Remember at the tail-end of 2013 as things finally wound down a little following Bioshock and The Last of Us blowing everyone's collective socks into a neighbouring country, gamers finally got round to giving Dark Souls a blast en masse? Forever the pugnacious little tyke with plenty to offer if only anyone would pay it any attention, Souls' difficulty was still something that remained completely off-putting - but enter Lords of the Fallen, a game built by a studio aping DS in literally every way down to the control scheme. It's a wonder they didn't get sued, but outside of the "I can't believe it's not Dark Souls' look of everything, Lords actually played just as well, not to mention thanks to being made by a team of people who downright loved the Souls games, allowing them to add far more checkpoints, a really cool 'bank your XP or gamble you can hold onto it for more' system and a gorgeous next-gen look to boot. With Dark Souls 2 dropping the ball a little for the franchise and Bloodborne looking set to be this year's Most Annoying Game, Lords is the half-point stopgap worth checking out if you want to get your feet wet without getting submerged in total frustration.
