LORDS OF THE FALLEN
Developed by Deck13 Interactive and CI Games
Available on PC, Steam, PS4 and Xbox One
Lords of the Fallen is a combat based action RPG which follows the story of Harkyn, a man with a criminal past who’s the only person who can stop the demonic army that has been unleashed upon Earth by a fallen God.
Lords of the Fallen has been likened to Dark Souls and though I haven’t played that particular game, I have seen and read enough to understand the comparisons. The game itself is rather difficult and at the same time, monotonous. When not roaming hallways and castle rooms that look like every other hallway and castle room, you’ll come across some demons who have to be slain. Most are easy enough to get past, especially once you acquire the gauntlet to use magic attacks. However, with health restoring potions in limited supply, deadlier opponents, such as the poison-spitting spider or armoured demon, or a group of mid-range difficulty can prove taxing on your health bar. This means you have to play the game in such a strategic way so you don’t get hit, either by rolling out of the way or defending using the shield, and therefore your health doesn’t deplete. This is important as save points, which also restore your health, are few and far between.
From starting the game, the player is pretty much thrown in at the deep end. A combat tutorial is followed by the quest to look for a key. Once the key is found and demons are slain on the way, the key unlocks a door which leads to the first boss inside a chapel. Having chosen a nimble character style with light armour, I found myself repeatedly dying against the huge boss. I can’t recall how many times I tried to kill the boss, but it left me very frustrated. I decided to restart the game and opt for the ‘brawler’ character style who uses heavy armour, so increased protection is given but the character is more sluggish to move due to the weight he’s carrying. I managed to beat the boss on the first go with the change of character, so I’m really glad that the boss fight was near the beginning, else that’d have been awkward to restart.
The other types of armour are found quite early on in the game after the first boss fight, as is the first Save point. Unlockable chests can be found within odd rooms and pathways which contain the armour as well as other things like health potions, although the latter is found infrequently in contrast to how many you may need to use. Every now and then, you’ll bump into a character who you can interactive with, whether it be for side missions or to tell you information to further the story. Sometimes the dialogue gives you a choice of answers which will affect the outcome, similar to other RPGs. With a second boss accessible fairly quickly after the first boss, the side missions can be a blessing in disguise.
Like most RPG’s, Lords of the Fallen has a levelling system. With each enemy slain, you acquire points which can be exchanged at Save points into Combat or Magic XP. The combat XP will improve certain aspects such as health, agility, speed and luck, whilst the Magic XP improves magic abilities such as those which can be used with the gauntlet. In the event of your character dying, a ghost containing your lost XP will remain in the place where you were slaughtered, so you can regain the points but the longer it takes you to get to that point, the less points you’ll get from an ever decreasing percentage. When your character dies, you end up back at the last Save Point and all those enemies you’ve slaughtered have reappeared. The same applies to loading a saved game. This can be a bit aggravating but adds to the difficulty of the game.
Lords of the Fallen isn’t a flawless game. It has many bugs and niggles, such as a camera that won’t rotate when you need it to leaving your character exposed to enemy attacks and the character sometimes disappears into thin air. Moving the character often feels clunky and a drag. It’s almost like you yourself are wearing the armour of your warrior. The difficulty of the game is unforgiving and unfortunately there’s not much appeal in the storyline or gameplay to get you motivated if you’re struggling. I’ve thrown my controller down in a rage or let out an exasperated sigh during the struggles in this game. I’m no means the world’s best gamer, but I wouldn’t say I was crap either. Having gamed since the Atari, I’m well versed in a variety of games but this one is a game that you can lose patience with rather easily.
The Lords of the Fallen game which I played was the Limited Edition version, which comes with Demonic Weapons Pack and The Monk’s Decipher DLC and the soundtrack. The DLC which is included is nothing to write home about and doesn’t really add anything to the game other than extra weapons which you may or may not use. The soundtrack is amazing though, with Bratislava symphony orchestra creating a haunting and intense environment when needed, as well as injecting the religious overtones which are present in the game with use of a choir.
The game works well with the Xbox 360 controller for Windows and the Steam activated game allows you to unlock achievements as well as Steam trading cards for the title.
With some amazing visuals, Lords of the Fallen is a pretty hack-n-slash but the unadjustable difficulty of the game will alienate players. Though the bosses tend to stick to certain moves, leaving them predictable, the damage they inflict upon your character and the lack of damage you inflict onto the boss leaves the player at a disadvantage, leaving little other than a perfectly executed strategic run for the player to finish triumphant. A lack of variety within the environment also leaves something to be desired, especially when players find themselves stuck on the boss, with nothing to do except explore potential side missions or retread the same old castle walls and rooms. A patience of steel is needed or at least prior experience with similarly difficult game, Dark Souls.
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