Lords of the Fallen Review — The Dark Crusader lives

Lords of the Fallen is Hexworks and CI Games’ latest action RPG and, confusingly, the successor to the 2014 game of the same name. However, unlike the first game, the successor sports vastly larger interconnected worlds with more content and newer, deeper mechanics. After pouring several hours into the tough-as-nails game, I can say that it offers a great experience, but not one without some pain.

Lords of the Fallen follows you, a dark crusader who encounters a lantern that allows humans to travel between Axiom and Umbral, the world of the living and dead, and become its new wielder. However, the lantern puts a target on your back, and makes you a new opponent of Adyr, the long-vanquished god who seeks to make his return, and it’s up to you to prevent it. Lords of the Fallen is a Soulslike game both in gameplay and narratively. Once they start, players get a set of opening cutscenes providing some background to the game’s world and brief exposition explaining who and where you are. After that, as you progress through the game, you’ll learn more about the world, characters, rivalries, factions, gods, and more, and like in many Soulslikes, you’ll probably not understand any of it and all the details will fly over your head unless you’re specifically hunting down lore details. Every story detail is fed to you very sparsely and in a nonlinear way.

However, this isn’t indicative of a lack of narrative depth as Lords of the Fallen puts a lot of attention into its world. Every detail is explained and every relationship and item makes sense and has a purpose. The game also has several narrative plot points and multiple endings, many of which, without spoiling too much, include plot twists involving some characters older fans of the series may recognize. And speaking of the first game, while Lords of the Fallen serves as a successor to the 2014 game, it does an excellent job of not alienating newer players while rewarding players who played the first game in many ways.

In terms of gameplay, players start by making their characters with the in-depth character creator and select their crusader class. The game has nine starter classes, a DLC Dark Crusader class, and reportedly some secret classes I’ve yet to encounter. Classes range from standard ones such as the Hallowed Knight, which is basically the standard knight class; Udirangr Warwolf, which serves as the barbarian class, and the partisan, the blanched archer class, to advanced classes like the assassin Exiled Stalker class, and Pyric Cultist, which is a ranged pyromancer class.

I tried all the starting classes, and all of them had their advantages and disadvantages. However, as a newcomer to the series, I preferred the Hallowed Knight class for its stats that support head-on tactics and the Pyric Cultist for its ranged fire attacks that do decent damage. As an RPG, Lords of the Fallen also offers several tools players can use on their adventure, such as consumable items, weapon-enhancing items, damage-enhancing items, several armor pieces with different stats, several pyromancy and miracle spells, and much more. However, one of the most useful and critical parts of the game is the lantern, which is vital for both the narrative and gameplay. 

When players die, they instantly get pulled to Umbral, the world of the dead, and get a second chance to defeat whoever or whatever killed them. The mechanic is similar to Sekiro’s revival system and works well in sticky situations. However, the best part of the lantern is that it isn’t just used as a revival mechanic but also to solve environmental puzzles, traverse areas, pick up secret items, and much more. Hexworks does an excellent job of making the lantern a useful part of the game, not just a one-use gimmick, which I appreciate.

Unfortunately, there are several parts of the game I don’t appreciate, and they’re mostly seen via world design and enemy balancing. While I’m not one to shy away from difficulty in games and love fighting challenging foes, Lords of the Fallen is sorely lacking in balancing for its regular mobs. Most levels in the games past the first area have an unreasonable amount of enemies moving around that are insanely aggressive and unrelenting. While I didn’t find this much of an issue in open areas where they can be picked off quickly, the number remains the same in tight spaces, leading to several frustrating moments. Additionally, because the game loves to put an equally ludicrous number of ranged enemies everywhere, players should be ready to receive damage from seemingly miles away, sometimes off-screen, and especially when slowly climbing ladders.

I enjoyed every other part of gameplay as everything else felt tough but fair, and fighting the game’s several enemies always felt challenging and rewarding when they weren’t overwhelming. I’d also be remiss if I didn’t highlight the game’s amazing bosses, all of whom have impeccable designs in appearance and gameplay. They’re all entertaining to fight, and both major and minor bosses provide unique hurdles to overcome, and it’s always satisfying when you do overcome them.

Speaking of designs, Lords of the Fallen’s world has intricately designed levels, crisp visuals, excellent level design, detailed environments and models, and an overall great dark fantasy art direction. It also has a great soundtrack that rivals several Soulslikes, especially in hype moments like boss fights. The game also runs well on my lowly RTX 3060 PC on Medium settings, but I did get a few frame rate dips in some parts of the game with a lot of greenery and foliage. However, the frame rate was never bad enough to make the game unplayable, nor did I run into any glitches or bugs.

Overall, Lords of the Fallen is an excellent Soulslike with many great elements. While some aspects of the game need a bit of balancing, it still provides a great experience that rivals top Soulslike games that are out right now.

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