Lords of Shadow goes down in my books as one of the coolest games this console generation. Yes, it's derivative of other epics like the "God of War" franchise, "Shadow of the Colossus" and has combat and quick-time events that you've seen in other actioners. But the art, sound and engineering of the game are all too good to ignore. The game is fun... but pretty challenging (I played on the second difficulty, "Warrior"_. Honestly, though, is it actually hard or have most other action games been too easy or handholding for this generation of gamers? There's a mix of action and puzzle solving in the game, and if you're really stumped you can auto-solve puzzles if you have enough experience points (earned by defeating enemies). Sound and music (especially music) are very well done for the game. I love the soundtrack and they manage to reuse musical queues and songs appropriately with each environment you go through. The inappropriately named "Belmont's Theme" is still awesome during some sequences (to swell up emotion or thought, for example). The latter half of the game felt slightly easier than the first half mainly due to the lack of skills and moves acquired in the beginning. I'd say total playtime was around the 15 hour mark. In tone with previous 2D Castlevania games there are subtle nods in the levels. Inside a clock tower? Check. Floating platforms? Check. Hitting pots and other things for daggers and holy water? Yep. Highly recommended if you like action games. I never bothered finishing any of the previous Castlevania games. But this one turned out to be a lot of fun to me, and I was hooked. Good on MercurySteam for executing a different take on the series.