One of the best things about the Dark Souls games, and of course Elden Ring, becoming smash hits is seeing new takes on the formula, developers mashing together genres or adding their own unique twists on what being a soulslike means. In Kingdom of Fallen: The Last Stand the unique idea is to mix together the challenge, dark worldbuilding, and combat from a soulslike with the open-world crafting of a survival game like Sons of the Forest.
Kingdom of Fallen: The Last Stand transports you to an unfamiliar world where everything has gone wrong. Like all the best soulslike games, you’ll have to work out what’s going on yourself by piecing together the backstory of your new environment. But you do know one thing; your daughter’s missing and only you can bring her back. So it’s off you trot, weapon in hand, to rescue your child and get the heck out of this misbegotten land before it kills you.
Fans of Dark Souls or Elden Ring will be right at home with the game’s combat, even if it’s a little more RPG-y than those games with damage numbers flying around after each hit. Enemies promise to be tough and deadly, capable of quickly slaying the unprepared adventurer. Watch their attack patterns and armor up accordingly to be able to bring them down, and that’s before you even get to the game’s punishing bosses. However, being a soulslike isn’t all this game has going on under the hood.
What sets Kingdom of Fallen apart is the introduction of survival ingredients into the soulslike soup. This is a living world and you’ll have to cobble together some shelter if you want to survive long enough to get your daughter out in one piece. You’ll gather resources, build somewhere to hang your helm, and craft new weapons to take on the next big challenge the game’s going to throw at you.
It’s that addition of crafting that makes Kingdom of Fallen an intriguing proposition, as it puts agency back in the player’s hands. Soulslike games famously don’t have difficulty settings but here, by working hard, gathering the right materials and crafting new gear, you might be able to take the edge off whatever boss or dungeon you’re currently struggling with. It opens up things a little, giving you a little bit of power back in a hostile world.
Kingdom of Fallen: The Last Stand will launch on Wednesday, May 15, and you can head over to the Steam page right now to add it to your wishlist.
If you’re on the prowl for some more crafting and building, our guide to the best survival games will get you where you need to go, or maybe you want to dive into the best RPG games you can play on PC. Either way, we’ve got you covered.
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