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For once I wish developers would do something unique based on the Dark Souls franchise rather than trying to copy-paste it and change a few things here and there just so they don't get copyrighted. Just like Lies of P, Lords of the Fallen is an attempt at making it in the so-called souls-like genre, but does it succeed? Yes and no. I would personally put Lords of the Fallen below Nioh 2 and The Surge and maybe at the same level with Lies of P. Why? Well, read below.


👍 The good parts:
+The umbral/lamp mechanic is pretty nice
+The level design is the best in the souls-like genre
+Nice gloomy atmosphere

👎The bad parts:
-Enemy variety is dogsht
-Bosses are way too easy
-Weak story/lore

Honestly, all the story the game has is right at the start, when the cinematic shows. If you've seen that, you've seen the whole story, and no, this is not an exaggeration. It's a story you've already seen a million times in Dark Souls games or similar media, a Holy land defeats an evil god, puts up a few towers/beacons to ward off his resurrection, things go bad, everything gets corrupted, you have to save the day, while also being shunned by everyone for what you are.

You are basically a Death Knight to put things in simpler terms, a bunch of lamp-wearing shady characters who can come back to life thanks to their devotion to god knows what and thanks to the mysterious lamp they carry around which allows them to traverse the world of the dead and the living.

The game has or at least tried to have an adequate amount of lore such as Dark Souls has, but what the devs failed to grasp is that the Souls games don't have a really great lore/story either, instead, they have a cult-following which will "kill" anyone would dare say anything bad about the franchises average story. Most sane people love the gameplay, but the story is pretty much the same in all their games, you're a small time being, kill all the lords, become the fire/ring/whatever Lords, and some random/messed up things happen to characters you won't care, the end. That is the whole gist of the whole Souls franchise. Lords of the Fallen tried really hard to copy that, and it does so successfully, but Lords of the Fallen does not have a cult following, nor are they Japanese developers which means their story/lore is not dumb-proof.

At least Lies of P developers understood this and made the story and the lore a lot more exposed and direct rather than being the same garbage of becoming a lord and being obtuse. Lords of the Fallen has items lore, and checkpoints lore just like Dark Souls has, but it's all pointless as fans of the Souls games only suck up to From Software and nothing else. If the devs are reading this, if you're ever making a sequel, do your own thing, and make the story more implicated with the player.

Story rating: 6.5/10

If you've played any Dark Souls game, then you'll know what to expect here. The only difference Lords of the Fallen has, is the Umbral mechanic. What it does is you can travel in a parallel world whenever you want or when you automatically die. This world is the same version as the real one, but with the obvious twisted visuals, unique monsters, and what I really loved, it's own level design. It's hard to explain in words, but the gist is, that you'll come across many times in the game, paths you cannot access, in the real world which means you'll have to transport yourself to the other side, the Umbral realm, to cross over the broken bridge or find new locations, or discover secrets.

This umbral mechanic also offers combat advantages and sorta of makes the game quite easier because when you die, you get transported to the Umbral realm, where you can "resurrect" at certain points, which in simpler terms means you have two lives. For example, if you fight a strong enemy or a boss and you die, you continue the fight but in the Umbral realm, and if you die again, then it's back to the checkpoint.

Other than that it's explore the world, find weapons that sadly seem to have the exact same move-set..., upgrade your character, defeat bosses, and finish the game. Just like the story, the game just didn't bother doing its own thing and when it tries to copy Dark Souls it does it in an exaggerated way. For example, you'll encounter a lot of locations where you can die from falling down, and what Dark Souls did maybe once or twice per game, the devs in Lords of the Fallen did it at least 50 times. There will always be someone trying to push you over the edge in this game and it's incredibly obvious and chances are you'll only fall for it once.

Bosses should be the highlight of any souls-like game and sadly Lords of the Fallen has some average ones from every point of view. There was not a single boss that proved challenging, there were very few that were frustrating due to bad animations, but nothing genuinely hard or a boss that would make you go "wow". The game has no, "phew, I finally did it" moments at all nor will you ever feel skilled and satisfied for defeating someone. Lies of P had these moments, but on the opposite spectrum, they were frustratingly hard due to poor animations/gameplay mechanics. Neither Lords nor Lies seem to know how to make boss fights adequate like From Software does.

Gameplay rating: 7.5/10

Major oooof here seems someone forgot to boost the music levels in boss fights or the devs are unaware of the fact that what makes boss fights in Souls games epic is not just the bosses themselves, but the epic music as well. In Lords of the Fallen, you'll rarely hear a song in the fights and they're not really that amazing to listen to even when you can hear something.

Voice acting is pretty bad as well and the sound effects are pretty decent, not much else to say here.

Audio rating: 6.5/10

I started playing the game after extensive patches so if there were any performance issues, I wouldn't know as the game ran absolutely smooth for me, though I do have a decent system with a 4070TI. Bug-wise, I also haven't encountered anything major, except some annoying janky animations.

Visually the game has some amazing vistas and some really good-looking and varied locations, however, this being an Unreal Engine 5 game, which is a pretty bad engine atm, a lot of the interior lighting if it does not have a light source, it looks incredibly bad but these few places are extremely rare.

That being said, I have to applaud and praise whoever worked on designing the game's world. Amazing work and quite literally the only souls-like to ever reach the same level that From Software is famous for. The whole world is masterfully interconnected, with multiple paths, loads of secrets to find, etc. And just when you thought that was great, you have the Umbral mechanic which I talked about, where you transport yourself to this parallel world which has its own level design as well. Congratulations to the team for this. It's what kept me playing the game.

Graphics, performance and tech analysis score: 8.5/10

Lords of the Fallen is certainly a mixed bag for many, and I genuinely think people play souls games for the wrong reasons, but it's still a decent game, and the level design will carry most of everyones enjoyment. If they can figure out how to make better, fair and challenging bosses, have a better story presentation, better/obvious soundtrack and have the same impressive level design, then that game could potentially become the best souls-like.

[i][url=https://steamproxy.net/steamstore/curator/35145066/] My review page.[/url][/i] [i][url=https://www.twitch.tv/nightserg] Follow me on twitch![/url][/i] [h1]The gist of it:[/h1] For once I wish developers would do something unique based on the Dark Souls franchise rather than trying to copy-paste it and change a few things here and there just so they don't get copyrighted. Just like Lies of P, Lords of the Fallen is an attempt at making it in the so-called souls-like genre, but does it succeed? Yes and no. I would personally put Lords of the Fallen below Nioh 2 and The Surge and maybe at the same level with Lies of P. Why? Well, read below. 👍 [u]The good parts:[/u] +The umbral/lamp mechanic is pretty nice +The level design is the best in the souls-like genre +Nice gloomy atmosphere 👎[u]The bad parts:[/u] -Enemy variety is dogsht -Bosses are way too easy -Weak story/lore [h1]Story[/h1] Honestly, all the story the game has is right at the start, when the cinematic shows. If you've seen that, you've seen the whole story, and no, this is not an exaggeration. It's a story you've already seen a million times in Dark Souls games or similar media, a Holy land defeats an evil god, puts up a few towers/beacons to ward off his resurrection, things go bad, everything gets corrupted, you have to save the day, while also being shunned by everyone for what you are. You are basically a Death Knight to put things in simpler terms, a bunch of lamp-wearing shady characters who can come back to life thanks to their devotion to god knows what and thanks to the mysterious lamp they carry around which allows them to traverse the world of the dead and the living. The game has or at least tried to have an adequate amount of lore such as Dark Souls has, but what the devs failed to grasp is that the Souls games don't have a really great lore/story either, instead, they have a cult-following which will "kill" anyone would dare say anything bad about the franchises average story. Most sane people love the gameplay, but the story is pretty much the same in all their games, you're a small time being, kill all the lords, become the fire/ring/whatever Lords, and some random/messed up things happen to characters you won't care, the end. That is the whole gist of the whole Souls franchise. Lords of the Fallen tried really hard to copy that, and it does so successfully, but Lords of the Fallen does not have a cult following, nor are they Japanese developers which means their story/lore is not dumb-proof. At least Lies of P developers understood this and made the story and the lore a lot more exposed and direct rather than being the same garbage of becoming a lord and being obtuse. Lords of the Fallen has items lore, and checkpoints lore just like Dark Souls has, but it's all pointless as fans of the Souls games only suck up to From Software and nothing else. If the devs are reading this, if you're ever making a sequel, do your own thing, and make the story more implicated with the player. Story rating: 6.5/10 [h1]Gameplay[/h1] If you've played any Dark Souls game, then you'll know what to expect here. The only difference Lords of the Fallen has, is the Umbral mechanic. What it does is you can travel in a parallel world whenever you want or when you automatically die. This world is the same version as the real one, but with the obvious twisted visuals, unique monsters, and what I really loved, it's own level design. It's hard to explain in words, but the gist is, that you'll come across many times in the game, paths you cannot access, in the real world which means you'll have to transport yourself to the other side, the Umbral realm, to cross over the broken bridge or find new locations, or discover secrets. This umbral mechanic also offers combat advantages and sorta of makes the game quite easier because when you die, you get transported to the Umbral realm, where you can "resurrect" at certain points, which in simpler terms means you have two lives. For example, if you fight a strong enemy or a boss and you die, you continue the fight but in the Umbral realm, and if you die again, then it's back to the checkpoint. Other than that it's explore the world, find weapons that sadly seem to have the exact same move-set..., upgrade your character, defeat bosses, and finish the game. Just like the story, the game just didn't bother doing its own thing and when it tries to copy Dark Souls it does it in an exaggerated way. For example, you'll encounter a lot of locations where you can die from falling down, and what Dark Souls did maybe once or twice per game, the devs in Lords of the Fallen did it at least 50 times. There will always be someone trying to push you over the edge in this game and it's incredibly obvious and chances are you'll only fall for it once. Bosses should be the highlight of any souls-like game and sadly Lords of the Fallen has some average ones from every point of view. There was not a single boss that proved challenging, there were very few that were frustrating due to bad animations, but nothing genuinely hard or a boss that would make you go "wow". The game has no, "phew, I finally did it" moments at all nor will you ever feel skilled and satisfied for defeating someone. Lies of P had these moments, but on the opposite spectrum, they were frustratingly hard due to poor animations/gameplay mechanics. Neither Lords nor Lies seem to know how to make boss fights adequate like From Software does. Gameplay rating: 7.5/10 [h1]Audio[/h1] Major oooof here seems someone forgot to boost the music levels in boss fights or the devs are unaware of the fact that what makes boss fights in Souls games epic is not just the bosses themselves, but the epic music as well. In Lords of the Fallen, you'll rarely hear a song in the fights and they're not really that amazing to listen to even when you can hear something. Voice acting is pretty bad as well and the sound effects are pretty decent, not much else to say here. Audio rating: 6.5/10 [h1]Graphics, performance and tech analysis[/h1] I started playing the game after extensive patches so if there were any performance issues, I wouldn't know as the game ran absolutely smooth for me, though I do have a decent system with a 4070TI. Bug-wise, I also haven't encountered anything major, except some annoying janky animations. Visually the game has some amazing vistas and some really good-looking and varied locations, however, this being an Unreal Engine 5 game, which is a pretty bad engine atm, a lot of the interior lighting if it does not have a light source, it looks incredibly bad but these few places are extremely rare. That being said, I have to applaud and praise whoever worked on designing the game's world. Amazing work and quite literally the only souls-like to ever reach the same level that From Software is famous for. The whole world is masterfully interconnected, with multiple paths, loads of secrets to find, etc. And just when you thought that was great, you have the Umbral mechanic which I talked about, where you transport yourself to this parallel world which has its own level design as well. Congratulations to the team for this. It's what kept me playing the game. Graphics, performance and tech analysis score: 8.5/10 [h1]Conclusion[/h1] Lords of the Fallen is certainly a mixed bag for many, and I genuinely think people play souls games for the wrong reasons, but it's still a decent game, and the level design will carry most of everyones enjoyment. If they can figure out how to make better, fair and challenging bosses, have a better story presentation, better/obvious soundtrack and have the same impressive level design, then that game could potentially become the best souls-like. [h1]Final score: 7.2/10[/h1]