Surprisingly solid Blasphemous clone
When I played this game's demo I thought it was a cheap product, but revisiting it on release it's a good metroidvania - above average.
Reviews will talk about the Castlevania and Bloodborne influences, but really this game is like if a team played Blasphemous and said, Hey- We can do that too! And they did a great job.
Comparing it to Blasphemous then, my initial gripe with TLF was the controls and feeling. It doesn't have the same feeling of physics/weight to your movements, and generally, is not crafted with as much care and love as Blaphemous. Yet I'm impressed because they did some things better!
It has pixel art cutscenes. It has voice acting. IMO, the content is of a more consistent quality- higher lows, and lower highs. The balance of powers and upgrades is better, in that fewer of them are essentially useless, but the progression is strange and rough-feeling. I guess designing a game like this presents a lot of complications with regard to when you get different movement upgrades and weapons/powers.
So the beginning is more linear, and there are few spell and weapon choices, but the very end gives you a bunch of cool stuff that is almost pointless because there's barely anything left to do.
This game is notable for having an ice-themed area which expands into actually three huge ice areas. And they are a pain in the a**. The status effects like burn, electrify, bleed, do not occur half as often as FREEZE will. This creates a balance issue, because resistances are tied to stats, and freeze resist is tied to strength. So, a strength build will probably afford a smoother playthrough than what I did.
While the game lets you begin with a dexterity, gun, or spell based class, make no mistake, you will be relying on your weapon and basic attack.
The secrets are inferior to Blasphemous, but no worse than Blasphemous 2 from what I can tell, so I think the devs deserves a fair amount of credit here. I didn't pay attention to the lore, but they put effort in.