Lords of the Fallen, one of the first real Soulslike games, is getting a reboot that may correct some of the first game’s missteps. Titled The Lords of the Fallen, the action RPG game was revealed in a three-minute trailer at Opening Night Live August 23 at Gamescom, and it’s definitely another game like Dark Souls.
The original Lords of the Fallen launched in 2014, and it was one of the first games to unabashedly reproduce elements of FromSoft’s Dark Souls in the wake of the Souls series’ ascendance in popularity. Lords of the Fallen had a similar ruined, dark fantasy gothic setting, the same mechanics for dropping experience currency on death, and a similarly slow and deliberate combat style.
However, the first Lords of the Fallen missed its mark in several areas, and the sequel seems poised to be a course correction. Publisher CI Games brought in developer Hexworks to work on The Lords of the Fallen, and the game is being built in Unreal Engine 5 for PC and next-gen consoles.
Hexworks replaces Defiant Studios, a New York-based developer who CI Games cut ties with in 2019, citing “inadequate execution” and lower-than-expected work quality. Defiant said that it “categorically disagreed” with CI Games’ characterisation of its work.
In any event, here’s the trailer for The Lords of the Fallen, featuring the pitch-perfect choice of Danzig’s ‘Mother’ for its setpiece duel.
CI Games says The Lords of the Fallen is set a thousand years after the events of the first game, and is about five times bigger, with a “vast, interconnected world” that’s packed with “a huge roster of NPCs to meet and stories to uncover”. You’ll be able to use both meaty melee and devastating magic in battle, and unlike the first game, you’ll be able to fully customise your character. There’s also “seamless co-op,” so CI Games says you’ll be able to explore this crumbling, ashen world together.
There’s no release date set yet for The Lords of the Fallen, but CI Games says “a full gameplay reveal” will be coming later this year.