Lords of the Fallen is definitely one of the titles most anticipated of this video game season. The “reboot” of the souls-like title by weblog CI Games is ready to launch his challenge to the most prominent exponents of the reference genre. The first title, released in 2014 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PCdid not achieve the expected success, mainly due to gameplay far too “woody” and of an all too anonymous vein in terms of content and game “lore”. Precisely for this reason, when the Polish company announced the return of the series, the attention of all passionate fans of the reference genre immediately skyrocketed. Every time a new souls-like is announced, let’s face it, the hearts of the fans and also of a large part of the insiders (including the writer) immediately beat wildly. Between the announced and highly anticipated DLC of Elden Ring, the excellent debut of Wo Long Fallen Dynasty and the very interesting Lies of P, fans of the genre can certainly be satisfied and satisfied. Lords of The Fallen is therefore called upon to carry out a truly complex mission: to be able to enter the list of the most interesting souls-likes with merit, improving what we saw almost ten years ago by now, trying in some way to improve all those shortcomings that have never convinced that much and that have compromised the path of the game. After watching and watching the gameplay trailer, we are ready to give you our very first impressions of the game, waiting to be able to try it first hand during the next few months.
Lords of the Fallen: A menacing yet beautiful world to behold
The most disappointing aspects of the first Lords of the Fallen are definitely il world building e il level design, decidedly subdued comparing it with most of the exponents of the genre. Lords of the Fallen was a title to say the least “poor” in terms of settings and locations, which were extremely repetitive and bare, both visually and in terms of the underlying conception. Fortunately, the Polish developers seem to have taken advantage of the advice and feedback from the community, proving that they have definitely changed the shot in this direction. At least according to what was seen in the short gameplay trailer, in fact, Lords of the Fallen seems like a very vast and above all multifaceted title, with many different settings that seem to want to expand the game universe a lot, both physically and narratively. Looking at the spectacular images (seasoned with a spatial soundtrack) we were able to admire several potentially very intriguing scenarios, which also leave room for the potential presence of a day-night cycle that could make the gaming experience more interesting. At the same time, CI Games also seems to have worked a lot on the thematic aspect of the game, with so many situations that seem to want to push production towards new qualitative peaks. It is no mystery that the first Lords of the Fallen was very anonymous, for example, in terms of bosses and enemies to face, always very anonymous and uninspired and with this chapter in the series the developers seem to have definitely changed gears.
During the few minutes of the gameplay video, which among other things officially speeded up the release date of the title, scheduled for next 13 October 2023, we have in fact been able to admire the presence of several very interesting enemies, well cared for in terms of aesthetics and potentially lethal in terms of play, which have captured our attention with great ease. The most interesting aspect seemed to be the one relating to the size of the bosses, which reminded us of the opponents already seen in titles such as Sekiro, Bloodborne and Elden Ring in terms of features and proportions. In particular, two bosses reminded us, to give a more precise example, of the spectacular and deadly boss fight with Malenia, one of the most iconic bosses of the most recent Elden Ring, not to mention the menacing clash against that sort of four-legged giant , which reminded us of the countless hours of gameplay spent facing the now iconic Guardian Monkey by Sekiro. Lords of the Fallen seems to wink in a very convinced way at From Software’s work in this sense, but also in terms of world building and level design, but above all in terms of thematic inspiration. In fact, the new title from the guys from CI Games seems very gloomy, very dark and you can understand it right away and from the exchanges of the characters shown in the clip. The game world seems to be marred by a dark and menacing presence, which seems to envelop everything around it in an almost unconditional way. In this respect, the final scene also played an important role with a female presence that reminded us a bit of the figure of Queen Marika and her complex narrative gestation and laid the foundations for a potential lore frame to be discovered.
Faster and more frantic gameplay
the most delicate and certainly central aspect of the new work linked to the Lords of the Fallen brand is the gameplay and in this case the combat-system. The “original” title of 2014 could boast an interesting combat system, at least in intentions, with different macro categories (thief, magician, warrior) that intelligently linked to wearable equipment, in a potentially intriguing but only sketchy ecosystem. In this new Lords of the Fallen we still don’t know how this aspect will be managed, we don’t know if it will be re-proposed in its entirety or if there will be greater openness to a more generic system, but what is certain is that we seemed to find ourselves facing to a much more fluid and less blocked game. The old Lords of the Fallen, in fact, paid, net of the good underlying ideas, an impressive underlying woodiness, which was noticeable both in the fights against simple enemies as well as in the fight against bosses and special enemies. This heaviness was also felt with the fastest classes, such as the Thief and the Wizard, and made the gaming experience too flat and uninspiring, even in terms of creating build and of characters that inevitably result too similar to each other. After watching the first few minutes of the just released gameplay trailer, which have already been able to give us some information about it, we had the feeling of being faced with a much more fluid game, which once again seems to want to forcefully wink to productions such as Sekiro and Bloodborne not only on an aesthetic level but also and above all in terms of the use of the fights.
At first glance Lords of The Fallen is much faster and more frantic in the clashes, although a greater “heaviness” in the bodies of both the alter ego and the enemies seems to remain, which somehow appear increasingly planted on the ground and less protagonists of that sort of skating effect typical of the From titles listed above. However, the exchanges of blows seemed decidedly faster and also more linked to parry dodging, although we still do not know how effectively the new combat system is able to reward even the fighting styles that focus more on mobility and speed. The discourse related to the bosses is also very interesting. The various creatures seen in the trailer all seemed able to “transform” and launch a classic challenge, made up of several phases of basically increasing difficulty and we can’t wait to understand how much this impression can actually find a real confirmation. In any case, it is undeniable how much the game still seems a distant relative of that so immature title that landed on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One almost ten years ago now and we can’t wait to be able to try it firsthand, perhaps even with some preliminary builds. over the next few months.
Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series S/X
Developer: CI Games
Publisher: CI Games
Lords of the Fallen showed up with a bombastic trailer, which disturbed a rock legend like Iron Maiden and certainly left its mark. The new souls-like of the Polish guys from CI Games seems to have all the credentials to be a product light years away from that first chapter so full of problems and although some critical issues certainly need to be streamlined over time it is clear that the potential exists they are all, even in terms of lore and world building. Luckily, however, October 13th is just around the corner and we, no, we’re not afraid of the dark. And you?
