Treated too harshly
I have only recently finished this and the dlc for the first time. I'm not much of a Soulslike player, be it concerning games by FromSoft or other developers. The reason for that is that I frankly didn't have a very good time with Dark Souls. The Prepare To Die edition was not a good PC port, the UI was at best adequate, the tooltips of little use and the game too eager to waste the player's time and unwilling to meet the player half-way, often even refusing to provide clear information on basic game systems like weapon scaling. Some parts of Dark Souls are well designed, but only some parts. You have to overlook a lot of flaws to enjoy something like this and it is made all the more difficult by being such a hard game.
Lords of the Fallen 2014 on the other hand functions and controls properly on PC and most game mechanics and stats are explained in a basic sense, though some more clarity on some stats would have been appreciated.
That is not to say that LotF2014 is easy. It is not. But aside from being more accessible the game also has no problem with providing every character with a few spells from three different groups and a gauntlet that can fire a few different types of projectiles. These are all relatively easily available, but character building decisions are still important in determining how important they will be in any given playthrough. Not least of all since both are fed by a very limited energy bar that could be expanded by investing in the Faith stat. Or not. Personally I fared well playing a tanky caster, but other players may fare better or have more fun playing a different type of character.
Having these options available was quite helpful in motivating me to persevere through the various challenges of the game, as especially bossfights can seem opaque and frustrating at first. Aside from that getting around the environments is dangerous and progress can only be saved at save points. Enemies will respawn on death and when transitioning into other environments. These aspects are fairly typical of the genre and just like in the case of Dark Souls this can certainly lead to frustration and some repetition. However, I found it easier to meaningfully progress my character and to circumvent the challenge by making use of gauntlet and spells.
The world is comparatively small, though the level design still has a decent degree of interconnectedness and the environments certainly look good. Visually speaking the game is quite atmospheric and this is also true for the aesthetics on enemies, weapons and the armour pieces. While I barely remember the music at this point and I think the soundscape was merely adequate, the satisfaction one gets from a slow and heavy weapon swing connecting is significant.
But it is slow. I can't comment on faster styles and lighter equipment, but at least with a character that was usually running around in heavy armour and trying to swing a slow weapon, it is easy to see why some players might have gotten frustrated. Enemies are often faster than the player, so foresight and efficient use of limited timing windows are necessary.
Enemy types were fairly varied and interesting and the same can be said for the bosses. While one particular enemy type seems to cause everyone a good amount of frustration, in most cases enemies aren't too challenging once figured out, but still dangerous enough and distinct enough in behaviour to be interesting to engage with. Bosses are all fairly unique, though there have been some complaints about the fact that enemies and bosses can seem a bit samey in terms of often being vaguely humanoid. Which is true enough, but I still found the roster to be fairly varied overall.
Story and characters were adequate with some weak spots and basically only one memorable plot moment later on. It is good that it is there to motivate the player, but its importance is limited.
I would rate this as a 7,3/10 or something of that sort. It may not be a masterpiece, but it still looks quite good, the combat can be quite satisfying when players accept it for what it is and - not least of all - it meets the player half-way. Which I think is an aspect of Soulslikes that shouldn't be underestimated in its importance.