknown to the player. He has been branded with tattoos on his face to also show his crimes to those around him. At the start of the game, you have been freed by the monk, Kaslo, for unkown reasons other than to beat back the demonic race called the Rhogar.

The story is rather linear from the main aspects, but some of the notes were rather interesting and were a nice addition to the lore of the game.

As for the characters, Harkyn is fairly interesting but the others weren't very memorable. The Crafter was an interesting looking character and was one of the more intruiging characters in the game. The others are not awful characters but not something I'd really write home about, either.

Lords of the Fallen's combat is slower than the combat of Dark Souls, but that doesn't make it a bad thing. Attacks are weighty and look appealing, especially the two handed weapons. Alongside this, you are also able to time your strikes to have a lesser impact on your stamina pool, rewarding you with a reduction in the stamina cost when you time your swings accordingly, which has some nice reward in itself for learning to time your strikes.

You have the option to select between three starter classes and then combine them with other classes to make your own sub-clas to give you the option of 9 different classes.
As for weapons, you have a nice selection to choose from that depend on what your style of play is. With items such as shortswords/daggers for those who prefer dual wielding, greatswords/axes/hammers for those who want to pummel enemies into the ground or even the option of using fist weapons to try and imitate a bulkier version of Wolverine.

The bosses in this game aren't difficult once you get the mechanics nailed down and feel rather straight-forward, but they aren't too big of a pushover, either so if you aren't very aware or too careless, you will take some punishment. They aren't on the souls level of difficult, but they are good enough for the style of game.

The checkpoints in this game are your equivalents of the bonfire, but done a touch differently. For starters, you have an XP modifier that will increase the further you go without dying or refreshing at a checkpoint crystal, which refreshes your potions and health and reduces your modifier back to 1. However, you have the option to save the checkpoint and keep your modifier, you can hold left shift to save and do so, but at the cost of the crystal not refilling your health and potions. This creates a risk/reward system that allows you to choose between the safety of having potions to be able to heal out of dangerous encounters or having a larger modifier for your xp gain. The crystals also allow you to bank your XP that you can either use to up your spell power or your attributes.

On death, you drop your xp in the area you died at previously, like in the souls series. However, unlike souls, you have a limited time to get your xp back before it disappears, though it can have some small healing when you stand near it, giving you a small advantage to try and beat the enemy who killed you before.

Graphically, this game looks beautiful, even to this day and holds weight with such. The armours and weapons also look like they truly fit into the world it creates, even with some of the more fantasy designed armours without it ever taking me out of the game world. The world around Keystone, whilst taking place mostly within the city itself, does look visually impressive.

Many have said in this review section that this gets plenty flak for what it is and I am also adding to that side. Lords of the Fallen is what I would call a good Soulslike, despite some of the flaws that it has. It has some stuff that I enjoyed from the game, as well as some interesting new ideas that either worked decently or were a bit drab and didn't add much. What I can say is that it got me into a series of games that I have enjoyed extremely so Lords of the Fallen definitely has its place in my library. If it is in a sale, I can recommend this purchase.

Dark Souls 3 has easily became one of my most favourite game as of my play time and has made it extremely hard to stop playing 99% of the time. My review will be coming from a strict solo playthrough, since I have no real interest in the PvP aspect and I failed to get the co-op to work.

In Dark Souls 3, you play as the Ashen one, an undead who has been tasked with defeating the Lords of Cinder and returning them to their throne. Beyond that, the story is told through texts that you find throughout the city of Lothric.

Gameplay-wise, it feels great and rewarding with many of the strikes in this game and the weapons do feel quite weighty when you strike some of the enemies in this game, but that doesn't mean that the enemies are push overs, either. The enemies can put the hurt on, but so can you.

The bosses in this game can be daunting to start with, but they do become easier to deal with and beat as you learn the mechanics the boss does as attempts go on. That said, that doesn't mean that the game might not get any swears out of you, but the amount of satisfaction obtained from killing a boss you've been stuck on for a while does feel extremely satisfying.

The armour you wear will depend on your playstyle and class. Heavier armours will generally have more resistances than the lighter armours at the cost of weight load on your character, unless you invest more points into weight load. Keeping this into account will also limit your dodges, with it feeling heavier in your dodge rolling after 70% equip load and can even become a slow, nimbling dodge backward if your wearing incredibly heavy armour. This then allows you to go on with a choice for your armours whilst taking weight and defence into account with your playstyle.

My only gripe with the game is that some enemies can hit you through walls that can lead to some frustrating deaths and has been the result of some of my deaths, which can also be rather infuriating upon starting boss fights.

This game can be impressive to down right stunning in areas with some of the areas you explore throughout the game and the armours/weapons aren't an exception, either. Some of the armours are really impressive and jaw dropping and makes choice dependant on your play style. This did make it hard for me to choose between some of the armours in this game for appearance, which I enjoyed quite a bunch.

The main characters you will find in this game will be the fire keeper, Andre the Smith and the shrine handmaid who will serve as the basic characters to interact with at the hub. Along your playthrough, you will come across other characters who can assist you in serving as merchants, as well as others who will be available for summons for assistance with bosses in the game, should you choose to summon them to assist on the bosses.

For the most part, I really enjoy this game and have had a massive amount of enjoyment with this game, whether that by downing a boss to finding a new weapon or a set of armour. This game is one of the most enjoyable RPGs that I have played and I can't recommend it any more than is possible.