Barely worked on day one but after two weeks of constant patching it slowly got up to a decent standard. It's not really good enough for anyone to stick with it through that period but I was in the mood for another Souls-like after Lies Of P and, although this doesn't get anywhere near that game mechanically, the setting and world-building in Lords of the Fallen really hooked me. It was like walking around inside a particularly evil black metal album cover. The lore is a lot more on the nose than the subtle ways From Software weave their stories into the world but I can't deny it, I thought it was pretty rad. Really grim at times. Like a big 3D Blasphemous.

It's a little rough around the edges, the combat takes a while to really come good and it tries to be a little to clever for its own good at times, in regards to how many systems it throws at you, but if you're a fairly seasoned Souls vet you should be able to cope and, once you hit the mid-point the game really hits its stride. Whoever decided that the first major area should be this game's Blighttown equivalent needs a stern talking to, mind. This game does not put its best foot forward.

It's probably a three out of five in the grand scheme of things, but to me it is a solid four.