Lords of the Fallen is a strange one. It hacked its way onto the scene with medieval fanfare back in 2014, and the court of public memory has not been especially kind to it. The critical consensus is that it fell short of true greatness, yet it sustains a modest reputation as one of the first authentic soulslikes. It’s this enduring legacy that Hexworks is looking to consummate with its upcoming reboot, but the landscape of the genre in 2023 is worlds away from 2014. Simply being like Dark Souls isn’t enough anymore, and as I head into PCGamesN’s Lords of the Fallen preview, I’m all too aware that this reboot has a lot to prove.
Immediately, things are looking up. Hexworks has dispensed with a defined hero for its reboot, and I do not miss the gruff demeanor of ex-protagonist Harkyn in the slightest. Rather than a swift introduction to a dour-faced convict, my first few minutes with Lords of the Fallen are spent in an archetypal FromSoftware character creator, crafting my very own Dark Crusader. This protagonist is more in keeping with what I’ve come to expect: a silent, weird little dude on a quest to defeat a demon god. With ten classes that range from melee to magic users to choose from, I opt for the Udirangr Warwolf, a classic Barbarian mantled in a wolfskin cloak and wielding an enormous longsword.
As I take my first tentative steps into Lords of the Fallen’s reimagined world, improvements to the existing formula are immediately apparent. Its predecessor’s combat was slow and often arduous; weapons had long wind-up animations, and dodging was like rolling through molasses. In contrast, my Warwolf is fluid and responsive, furnished with a nippy dodge-roll that far outshines my less-than-stellar memories of Harkyn’s sluggish movements.
Hexworks also has the benefit of over a decade of iteration from other developers to draw upon, including FromSoftware itself. Bloodborne’s health regain system appears as ‘withered’ damage, which can be reclaimed by (you guessed it) attacking enemies without getting hit. Even my capacity to survive an initial deathblow has a glimmer of Sekiro to it, though the penalty of being unceremoniously thrown into the horrific Umbral plane is far more urgent than Sekiro’s creeping Rot Essence. I can even place my own bonfires, a throwback to the Sacrifice Ceremonies cut from Dark Souls 3. I don’t have complete free reign to plonk one down wherever I like – not only do I have to find a Vestige Seed, I also need to locate a bed of flowers in which to plant it – but I appreciate their unique point of tension.
Of course, a soulslike is only as good as its bosses, and Lords of the Fallen certainly delivers in that respect. Pieta, She of Blessed Renewal, is the first on my kill list: an angelic knight that wields a golden sword blazing with golden light. At first blush, I assume that this is the boss that creative director Cezar Virtosu once lamented as ‘nearly identical’ to Elden Ring’s infamous Malenia, Blade of Miquella. However, once I get into the thick of combat, the resemblance falls away entirely. Pieta’s graceful swordplay is punctuated by explosive bursts of golden light that scarcely give me room to breathe. In one moment, Pieta swoops low over the battlefield, leaving a trail of swords in her wake; in another, she summons clones of herself that I’m forced to contend with as I avoid her sweeping attacks. By the time I’ve bested her, all thoughts of Malenia are entirely forgotten.
Hexworks is transparent in its intentions to produce Dark Souls 4.5, but I found that Lords of the Fallen is at its best when it’s not going out of its way to pay homage to Miyazaki. Instead, it brings new elements to the table with parallel worlds and an unholy relic that allows me to pass between them both. While Axiom encapsulates the dark fantasy of the Souls series, Umbral embraces full-blown horror through its hellish environments. An ordinary ladder in Axiom is a spinal column in Umbral, and beautiful vistas are interrupted by huge constructs of flesh and bone that blot out the sky. My progress through Umbral is constantly stymied by an ever-spawning horde of faceless ghouls, and the longer I spend in their unholy realm, the more they become aware of my presence.
Umbral might contain the shambling legions of the dead, but it also presents new possibilities. A locked door in Axiom may be completely torn off its hinges in Umbral, and an impassable lake may be drained entirely, revealing a path across. I also gain the ability to manipulate the environment using the lamp itself, dragging platforms towards me and tearing down structures by flaying the souls of the damned. While there’s plenty of audio and visual signposting prompting me to slip into Umbral – such as an eclipse of moths or a symphony of discordant whispers – I found myself constantly peering into Umbral just to see my environment’s twisted visage, with enemies waiting to drag me through the other side.
Whether it’s through Axiom or Umbral, my journey takes me through dank caves and forsaken villages, but it’s the arduous climb up a storm-struck cliffside that really leaves a lasting impression. The cliffside’s ramshackle settlement comprises rickety wooden platforms and spell-slinging ghouls, where the slightest misstep can result in a quick death. Sound familiar? It’s a bold move to set the bulk of a preview build in what amounts to Blighttown 2.0, but Hexworks is clearly confident in the world it’s created.
In some respects, I can’t blame the developer. Not only is the cliffside blessedly free from framerate drops, but its design also forces me to slip between Axiom and Umbral in order to progress. However, the sheer volume of ranged enemies populating this area meant I was often subject to attacks when I least expected it, and getting repeatedly knocked off a ladder and sent to my death was the one major frustration I encountered during my preview. Thankfully, Lords of the Fallen’s control scheme comes outfitted with the most straightforward kick I’ve ever had the pleasure of performing in a soulslike, and I took great satisfaction in using it to boot enemies off ledges with little fuss.
However, Hexworks is not entirely immune to the common pitfalls of soulslikes. Lords of the Fallen’s camera is prone to clipping through detritus, walls, and enemies while dodging – my primary tactic, given my Warwolf’s shield-free approach to combat – and I often find my follow-up swings miss as the targeting system struggles to keep up. I also run into trouble when multiple enemies are on-screen at a time, and reliable targeting takes some camera wrangling. These issues came to a head during my stand-off against the Master of Hounds, a flighty archer who calls upon her canine companions to keep me distracted enough for her to take potshots at me. As I dance around all these threats, the camera swings wildly, and the result is a hectic encounter that’s equal parts fighting the game’s systems as much as the boss itself.
My time with Lords of the Fallen comes to an explosive finale as a wooden scaffold collapses beneath me, and I take the plunge into a rank cesspit filled with skeletal remains. It’s also home to The Congregator of Flesh, a colossal mass of sinew and teeth with more than a hint of the Gaping Dragon about it. My attempts to defeat The Congregator of Flesh come with the welcome introduction of the Umbral lamp as a viable combat mechanic. A quick flash of my lamp reveals a wayward spirit that I can exorcise in order to disable The Congregator’s devastating poison wave attack. It’s a welcome crack at combat diversification on Hexworks’ part, and one that forces me to choose my moments carefully. Unfortunately, my encounter with the Congregator of Flesh is also subject to occasional yet severe framerate drops that hampered a number of attempts to beat it.
It’s patently clear that Lords of the Fallen has plenty to offer. The preview build alone is extraordinarily dense, and I was forced to rush through its many areas just to see everything in the time allotted. However, my experience with the preview build is also not without its flaws. They aren’t so egregious as to make Lords of the Fallen unplayable, but targeting and camera trouble in a soulslike is impossible to overlook and could prove to be a dealbreaker for die-hard Souls fans – the exact playerbase that the studio is looking to court. That said, if Hexworks can smooth out these issues before the Lords of the Fallen release date, this one is set to be a worthy lamp bearer of FromSoftware’s legacy.