Context: As someone who's only recently getting into Castlevania, I don't have the same concept of what Castlevania "should" be as others might. I heard this game - and the Lords of Shadow series as a whole - was criticized on release for how much it strayed from the rest of the franchise, but as someone who doesn't have any expectations going into it, this doesn't bother me.

Castlevania Lords of Shadow does one thing great, and that's the combat. Playing a spectacle fighter where your weapon is three times as tall as you will never get old. There's also Light and Shadow magic - the former heals you per strike, and the latter deals more damage - and various additional attacks that you gain access to with each form of magic toggled, which add quite a bit of depth beyond just flailing your whip around. There's also subweapons... I never used them, but I'd imagine that if I did, I'd probably suck less.

All in all, LoS is loads of fun when it focuses on the one thing it does great. The biggest problem with the game is that it only focuses on that thing about half of the time. Most of the rest of the time, you will find yourself either running through hallways (which starts out very sluggish and boring until you get upgrades that make it a bit more fun), doing parkour (which is boring at best), solving puzzles (which are either easy or tedious), or chasing the Chupacabra (which is always annoying).
But none of that tedium compares to the bosses. Well, some of them; again, the bosses that actually use the game's combat mechanics are great fun (and thankfully, they're the plurality), but the ones that are parkour segments with health bars REALLY drag on, and often require you to redo large segments - if not the entire boss - if you mess up.

Castlevania LoS is a mixed bag. A mixed bag that I enjoyed more often than not, but one with numerous segments that I will dread going back to, should I ever choose to replay it. If you're okay with a 60/40, maybe even 50/50 split of fun to not-fun, then I'd recommend this game. If you want a more palatable ratio, even the other LoS games offer it.

Context: As someone who's only recently getting into Castlevania, I don't have the same concept of what Castlevania "should" be as others might. I heard this game - and the Lords of Shadow series as a whole - was criticized on release for how much it strayed from the rest of the franchise, but as someone who doesn't have any expectations going into it, this doesn't bother me. Castlevania Lords of Shadow does one thing great, and that's the combat. Playing a spectacle fighter where your weapon is three times as tall as you will never get old. There's also Light and Shadow magic - the former heals you per strike, and the latter deals more damage - and various additional attacks that you gain access to with each form of magic toggled, which add quite a bit of depth beyond just flailing your whip around. There's also subweapons... I never used them, but I'd imagine that if I did, I'd probably suck less. All in all, LoS is loads of fun when it focuses on the one thing it does great. The biggest problem with the game is that it only focuses on that thing about half of the time. Most of the rest of the time, you will find yourself either running through hallways (which starts out very sluggish and boring until you get upgrades that make it a bit more fun), doing parkour (which is boring at best), solving puzzles (which are either easy or tedious), or chasing the Chupacabra (which is always annoying). But none of that tedium compares to the bosses. Well, some of them; again, the bosses that actually use the game's combat mechanics are great fun (and thankfully, they're the plurality), but the ones that are parkour segments with health bars REALLY drag on, and often require you to redo large segments - if not the entire boss - if you mess up. Castlevania LoS is a mixed bag. A mixed bag that I enjoyed more often than not, but one with numerous segments that I will dread going back to, should I ever choose to replay it. If you're okay with a 60/40, maybe even 50/50 split of fun to not-fun, then I'd recommend this game. If you want a more palatable ratio, even the other LoS games offer it.