Lords of the Fallen: a next-gen RPG inspired by Dark Souls, Borderlands

[Deck Rickard]

So is this like Souls-lite?

As much as I liked Elden Ring, the difficulty got tiresome and wanted a middle ground between regular difficulty and something challenging.

Not sure how the difficulty will be on this one yet but I can say that the first game was much easier than Dark Souls and Demon’s Souls. Probably easier than Bloodborne too; I know a lot of people found Bloodborne to be really hard but I didn’t have too much trouble with that one.

Anyway though, LOTF is still challenging but with enough practice, you should be able to take down most of the bosses. It’s also much smaller scale than something like Elden Ring so it won’t consume your life. This new one is a lot bigger though.

 

[Punisher_MAX]

Not sure how the difficulty will be on this one yet but I can say that the first game was much easier than Dark Souls and Demon’s Souls. Probably easier than Bloodborne too; I know a lot of people found Bloodborne to be really hard but I didn’t have too much trouble with that one.

Anyway though, LOTF is still challenging but with enough practice, you should be able to take down most of the bosses. It’s also much smaller scale than something like Elden Ring so it won’t consume your life. This new one is a lot bigger though.

I ended up beating Elden so difficulty isn't a big deal, it was just hard for no reason at points lol

 

[Iceman]

Open world fantasy is my favourite setting but I prefer regular gameplay to be more relaxed than Dark Souls. I’d prefer these games had very hard bonus areas to beat late on to provide the challenge, as I love just exploring and experiencing these kinds of worlds at my leisure rather than being one step away from death at any time.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Finally got around to playing the new game and I’m really enjoying it so far. It leans into its Dark Souls influences even harder than the first one but I think that’s probably a good thing. The world and the lore also seem a lot more fleshed out this time around. You’re basically caught in the middle of a war between a bunch of evil demon gods and a fanatical, puritanical theocracy. The combat is pretty great, with the power attacks and combos being a big highlight. The only thing that annoys me (much like in Lies of P and other souls likes) is how it’s easy for your sword to hit a wall and mess up your attack.

The dual world exploration is especially cool and adds a different element to the game. It takes some getting used to and adds to the stress of the situation because the longer you remain in Umbral (the netherworld), the stronger enemies become. On the other hand though, there is a multiplier applied to your XP when you’re in that world so it helps you level up faster.

One word of advice if you decide to give it a shot… MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE LATEST UPDATE DOWNLOADED. I made the mistake of installing the game when my Xbox was offline and so after creating my character, playing through the tutorial and beating the first boss, I realized I needed to update. Once I did, my initial save was incompatible with the current version so I had to start all over. While that’s some bull**** and I hope it’s not indicative of things that could happen with future patches, the patched version of the game is much, much better. The intro boss was a joke in the initial version, but when I fought him again he was much more challenging (still beat him on my first try though).

So yeah, I recommend it. It’s definitely an easier game than something like Demon’s Souls or Dark Souls (at least so far), but it’s by no means easy. So if you like that style but you don’t feel like beating your head against the wall every time you come across a boss, you’ll probably enjoy this game. It’s been polarizing in the Soulslike community so you might hate it but I would just say, play it for yourself and decide.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Bumping one more time just to see if anyone else here has played this game. I’m about halfway through it now and I have to say, it’s probably my second favorite Soulslike/Soulsbourne game after Elden Ring. It improves upon its predecessor in pretty much every way, from graphics to gameplay to character and story. They took what was a pretty basic story and paper-thin characters in the first one and really fleshed out a whole world. The lore behind some of the characters like Pieta and Mohlu is fascinating, and they even managed to work in things that gamers who played the first game will recognize.

The more I play the game, I was surprised by how much of the aesthetic appears to be influenced by Bloodborne. Though to be honest, I think I like this game better. Don’t get me wrong, I love Bloodborne and I would say it’s a more original game overall but it’s like LOTF took the warped, alternate version of Yarnham in the Bloodborne DLC and expanded upon it to make it even creepier and filled with secrets. It’s amazing how you can work your way through an entire area and then go back later and realize you missed a ton of stuff because you didn’t enter the Umbral realm at key points.

I will say that some of the boss fights feel a little too easy at times but that’s possibly because I spent a lot of time leveling up my character. As someone who prefers to play these games in “tank” mode with a lot of HP and strength versus learning how to parry and/or dodge every single attack, I typically spend a lot of time farming XP (or vigor, in this case). But hey, the bosses in Elden Ring and especially Bloodborne are also not too tough if you play this way. So I don’t think LOTF should be panned for this reason. Hell, Mergo’s Wet Nurse (one of the three final bosses in Bloodborne) is so easy that the fight is practically a joke.

Anyway, just thought I would chime in one last time to see if anyone else has given it a shot. I know that Lies of P got all the attention of the Souls community this past year but I’m definitely vibing more with LOTF.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Sooo I might have been the only one here who played the last Lords of the Fallen but if you haven’t, it’s a great time to check it out. In case you don’t know, the game had a REALLY rough launch (I played the original version of the game and it was a total mess) but they vastly improved upon it and fixed all of the bugs, and then painstakingly improved upon various other elements of the game in an effort to bring it up to the nigh-impossible standards of Soulslike fans. I’m sure the final version didn’t please everyone but all in all I think it turned out to be a pretty great game with some really fun, fast gameplay, and intriguing story and some great boss battles.

A sequel is now on its way and I’m definitely looking forward to it. Apparently it takes place 100 years after the previous one. You play as the Lampbearer again, though it’s not clear whether that’s the same Lampbearer or not. Given the at the last game ends (depending on which ending you get)

Spoiler

I’m pretty sure the Lampbearer is dead but I suppose they could be resurrected. Especially since Harkyn (the main character from the first game) is still alive hundreds of years after he should be dead. I guess it doesn’t really matter.

One of the criticisms of the previous game was that it had too much of the same random enemies. The devs have promised more enemy variety, as well as more variety in enemy behavior, which is good. I personally didn’t mind the lack of variety that much given how many games I feel suffer from the same issue but more variety is always a good thing. Most of all I hope the speed of the game is still there or even faster; one of the best aspects of the previous game was just being able to rip through a zone and slaughter as many enemies as quickly as possible. Given that I’m the type of Soulslike player that can only beat bosses with a ton of health and skill points, building up a character is important and being able to do so quickly is a big help. Anyway, looking forward to this!