I've beaten almost every single major souls-like release since 2015, i've made it a point to play one new souls-like (made by fromsoft or not) a year.

Lords of the Fallen is the only one I'm actively dropping, because of three reasons:

1. Confusing areas
I think most of my time in the game was spent actually trying to figure out where the fuck to go because the game does not give you many clues or hints as to where the fuck you are. Almost every single fast-travel system in souls-likes have features in place where it'll allow the player to know where they're going such as the location name or the region it's in. Lords of the Fallen does not do that. It instead has separate names for each bonfire that doesn't tell you where exactly it is, you just gotta go by the image to really know where you are.

2. Enemy and Boss design
The one thing a souls-like has to nail is this and quite frankly, Lords of the Fallen falls flat on its ass. Enemies are either laughably easy, mildly annoying or just flat out boring to fight. There's been numerous times where I've audibly said "Oh god, not that guy..." when I saw an elite enemy. I didn't say it because it'd be hard, I said it because I had literally just fought two others of the same kind and I'm sick and tired of it.

Bosses aren't much better either. May get better down the line but from where I got to, they were either dumb gimmick fights or just super predictable.

3. UI Design
It's 2023 and I do not know why the UI in Lords of the Fallen is so annoying to use. You have a literal legion of games to look at when it comes to designing your UI and you went for one that's trying to give you information in the most clunky and vague way possible.

Fuck this game, fuck CI games, Imma go play Lies of P instead.

when this was first announced, i remember being so excited for another Shinji Mikami game. then it came out, i played it, finished it, and it was certainly the Game of all time.

now, i don't mean it's a bad game but instead it's a game that feels like it could've used a bit more time in development to flesh out some ideas. the gameplay is fine, the story is cool and the atmosphere is quite chilling at times but I couldn't help but feel like the game added nothing to the formula.

also if you complain about Sebastian being weak or having like no stamina:

actual skissue, grow up.

y'know, i'm not entirely sure what i was getting into with Evil Within 2. I remember enjoying the first game somewhat though I personally never found it scary.

Two was not the same. I wasn't scared, I was annoyed throughout the majority of the game. I honestly wish the open world sections were just linear levels (or intricately designed smaller levels) because they just felt like a time waster to me.

Enemies, while varied, don't really feel that threatening. If anything, the only one that actually made me shit myself upon seeing her is an enemy you can just never encounter if you don't go in the house she's in.

The story ain't much to write home about either. I unno why they thought having THREE different antagonists was the way to go but two of them are pretty much just villains of the day whilst the other one gets more focus but doesn't show up as much.

Would I recommend playing this? Yeah, I would. But I'd also recommend you either play on the easiest difficulty or on classic (Not akumu, that shit is annoying).