Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is a game that's very similar to the old GoW's core gameplay and for the most part it works fine!
I had played this for like 30 minutes last year and then forgot to continue it lol.
The story is okay, some parts were predictable, a couple of moments were cool and some were boring. The voice acting was meh for the most part making some moments not feel impactful.
The combat is fine, sometimes you'll be hitting normal enemies and they don't get knocked back or stunned so sometimes you don't feel very powerful. There's quite some platforming and it's usually okay, some parts are very cool but most are okay.
Graphically it looks quite nice during gameplay! The pre rendered cutscenes don't look very good, they're not terrible looking though.
The level design is okay, some parts I liked playing through, others not so much. Some puzzles were a chore.
The last boss battle (from the dlc) was terrible, very frustrating to fight against, super unfun.
Overall, if you're looking for a game that's similar to the og GoW's you'll probably have a decent time with it.
I'll probably play Mirror of fate this year and then LoS 2.