Lords of the Fallen (2014)

 PC
User Score
6.7

Mixed or average reviews- based on 691 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 376 out of 691
  2. Mixed: 157 out of 691
  3. Negative: 158 out of 691

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  1. izembo
    Oct 28, 2014
    3
    Game is not even close to Dark Souls as people claim it to be. The only thing they did is take a basic action game with horrible combat and then run the slider for enemy damage up so that people would make the comparison to the DS series. The story is laughable, characters are incredibly basic, and combat consists of rolling all over hoping you don't get hit for 75% of your health barGame is not even close to Dark Souls as people claim it to be. The only thing they did is take a basic action game with horrible combat and then run the slider for enemy damage up so that people would make the comparison to the DS series. The story is laughable, characters are incredibly basic, and combat consists of rolling all over hoping you don't get hit for 75% of your health bar when you occasionally get 1 attack in. Would totally be possible on last-gen consoles, is nothing ground-breaking at all.… Expand
  2. Dog4life
    Oct 28, 2014
    0
    Cheap Dark Souls rip off, with almost no story or interesting world to explore. Just ok graphics and generally the game lacks character. Invest your money better in the real deal, Dark Souls 1/2 & Dlcs
  3. MadclownJack
    May 6, 2017
    4
    The Good: The UI and some of the weapons and armor are well designed. The animation is fluid, the graphics are somewhat satisfactory, the music is also nice.

    The Bad: Everything else. The Battle system is horrible and inconsistent. The weapons look nice but their usefulness is questionable. The enemies are badly balanced and share a lot of the visual features among themselves. The    The Good: The UI and some of the weapons and armor are well designed. The animation is fluid, the graphics are somewhat satisfactory, the music is also nice.

    The Bad: Everything else. The Battle system is horrible and inconsistent. The weapons look nice but their usefulness is questionable. The enemies are badly balanced and share a lot of the visual features among themselves. The optimization seems nonexistent, as in every time there is an enemy around you you will experience drops in frame rate. The levels are all similar in design, and that design is sadly the same old boring dark shiny rubble of a castle. In a few words: It appears the developers were so angry that Dark Souls exists, they sabotaged what could've been a good game in an effort to distinguish their game as an original while at the same time trying to make it more of a Dark Souls game than Dark Souls. It's been a waste of time, at least for me. There's no sense of accomplishment like in DS. And to those that defend it, saying it shouldn't be compared to DS, i say "If it walks and talks like an awful Dark Souls clone, then it's an awful Dark Souls clone". And that's just sad.    … Expand
  4. SaintMSent
    May 22, 2017
    4
    Epic fail, worst Dark Souls parody ever. I don't know why would you play this game ever. Total disaster, only one good aspect is graphics. Don't recommend to anyone.
  5. asdfasdf12456
    Jun 9, 2017
    4
    Controls are **** Harkyn refuses to move faster every time when he finished a simple move. Swinging a sword is like swinging a hammer, so I have to use light weapon to finish the game because swinging a heavy/medium weapon takes way too long to finish the animation, so I will always get hit and still can’t hit the enemy. Rolling is useless, because you still get hit even you timed itControls are **** Harkyn refuses to move faster every time when he finished a simple move. Swinging a sword is like swinging a hammer, so I have to use light weapon to finish the game because swinging a heavy/medium weapon takes way too long to finish the animation, so I will always get hit and still can’t hit the enemy. Rolling is useless, because you still get hit even you timed it right. Blocking with a shield is useless too. Even if I have half of my energy left, I still get stunned when an enemy attacks me twice in a roll, so I have to use shield charge every time whenever I encounter a fast enemy.

    Bosses are easier than the regular enemy. If I run in the wrong way in a corridor and there are two or more enemies, I will get stuck and die. Any regular enemy can stun and kick me to the sky. However, bosses attacks are slower than the regular enemies, their attacks won’t hit me twice most of the time so I have time to heal when I get hit but regular enemy can’t because they will stun lock me to death. Also, why is the game limited to new game++?    … Expand
  6. Dragonaut
    Jul 28, 2015
    1
    Bad game, just terrible. Way too slow and way too hard. Returned to store after 4 hours of playing, couldn't beat the first boss. Tried so many times but had to give up in the end. There is no tutorial, doesn't explain how to use magic or use a potion. 1 point for nice visual effects.
  7. Avadon
    Nov 1, 2014
    4
    I wanted to like this, but I just can't. Slow and clunky combat, slow and clunky engine, does not feel very smooth on my 780Ti, crashes frequently. Sorry, just no. Maybe in 6 months when a few patches have been out and it's 15$ on sale.
  8. Smackk
    Jan 23, 2015
    1
    I have bought over 100 games in the past 12 months and this game is the worst one. The game is infuriatingly hard and the controls are the most clunky and slow Ive ever seen in a AAA title. The only thing this game has going for it is the nice graphics. Unless you want a game that looks pretty skip this. Id rather watch the grass grow than play this game ever again. Just horrible Ill giveI have bought over 100 games in the past 12 months and this game is the worst one. The game is infuriatingly hard and the controls are the most clunky and slow Ive ever seen in a AAA title. The only thing this game has going for it is the nice graphics. Unless you want a game that looks pretty skip this. Id rather watch the grass grow than play this game ever again. Just horrible Ill give it a 1 instead of a 0 because it looks pretty good.… Expand
  9. Hack
    Aug 27, 2016
    4
    Well I don't know what to say, it feels like a bootleg Dark Souls and they didn't even do a good job of copying it.

    Pros: Visuals Voice work Cons: Performance Clunky combat Switching locked on targets is extremely cumbersome Lock on often targets enemies miles away instead of the one next to you The camera constantly loses focus of the target The hit boxes are wildly    Well I don't know what to say, it feels like a bootleg Dark Souls and they didn't even do a good job of copying it.

    Pros:

    Visuals
    Voice work

    Cons:

    Performance
    Clunky combat
    Switching locked on targets is extremely cumbersome
    Lock on often targets enemies miles away instead of the one next to you
    The camera constantly loses focus of the target
    The hit boxes are wildly inaccurate, you literally get hit when you're nowhere near the ability
    Boring bosses that are made long by giving them tons of HP
    Last boss is just awful and still buggy 2 years after release

    I really don't recommend this, I bought it for £4 and still feel like it was a waste of money.    … Expand
  10. proGamer0007
    Nov 27, 2014
    0
    Devs are not knowing what they do. This game is totally unfinished bullshi..! Wait for a fixed version and an 80% off sale on steam. Do not pay the full price for this crap. Do not pay the full price for this crap. Do not pay the full price for this crap.
  11. Rel_Slo
    Dec 27, 2014
    4
    At a glance Lords of the Fallen looks just like the game to fill that Dark Souls shaped void in your heart, however first hand experience will reveal that this game feels overwhelmingly uninspired. Everything from the environments and enemies to your own character, nothing seems to have much personality. The only thing that makes this game 'Dark Souls-esque' is the combat, which isAt a glance Lords of the Fallen looks just like the game to fill that Dark Souls shaped void in your heart, however first hand experience will reveal that this game feels overwhelmingly uninspired. Everything from the environments and enemies to your own character, nothing seems to have much personality. The only thing that makes this game 'Dark Souls-esque' is the combat, which is balanced and unforgiving enough, but feels quite sluggish at times which can make fights monotonous. The game is indeed pretty, but it's not quite enough to make up for the fact that after a while all the drab hallways and dilapidated courtyards begin to look the same. The experience overall was sub-par, I don't recommend.… Expand
  12. LiquidFrostbite
    Oct 29, 2014
    3
    Pretty horrible Dark Souls clone. I REALLY wanted to like this game, but it just doesn't have anything going for it besides it's art style. I really enjoyed the way everything looked, including all of the armor and weapon designs. You are given so many different choices on how you would like to play, but it just feels cheap and unpolished in the end. The character imbalances are huge and aPretty horrible Dark Souls clone. I REALLY wanted to like this game, but it just doesn't have anything going for it besides it's art style. I really enjoyed the way everything looked, including all of the armor and weapon designs. You are given so many different choices on how you would like to play, but it just feels cheap and unpolished in the end. The character imbalances are huge and a lot of the difficulty is artificial. Coming from someone who has beaten Demon Souls, Dark Souls, and Dark Souls 2.. I can't recommend this game to anyone that is looking for a similiar experience. It just isn't worth your time. Maybe grab it when it's much cheaper, but sadly it isn't worth it for the full price.… Expand
  13. Zimbardo
    Nov 7, 2014
    3
    I wasn't expecting anything of the caliber of the Souls series and LotF was STILL a major let down. Without comparing it to a Souls game, and basing LotF on it's own merit here is a partial list of why it fails:

    The amount of bugs and crashes for a console game is unacceptable. A blind play-through where I explored as much as I could should have taken more than 13 hours. There are    I wasn't expecting anything of the caliber of the Souls series and LotF was STILL a major let down. Without comparing it to a Souls game, and basing LotF on it's own merit here is a partial list of why it fails:

    The amount of bugs and crashes for a console game is unacceptable.
    A blind play-through where I explored as much as I could should have taken more than 13 hours.
    There are only ~12 types of enemies in the entire game.
    All the bosses are pretty much the same.
    All the zones pretty much look the same.
    There is a startling lack of viable weapons/armor for a game of this type.
    I was hoping for things to improve in NG+ but it just feels like more of the same.

    A week after beating this game I haven't touched it. This was not worth the money.    … Expand
  14. Rafiul
    Oct 28, 2014
    2
    First Impressions? Dark Souls (DS) shipped with an "Easy" difficulty setting. I can't get any more honest than that. Not that this comes as an insult. While DS was genre-defining for the PC, anything decently capturing the combat of DS is definitely worth playing for me. But I see a lot of reviewers giving this game a perfect 10 and calling it better that DS owing to the better visuals andFirst Impressions? Dark Souls (DS) shipped with an "Easy" difficulty setting. I can't get any more honest than that. Not that this comes as an insult. While DS was genre-defining for the PC, anything decently capturing the combat of DS is definitely worth playing for me. But I see a lot of reviewers giving this game a perfect 10 and calling it better that DS owing to the better visuals and "less frustrating" combat. Now I understand how punishing DS can be, but saying this game has more responsive controls is pushing it too far. Personally, I think control responsiveness reached new heights with DS, which have not been quite matched by this game. Also, for anyone who actually took the trouble of not only completing DS but understanding what the game was about, would know better than saying, "oh, this game has better graphics, so this must be better!" DS's atmosphere and settings were perfect for the feeling it wanted to convey to the players - those of claustrophobia, death and helplessness. Also, appreciating the brutal combat in DS does not mean I'm "hardcore" - far from it! I labored for hours on end at my game pad just to have gratitude wash over me seeing some particularly difficult boss finally roll over and die. That, in my opinion, was the beauty of DS - legendary bosses and rewarding, if a bit too difficult, combat. Therefore taking away the difficulty definitely diminishes said beauty in my eyes. Finally, maybe I would have given this game a 7 or 8, but 6 feels like a more honest score for watering down the prime aspect of the game it was not-too-subtly based on - the combat.… Expand
  15. blblblblbl1
    Nov 27, 2014
    0
    Does not run more than 10 mins on my PC. 16GB Ram, Nvidia Geforce 760. Buggy as hell! Avoid it - till its fixed. If this ever happens... 'cause it seems that the developers have no clue what they are doing.
  16. Acornfilms
    Nov 11, 2014
    0
    Completely broken game. Unplayable for some, and barely playable and crashtastic for everyone else. Horrible optimized in a bad proprietary game engine. Use unreal engine next time you morons, clearly you can't program a free flash game let alone a friggin game engine. (console versions are also a mess btw) From Software you ain't.
  17. BaronVonRebel
    Nov 8, 2014
    1
    I found this game to be one of the worst i have ever played. Here's why: your loot drops are based on how much exp you carry with you, so if you die (and you will) you lose all your exp. If you put your exp in a bank your loot will be poor quality. Sure you can find where you died and recover a chunk of it, but this is only stop one on why I hated this game. What ensures you will dieI found this game to be one of the worst i have ever played. Here's why: your loot drops are based on how much exp you carry with you, so if you die (and you will) you lose all your exp. If you put your exp in a bank your loot will be poor quality. Sure you can find where you died and recover a chunk of it, but this is only stop one on why I hated this game. What ensures you will die several times is all your attacks use up your energy, no energy no attacks. That's ok though! You can always dodge and use your shield to buy time while your energy recharges...if that too didn't require energy, no energy no attacks no dodge no shielding which means you will burn through your energy in the first three seconds of an encounter. Now lets talk about what happens after you die: every time you die you have to start from the last check point and clear all the trash and little bosses all over. Recapping you start the encounter having decided to gamble on carrying your exp with you or you'll get no decent gear. You fight your way through the trash and fight a tougher enemy. You hit him twice and blocked his blow no you have no energy to dodge his heavy attack and get one shotted. You have lost your exp and need to go reclaim what you can but each second that ticks by more and more of your exp is being lost because the longer it takes to get to your ghost the less you recover. you respawn to see the entire thing has started over and to reclaim your exp you have to clear all the trash over again and each second your precious exp is draining away. Now if you want to use your exp and then go through the next 15 mins getting crap loot, you have to choose between attribute points or spells...sure in other games u get exp and it u got pick a attribute point and a spell but here you have to pick between the two...do you want you spells to work better? or your stats to be higher? Spent 64$ on this and was loathe to give up on it so i stuck it out as long as i could but finally decided to cut my loses and move on but this remains one of the worst games if not the worst i have ever played.… Expand
  18. Blackcompany
    Dec 2, 2014
    2
    Lords of the Fallen dreams big. It so badly wants to be Dark Souls. To be part of - and maybe even to - that legacy.

    It fails. Utterly, completely and thoroughly fails. Visually the game is stunning. This is both the beginning and the end of Lords's success. Even with a core i7 4770 with 8GB RAM and a 770ti 2GB the game struggles in places. These struggles are minor however and do    Lords of the Fallen dreams big. It so badly wants to be Dark Souls. To be part of - and maybe even to - that legacy.

    It fails. Utterly, completely and thoroughly fails.

    Visually the game is stunning. This is both the beginning and the end of Lords's success. Even with a core i7 4770 with 8GB RAM and a 770ti 2GB the game struggles in places. These struggles are minor however and do not subtract from the visual splendor of this dark world.

    Unfortunately, literally everything else does.

    By now the DRM is old news. Its processor intense and might be involved in crashing games. And with Steam a necessary part of the purchase, one is forced to wonder why additional DRM was needed. (Hint: It wasn't).

    Of course, even DRM could perhaps be overlooked, were Lords a good game. Its not. Combat - the entire focus - is poorly implemented. Weapons swing so slowly many of them are outright worthless. Even some one handed weapons swing with the same speed as Ultra Greatswords from Dark Souls. Most two handed weapons are so slow as to be unplayable. The only exception early: Weapons that cost additional money as part of the DLC.

    Enemies only serve highlight these problems. They recover far too quickly from both staggering and attacking. They auto-align with the player in mid-swing when attacking, rotating on some invisible axis to make kiting worthless. Bosses are simply gimmick-laden damage sponges, requiring far, far more hits than any foe from the Souls games save, perhaps, Smelter Demon, and they tend toward summoning minions to cheapen these frustrating fights even further.

    Lords of the Fallen wanted so badly to be compared to Dark Souls. And it will be. For as long as gamers talk about the Souls franchise, Lords of the Fallen will exist as a counterpoint. An example of how the formula can go wrong. An example...of how NOT to make a Souls game.    … Expand
  19. afskafn
    Jul 23, 2015
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. at first it looked amazing but after about the first boss battle it began to lag and the games difficulty began to rise tremendously.the boss killed me in one hit the the heavy solders were faster then the rouge i was playing.i am not a fan but that's just my opinion of the game but i do not recommend buying it if it is not cheap.… Expand
  20. XxSoULxMaNxX
    Oct 29, 2014
    0
    DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY AT PRESENT. The game is broken and needs to be fixed. It runs at approximately 15 to 20 fps (on a system that runs - for instance - Dark Souls and Dark Souls 2 - at a smooth 60 fps at 1920x1080p). In other words, my GPU is better than the recommended GPU and vastly better than the minimal GPU but, still, at times it drops to 11 fps (per FRAPS). It is simply notDO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY AT PRESENT. The game is broken and needs to be fixed. It runs at approximately 15 to 20 fps (on a system that runs - for instance - Dark Souls and Dark Souls 2 - at a smooth 60 fps at 1920x1080p). In other words, my GPU is better than the recommended GPU and vastly better than the minimal GPU but, still, at times it drops to 11 fps (per FRAPS). It is simply not playable.… Expand
  21. LifeHistory
    Apr 6, 2017
    0
    I played 4 chapters and could not take it any more. This game is pure **** period. Very boring and bad combat dark souls try hard wanna be and it is the worst optimized game I've tried on PC. The Graphics are so damn bad and the level design is so stupid. I though it may get better but it only got worse and worse. I can't believe that there are people here who gave it a 10 or even an 8I played 4 chapters and could not take it any more. This game is pure **** period. Very boring and bad combat dark souls try hard wanna be and it is the worst optimized game I've tried on PC. The Graphics are so damn bad and the level design is so stupid. I though it may get better but it only got worse and worse. I can't believe that there are people here who gave it a 10 or even an 8 LOL.... since the game itself is very bad and with this pure **** optimization there is no way anyone should touch this garbage. It is very simple why play this when you can play dark souls again and again.. Hell I would rather play cod than this .… Expand
  22. schinderhannes
    Oct 30, 2014
    0
    Broken piece of software, Devs clearly dont know how to code.

    Endless crashes, like 2-4 times for one hour played, Horrible perfomance with my top of the line custom built gaming pc.

    The game is just a DS clone, and not a very good one, its very generic and without a single new unique gameplay mechanic.

    0/10
  23. fortigas
    Nov 20, 2014
    0
    This game is my worst buy with AC Unity, i waste my money buying this piece of shxxxt, really bad game, mechanic and dynamic, poor, nice graphics but only these, suggestion, dont waste u money with this bullshxxxt
  24. magic_jon
    Nov 1, 2014
    3
    You know what, I was all for giving this game some praise for its design and atmospherics however the more I play of it the more it plagues me with infuriating design choices and 'difficulty'. I say difficulty in the inverted commas because most of this game's difficulty stems from cheap tricks or plain dumb spam enemies till player dead routines. Almost every boss encounter can be summedYou know what, I was all for giving this game some praise for its design and atmospherics however the more I play of it the more it plagues me with infuriating design choices and 'difficulty'. I say difficulty in the inverted commas because most of this game's difficulty stems from cheap tricks or plain dumb spam enemies till player dead routines. Almost every boss encounter can be summed up in this way:

    Boss repeats routine set of around 4 moves for first phase. Boss will do same moves but have a big death move or stun lock move for phase 2 and then phase 3 is where the minions come in. So no skill or prowess from the boss causing it to be tricky to beat, its just a case of right put extra enemies in there and be done with it, that'll make things harder. Yes it does make things harder but not because you need to use all your wits to outsmart or out manoeuvre the boss but just because there is a mob of enemies. Great...how truly inspired. I've poured easy over 100 hours into both Dark Souls and Dark Souls 2 and whilst those games, which this game clearly takes inspiration from (putting it diplomatically), were frustrating and difficult nothing compares to whats on offer here. It wouldn't be such an issue if the difficulty weren't so ham fistedly forced into the game in the most underhanded and ignorant way possible.

    The aforementioned points are so hard to look past that it really mars the game as a whole and any redeeming features are lost under a sea of stupidity. I really wanted to like this game but it just tries so hard to be hard using every cheap, dirty, gimmicky trick in the book that I just can't recommend it. It doesn't help that the game just bugs out occasionally and at one point was actually playing in slow mo making me lose to a boss which I'd already spent a significant amount of time on because of its stupid horde of enemies.

    This game just makes me sigh in frustration at all the potential on the table wasted at the hands of those lacking the skill to truly execute it.    … Expand
  25. prodenied
    Nov 20, 2014
    0
    I dont have words for say the bad bad bad game , this is the worst game of the year, the game fights movements is totally poor, i lose money buying this crap.
  26. crunchixpop
    Nov 20, 2014
    0
    Sinceramente no me gusto, la mecánica de juego, la dinámica de los combates, espere mucho realmente es una de las peores compras que hice, no se lo recomiendo a nadie, hay otras opciones mucho mejores.
  27. jetlag4321
    Nov 29, 2014
    0
    The combat is insanely slow. It has the combat speed of one of those old, incredibly boring iPhone RPGs you play for 20-30 minutes before deleting it because of required in game purchasing to advance the story. I want my money back.
  28. psydreamer
    Nov 2, 2014
    0
    don't waste your money, pc version is buggy with low fps on high end computers.
         .
  29. worksa7
    Nov 1, 2014
    0
    Unstable, too unstable to be played for a proper review really.

    -Crashes on launch
    -Crashes mid game
    -Lags on high end hardware
    -Game breaking bugs that ruin your save and make you start the entire game over brand new

    The list goes on. Avoid this title on PC.
  30. rwebb
    Dec 5, 2014
    2
    (Comments are as of version 1.3, Dec 5 2014.) The use of Dark Souls/Demon Souls mechanics and atmosphere as inspiration is very welcome, but Lord of the Fallen's performance problems and incessant crashing on PC destroy any merits the game has. The risk/reward design that pushes you to go as long as possible before saving by incrementing the XP rewards is in direct opposition to potential(Comments are as of version 1.3, Dec 5 2014.) The use of Dark Souls/Demon Souls mechanics and atmosphere as inspiration is very welcome, but Lord of the Fallen's performance problems and incessant crashing on PC destroy any merits the game has. The risk/reward design that pushes you to go as long as possible before saving by incrementing the XP rewards is in direct opposition to potential crashes at any moment. After about 7 hours into the game, I had probably accumulated about 2-3 hours of actual play time with 4-5 hours of backtracking and replaying over and over after crashes. I gave up on the XP chaining and would just scamper for a save point at any chance just to salvage as much XP before the inevitable crash loss.

    Eventually I hit a point in the game where just walking down a mandatory path would hang and crash ('LordsOfTheFallen.exe has stopped working'), repeatedly, preventing any further progress. I give up.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

40
#40 Most Discussed PC Game of 2014
3
#3 Most Shared PC Game of 2014

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
73

Mixed or average reviews - based on 36 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 36
  2. Mixed: 22 out of 36
  3. Negative: 0 out of 36
  1. Pelit (Finland)
    Dec 15, 2014
    83
    Lords of the Fallen may be a simplified, easier version of Souls games, but is it necessarily a bad thing? Being an overpowered iron mountain at the end game, well, it is actually quite satisfying for a change. [Dec 2014]
  2. CD-Action
    Dec 13, 2014
    90
    I was flabbergasted by what two largely unknown studios managed to achieve. Lords of the Fallen is not just a creative take on the formula introduced by From Software, but also a game that can rival the greatest recent RPGs and looks like Monica Bellucci and Sophie Marceau from their best years. [Dec 2014, p.40]
  3. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Dec 3, 2014
    80
    Straightforward copycat of "Souls" games achieved a success because it can reach players the Japanese series could not because it was too difficult. The game is still challenging but you won't be desperate from playing it. [Issue#247]
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