It’s impossible not to define Lords of the Fallen in FromSoftware’s terms. With its capital-D Dark Fantasy world and its dodge rolls and healing flasks and monster factory characters, Hexworks – a collective of two studios in Barcelona and Bucharest that’s still a part of the same CI Games that co-developed the first Lords of the Fallen, back in 2014 – has defined itself into a certain class, a specifically challenging weight category and, in the process, squared up to one of video games’ all-time super heavyweight champions of the world. I’m not sure they’ve picked a fair fight.
Lords of the Fallen (2023)Developer: HexworksPublisher: CI GamesPlatform: Played on PCAvailability: Out 13th October on PC (Steam), PS5, Xbox Series X/S
I’ve played a couple of hours of new Lords of the Fallen and crucially, I can tell you it’s: good. If you’ve played a Soulslike before – or as Hexworks wisely describes the genre, which extends to Nioh, The Surge and the rest, – it’ll be immediately familiar. You can create a character from one of several preset classes, ranging from glass cannon mages to sword-and-shield warriors, with some more lore-y archetypes in between with a little clan-based backstory behind them: a raven-like archer, a brawler with a twist of wolves.
You’ll put points into stats as you level up – which you do at Vestiges, Lords of the Fallen’s take on bonfires, that also act as fast travel points and places to rest and heal up. You’ll do a little dodge or a big dodge, conserve your stamina, create a fraction of free time to swig your healing brew, maybe fire off a perfect parry. There will be mini-bosses, multi-stage, transformative boss fights, and sneaky little scumbags poking you in the back from their hiding place behind doors. The problem is “good” might not be good enough.
Lords of the Fallen is not a straight rip of Dark Souls or Demon Souls or the rest, mind. Hexworks will argue – justifiably, I should say – that they have plenty more inspirations to call on. “Nioh, Sekiro, Final Fantasy 7 Remake,” were a few thrown out by executive producer Saul Gascon as games with specific moments of inspiration for Hexworks, along with Soul Reaver, classic Zelda on the NES, French contemporary artists, HR Geiger, Polish comic book artist Grzegorz Rosiński, even Constantine or certain episodes of Demon Slayer for its world. And of course there’s Lords of the Fallen’s big twist.