Review: Lords of the Fallen is an exhausting technical achievement

You can count the number of ghosts you believe to be present around you. Lords of the FallenThen, the tool is given to you in order to satisfy your newfound grim curiosity. A lamp lets you take a peek at the realm of the dead — called the Umbral realm — in real time during your crusade. A lamplight illuminates an otherwise inaccessible lake to reveal a pit that can be traversed, while seemingly harmless corridors suddenly become overrun with floating bodies. This use of two realities, however, is not as effective as it could be. Lords of the Fallen can’t escape the cold touch of an array of design and pace frustrations that plague the entire experience.

Lords of the Fallen, not to be confused with its 2014 namesake, is developer Hexworks’ attempt at carving out an identity in the Soulsborne genre, after taking the project over from Deck13 and Defiant Studios. Like this year’s Lies about PThe 2023 Lords of the FallenThe game takes inspiration from later FromSoftware games. And unlike its predecessor, you’re no longer forced to play as a gym bro who’s skipped leg day his entire life. The movement is more fluid and responsive, along with a character creator that’s robust.

Contrary Lies about P, combat doesn’t revolve mostly around perfect parries in the style of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Even when you successfully parry, your health is reduced. This health can be recovered if you hit the enemy while staying out of harm, à la Bloodborne. As time went on, however, I found that this trade-off discouraged me from trying to break the enemy’s stance altogether. The game has a wide range of weapons, such as spells, elemental grenades, and crossbows. This allows for different playstyles and strategies.

A knight with a broadsword stands in the foreground, facing ruins in the distance, backed by a thin orange blaze of light in the sky

It is the Umbral Realm that has the most appeal. The novelty of the lamp is to see the differences in environments between the upper and lower worlds. Umbral is the key to your quest after a few hours of gameplay. Staircases made out of bones and sliced spines acting as bridges are often the only way forward, but you can’t use these pathways while you’re still in the land of the living — meaning your character has to die, either voluntarily or involuntarily, in order to march forward.

Similar to Sekiro, you get a second life every time your health bar is depleted, but you’re also taken into Umbral in the process. You can also manually trigger the transition using your lantern. For either method, the escape plans are similar: Rest at the game’s version of bonfires to return from the dead, or use sparsely scattered corpses that break upon use. If you survive the trip, you’re essentially regaining that lost life.

The mechanic takes on a stronger presence when you’re forced to switch. While you can hold the lamp to walk over an already formed bridge or through a gate, it’s not possible to interact with the environment. In some passageways, you must first create the path by manipulating platforms. This forces you to experience a shift in reality. Other times, you’ll get pulled into Umbral by an enemy who manages to hit you while you are lighting up the environment, creating a sense of urgency. The longer you stay in Umbral, the more dread you’ll feel. As the enemy’s presence grows, a grim reaper will eventually chase you down. The enemy will gradually increase their presence, culminating in a powerful reaper (et vous, Persona?)

At first, the spectral adventures were thrilling. The thrill I felt when returning to my safe haven just as a group of zombie husks was about to capture me brought back memories of how it felt to reach a house of safety in Right 4 DeadBy a scratch. These escapades, however, revealed that one of Lords of the Fallen’s foundational flaws: an overreliance on large enemy groups acting as a shallow difficulty ramp. When both realms joined forces, there would be a dozen or so enemies to avoid in narrow passages and instant death pits. The number of mobs in an area was always so high that it became a nuisance to run around.

A knight with a broadsword faces a stone corridor of undead beings, lit by blue light

A knight climbs up a bridge that appears to be fashioned out of a giant bony spine

A skeletal figure ensconced in vines clutches a blue lantern

A knight stands in the doorway of a massive, dimly lit room full of undead beings

More frustrations were revealed as a result of avoiding the enemy mobs. Bosses are a constant presence, sometimes almost back-to-back, which becomes exhausting – especially when some don’t offer much of a challenge after you’ve learned their patterns. In addition, many of them are immediately added to the list of mobs. Even though I’m in favor of developers who reuse assets on this scale, it was frustrating to find myself exploring the same zones over and over again with identical enemies. It was a waste of time to repeat the few moments which were clever and broke up this monotony. It didn’t take me long to wonder if the game should just have been scaled back.

The world is now 30 hours old. Lords of the FallenThis is a city I enjoy visiting but hate to live in. The quality-of-life features, such as the ability to set up your own checkpoints, can be compromised by a checkpoint that is found after you have used a valuable resource. Magic classes, which are introduced as “advanced” in the character creator, actually seem integral, with item descriptions, weapons,The following are some examples of how to get started: rather powerful spells demanding a stat commitment that knights or archers simply can’t afford. Seamlessly switching between realities, as impressive as it looks in action, isn’t new. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and The MediaSeveral years ago, SSDs were a hot commodity. Legacy of Kain Soul ReaverSpectral World, a similar concept to Umbral’s, was introduced decades earlier.

Lords of the FallenThe situation is then a bit of a conundrum. In its crusade to innovate and stand out from its 2014 predecessor, the experience focuses on sheer quantity and artificial attempts to trap you into overstaying your welcome, ignoring the pillars of the genre — from the carefully crafted pacing to the methodical sense of challenge. The ignorance of the game is sometimes backed by an artistic self-identity, which includes imposing vistas, oppressive environments, and a sense of challenge. My curiosity for the world is what drives me. Lords of the FallenEvery step was fraught with unnecessary restraint. After seeing the ghosts surrounding the experience, I’m desperate for the chance to shift my gaze away from this realm.

Lords of the FallenThe game will be available on Windows PCs, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X on October 13th. Hexworks supplied a download code to be used for the PC review. Vox Media is affiliated with other companies. Vox Media can earn affiliate commissions, but this does not affect editorial content. Find out more about affiliate links. additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.

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