Spent the weekend playing Lords of the Fallen, about halfway in... TLDR: it's Mortal Shell 2.0

I bought Mortal Shell last year on sale, finished it once, never touched it since.

Almost everything about LotF is an improvement over all the gripes I had with MS. More weapons, customization options, more maps, things like that.

Yes, you'll be starved for checkpoints, but that's compensated with vestige seeds allowing you to create a single bonfire almost anywhere and effigies acting as a pseudo-bonfire out of Umbral. I've read that in NG+, the game starts removing bonfires, which might sound worse, but after a few days of going through, you should have the idea of the map layout, and stop you from hoarding vestige seeds like I have. And if you don't like that, you can turn that option off.

Just wanted to toss my thoughts in. I'm loving the death-filled netherworld aesthetic, the puzzles and lantern mechanic are just enough to get your brain ticking without being annoying. Just wish the quests weren't so confusing. That, you absolutely need a guide for.

And apparently, there's a bucket-themed questline? Gotta get that next NG+.