After being announced in 2014 and changing developers, Lords of the Fallen is finally set to release on October 13th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC. Developed by Hexworks with a new engine, new mechanics, faster-paced combat and a much larger world, it aims to surpass the original in almost every single way. Here are 15 things you need to know about Lords of the Fallen before jumping in.
Dark Souls 4.5
The timing of Lords of the Fallen’s reveal was interesting because it’s after the release of Elden Ring, FromSoftware’s open-world take on the Souls-like formula. However, despite the latter’s popularity, Hexworks was set on developing “Dark Souls 4.5,” as it referred to in an interview with EDGE. This means a large world with much interconnectivity, where levels branched into others and looped into each other. It’s a strong goal that ensures that combat and pacing are familiar to fans of Dark Souls.
Developed on Unreal Engine 5
Lords of the Fallen is developed on Unreal Engine 5, relying on Chaos Physics for simulating clothes, chains, belts and more, and Lumen for global illumination and extensive light bounces without impacting performance. Characters feel more life-like as they move, and armor sets seamlessly fit their form thanks to the customization technology.
Axiom and Umbral
The main hook is the contrast between Axiom, the Land of the Living, and Umbral, the Land of the Dead. The former is the world you navigate and battle enemies in. Upon dying, you venture to Umbral and must battle off shadowy creatures hungering for your soul and return to the living. Failure to do so results in returning to the nearest checkpoint and having to backtrack to pick up any dropped XP. Of course, certain enemies may also drag you into Umbral, whether you want it or not.
The Umbral Lamp
The Umbral Lamp connects the two worlds. It can highlight the Land of the Dead and open new paths. Find a destroyed bridge? Shine the Lamp, and it may be perfectly fine in Umbral, allowing you to cross. As you explore Axiom, paying close attention to the environment and shining a light may expose some interesting secrets.
World Size
As with any Souls-like, Lords of the Fallen has several different regions to explore, all different shades of ominous. Perhaps the most noteworthy feature about the world is that it’s split between two realms. It’s also worth noting that Umbral’s art was inspired by dark fantasy, for those who enjoy a bit of grotesque aesthetic in the Land of the Dead.
Combat Mechanics
The combat follows a similar pattern to Dark Souls and Elden Ring, shock of shocks. Choose a starting class, focus on different stats, and dodge rolls to avoid attacks while managing your Stamina meter – you get the idea. Lords of the Fallen has no qualms about its inspirations, including breaking an enemy’s posture to execute visceral attacks or kicking them off ledges. One new addition is Withered Health, which accumulates as white health while you block. You can restore it by using the Umbral Lamp on enemies, but be careful – if you’re hit, it’s all lost.
Soul Flay and Withered Damage
Of course, you can also use the Umbral Lamp to inflict Withered Damage on enemies. Use it to pull their soul out, attack it to accumulate Withered Damage, and once it returns to their body, attack again to have it carry over. One interesting bit is how an enemy’s body will move towards the soul’s location when returning to it. Try moving the soul towards a ledge and watch them die to fall damage.
Weapons
Hexworks hasn’t gone too deeply into the various weapons players can discover, though each has unique skills to unleash. However, based on the classes and gameplay revealed thus far, players can utilize javelins, bows, dual swords, two-handed heavy weapons, shields, spears, flails, and more. You also have poison arrows, throwing knives, grenades and more.
Magic Schools
In addition, players also have magic. There are three schools – Rhogar, Radiant and Umbral. Rhogar is like pyromancy and scales off your Infernal stat as you unleash fiery death. Radiant scales off Radiance and offers buffs alongside lightning magic. Umbral is interesting since it scales off both Infernal and Radiance and unleashes bombs, energy waves, and much more, despite being somewhat slower to execute.
Enemy and Boss Magic
Players can also learn other types of magic, like frost and poison, and apply them to weapons. They can also learn variations of magic wielded by enemies, which have a chance to drop on slaying them. If you defeat a boss and use Soul Flay on their remains, you can obtain a version of their spell.
Playtime
The question is: How long can you expect this little dark fantasy action RPG journey to take? Hexworks says around 25 hours if you know what to do and 30 for new players. “Seeing that the tutorial area takes over an hour and a half. For us, it takes like 25 minutes tops.” However, some developers reported taking 30 hours “more or less.” Whether the optional content and secrets extend that and how much remains to be seen.
New Game Plus
Of course, as with Dark Souls, New Game Plus is available and introduces some key twists. Ancient Vestiges are like Bonfires and are used for leveling up, resting and fast travel. In New Game Plus, there’s only one in the hub. If you want any other Vestige, you need to get Vestige Seedlings and make it yourself (which can also be done in regular playthroughs, but there are some pre-existing ones). Until you do that, the risk of exploration and subsequent death is far greater.
Two-Player Co-op
In a Souls-like, whether Dark Souls or Elden Ring, you need to summon a player or be summoned into their world using items. Dying returns you to your worlds, after which the summoning process must be done again. In Lords of the Fallen, you can invite friends directly or with passwords and utilize matchmaking. Cross-platform play is supported, but the other player keeps any loot (barring those found in chests) and XP earned, only the host progresses in their story.
Performance and Quality Modes on Consoles
Those hoping to rampage through the worlds of Axiom and Umbral in 4K on consoles will be sorely disappointed. Hexworks confirmed to WCCF Tech that the game runs in an upscaled 1080p at 60 FPS on Performance Mode or an upscaled 1440p at 30 FPS on Quality Mode. It will still look good, but those who want the best graphics may want to check out the PC version.
PC Requirements
On PC, the system requirements include an Intel Core i5-8400 or AMD Ryzen 5 6200, Nvidia GTX 1060 or Radeon RX 590 with 6 GB VRAM and 12 GB of RAM to run the game at 720p and Low-quality settings. For 1080p resolution and High-quality settings, you need a Core i7-8700 or Ryzen 5 3600, a GeForce RTX 2080 or a Radeon RX 6700 with 8 GB VRAM and 16 GB of RAM. You need 45 GB of installation space with a solid-state drive recommended at the higher settings.
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