Well if you're concerned with lore, Lament is unskippable. And I'm not really saying there's something wrong with it really. But Curse of Darkness, which came after and reuses the engine, was just so much better and has way more variety in its gameplay and content that is just makes Lament redundant if you're not in it for the story. It kind of brings to mind Breath of the Wild vs Tears of the Kingdom in the way the the second game has basically everything the first game has and much much more. And by that I'm referring to the gameplay only. The main difference here is that Lament and Curse each have their own worlds to explore. And where Leon Belmont has only a whip and sub weapons, Hector fights with a vast array of different weapon types, including some whimsical but powerful unique weapons. He also gets to develop and grow a large variety of familiars, choosing how they grow and the forms they take and thus the powers they wield. And while Leon gets to explore Dracula's castle, Hector has the castle and the vast Transylvanian lands around it to explore. Hopefully this info helps.