This is exactly how a modern Castlevania should be like
Many claim the combat in Lords of Shadow is just like God of War, when in fact it isn't. You cannot just mash attacks and hope you will win with brute force, many if not all of the enemies will counter your attacks so you have to know your enemies and pay close attention to their movements because they don't exactly telegraph their attacks, but they do have slight tells. It becomes quite hard since most of the time you are fighting against many foes, and having all of them in check is a challenge.
You will be given sub weapons like throwing knives or holy water just like in every other Castlevania title. These are pretty limited but can help you get the upper hand in tight moments if used correctly.
Focus and magic play a big role in combat, by performing well in action like evading hits and landing blows, as well as countering, your focus meter will fill up, once full your every hit will make enemies drop magic orbs which you can then absorb and decide which magic you would like to use. Light magic is used for healing while shadow magic is used for increased damage, both of these have their own new combos and special properties applied to sub weapons.
Platforming consists of climbing ledges mostly, and this is my main problem with Lords of Shadow. There appears to be way too much of jumping and climbing instead of fighting, especially in the first half of the game where nothing interesting happens.
Puzzles are well designed and there are plenty, there is no block pushing or switch activation like other modern action games today have. Instead Lords of Shadow has mini games with their own mechanics and logic behind it as puzzles.
The soundtrack is simply beautiful and will make you stop playing and just stand idle to listen to great orchestral melodies. Voices are well done but you will get tired of Patrick Stewart near the end, it just seems he keeps yapping without reason or end in sight.
All of the levels have unlockable trials so once you beat a level there is always a new challenge awaiting you. These come in many varieties like finishing a level after killing a certain number of enemies in a certain manner or with a certain weapon, without using magic or just racing against time. Many of the levels have branching paths and hidden upgrades so there is space for exploration.
There do appear to be some slight issues regarding the camera and jumping, both of them are fine but get a bit difficult at some points.
All of this combined make Castlevania: Lords of Shadow a great masterpiece well worth experiencing.