The original Lords of the Fallen holds the distinction as being one of the first non-From Software developed Soulslikes to put its own unique stamp on the genre. It’s a stamp that, nearly ten years later, is very faint and hard to make out, and also has itself been stamped over many times. That said, this new Lords of the Fallen, developed by the newly formed Hexworks studio, is looking to put a new stamp on the genre as the first truly “next-gen” soulslike, thanks to visuals powered by Unreal Engine 5, an ambitious parallel realm mechanic, and a release that leaves previous gen consoles in the dust. I got to play through about two hours, and based on those early impressions, Lords of the Fallen is certainly shaping up to leave quite a mark.
My memories of the original Lords of the Fallen have largely faded away, with the exception of one sticking point: I remember the movement and combat feeling very slow and lumbering, even when using the class that’s supposed to be the quick one among the three starting choices. This new Lords of the Fallen corrects that right out of the gate. I started with the Exiled Stalker, an agility focused class who fights with twin daggers and employs a playstyle of very fast and rapid strikes and found him to be just as quick and responsive as I would have hoped.
There’s a great fluidity to Lords of the Fallen’s combat too. You can seamlessly flow from light attacks to heavy attacks, and can even change weapon stance in the middle of a combo as well. I could start with two light attacks, press the stance switch button, and do another light attack, I’d get a unique attack in which my character seamlessly goes from a dual-wielded slash, into a two-handed thrust. This is even better when you add magic to the equation, as you’re able to easily swap between melee and magic attacks even mid-combo. It opens the door for a lot of freedom of expression through combat, which is something you don’t see all too often in the Soulslike genre.
I did have some issues with the camera making sudden, jerky corrections when I was locked on to an enemy, which threw me off occasionally, and the sound effects felt a little off, but outside of those minor nags, I had a great time with Lords of the Fallen’s combat. It is a bit more forgiving than most other Soulslikes I’ve played, with very generous parry windows, lots of invulnerability frames on your dodge roll, and enemy attacks that feel very deliberately timed to allow you to just get out of the way if you dodge right after you attack. But that said, there’s a lot of challenge that comes from the level design and the situations you’re put in.
One area, Pilgrim’s Perch, is built entirely along the side of a mountain, with instant-kill falls being a threat at literally every turn. Add to that the fact that enemies have a nasty habit of hiding behind boxes and then lunging out at just the right moment to try and shove you off the edge. But fortunately, you can also turn this to your advantage thanks to both a strong kick that can be executed by pressing in both bumpers at the same time, and a technique called Soul Flay, which allows you to rip the soul out of an enemy and yank it in a direction, causing the body to follow along with it, leading to a very Looney Tunes esque-fall to their death.
I also got to try a handful of boss fights that ranged from the imposing holy knight Pieta, to the absolutely disgusting beast known as the Boglord. Every boss I encountered was a multiphased battle, with the boss becoming substantially tougher as the fight progressed. After taking enough damage, Pieta for example would suddenly sprout wings, giving her access to a devastating dashing attack that left a downpour of heavenly swords in her wake. It was a fun fight and struck a great balance between being tough, but also having very clear tells and easily discernible attacks with intuitive ways to avoid taking damage.
The Boglord fight I was much less of a fan of, though I only reached him at the end of my demo and only got a couple of attempts in before I had to put down the controller. When things moved to the corners of the arena, the camera felt like it was actively working against me and I had a hard time telling what attack was coming my way.
That was the most underwhelming part of the demo, but by far the most exciting and unique element in Lords of the Fallen is the relationship between the two parallel realms: Axiom and Umbral. Axiom is the world of the living, and is bathed in a warm, comforting glow, while Umbral is oppressively dark and depraved. There are gross flesh-like tendrils that spread all over the place, eyeballs that constantly watch you, bodies all plastered against the wall. It’s very unsettling stuff.
To bridge the gap between the two realms, you have a lantern that lets you peer into Umbral and see the differences between the two realms, sometimes revealing a path that only exists in Umbral, such as a bridge or a gap in the wall. Sometimes though you’ll need more than just the lantern – you’ll need to cross realms and fully enter Umbral in order to interact with certain objects in order to clear a path. Doing so is dangerous though, because dying in Axiom is fine – you’ll respawn right where you are a few seconds later, only in Umbral. If you die while in Umbral, though, it’s back to the last checkpoint for you as you do the usual Soulslike song and dance of having to fight your way back to the spot you died in order to reclaim your lost currency.
We have a full deep dive going into the Axiom/Umbral mechanic, so I won’t go into it in too much more detail here, but what stood out to me was that even though the idea of having two parallel but thematically different realms is not a new idea in games, here in Lords of the Fallen it never feels like a gimmick. Instead, just about every element of the game is enhanced by it. Exploration is more exciting when you have to make that call of whether or not you should make the jump into the Umbral realm, combat is much trickier when you must also consider having to use your lamp in Axiom to try and burn away the hidden Umbral parasites that make enemies stronger, and discovering gear and items is far more rewarding when you’re able to spot a chest or item pick up that exists in one realm and not the other.
It’s clear that a lot of lessons were learned from the first Lords of the Fallen, to the point where this new version feels like it’s entirely its own thing, and from my early impressions, so far it seems like it’s heading in the right direction.
Mitchell Saltzman is an editorial producer at IGN. You can find him on twitter @JurassicRabbit