We've seen next-gen ball-kicking, assassinating, and animal-petting games, but what does a next-gen action-RPG look like? Quite pretty, really, the debut gameplay trailer for Lords of the Fallen shows. A new seven-minute narrated gameplay walkthrough unveils the game, which is due to launch this year on PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

The trailer shows pre-alpha footage of an early level in the game, culminating in the first boss battle. If we were to squint a bit and use crude, clumsy descriptions, we might say "it looks a bit like an arcade-y, more story-driven version of Dark Souls."

Yesterday's announcement says it "places a heavy emphasis on combat skill and persistence," and areas can be revisited to discover new things as the game progresses. A bit like- never mind.

Lords of the Fallen is developed by Venetica maker Deck13 together with publisher CI Games's (formerly City Interactive) own internal team. Here's the trailer, with commentary from Tomasz Gop, who was previously senior producer on The Witcher 2 at CD Projekt RED: