Lords of the Fallen - Preview @ Total XBOX

Total XBOX has a new preview of Lords of the Fallen, and list six reasons why it could be the XBOX One's first killer dungeon crawler.

There's a sound I'll never tire of, and that's the satisfying crunch of an enemy's weapon hitting my shield as I hide behind it, waiting for the right moment to strike a well-timed riposte of my own. Is that a touch sadistic to admit? Probably, but I'll still never tire of it and you can't make me.

It's always said that games necessitating that sort of back and forth feedback in combat require a good deal of patience, but I don't think that's quite true. Patience is a virtue I lack - but stubbornness? Not so much. It's that stubborn streak that always carries me through, even when I'm multiple deaths in and success seems a very distant, unlikely notion. That's usually when the swearing starts.

So I found myself recently with a controller in hand and at the mercy of a Lords of the Fallen demo. Here are seven things I learned after the dust had settled, my shield had taken a thorough beating, and the nearby swear jar was a good deal heavier.