Lords of the Fallen

Most of what fans of Soulslikes want are at the maximum: masterclass-level design, unforgettable bosses, and extensive freedom toward build creation. The combat can feel rough at times, and there are way too many enemies in certain levels, but these downfalls don't negate the fact that Lords of the Fallen reaches for a spot in the highest tier among the genre's greats and finds itself right at home.

I feel compelled to say again - this has pleasantly become one of my favorite Soulslikes.

Lords of the Fallen more than meets our expectations offering a vast and intricately designed world in the same vein as the first Dark Souls. It doesn't reinvent the wheel but this doesn't stop it from being one of the best, if not the best, soulslikes not made by From Software.

Lords of the Fallen is a reboot done right. The experience as a whole immerses you in its unique dual-world system while capturing the essence of robust customization, challenging combat, and dark fantasy. Despite some technical flaws, this game takes on a challenge of its own as you reluctantly push forward into nightmarish battles. The highly detailed environments encourage you to press on, which is made easier thanks to responsive controls and unique enemy types that test your abilities.

I’d recommend waiting to bite on this one for a few more months until things are really ironed out and tuned. It’s not like we don’t all have a ton of other things to play anyway — but the state of LOTF right now is just too technically unsound to give it a glowing thumbs up. There’s still a great game undernearth all the mess if you can survive the bugginess, but give it a little more time to ripen for now and I think you’ll be glad you did.

Simply put, The Lords Of The Fallen beat the crap out of me. I languished, I lamented, but I lingered on, and as I'm sitting here now I am looking back fondly on what I did. The dual-world idea is phenomenal, even if it contributes to the game's worst technical tendencies. The mood set by each world, however, is downright creepy and gross, which serves as a strong foundation. Enemies can be bruising, while bosses aren't quite as difficult, which doesn't quite jive right throughout the game. As much as I wanted to toss my controllers around, I would be lying if I said I didn't have fun with The Lords Of The Fallen.

Lords of the Fallen may not be a game that will reinvent the wheel, but it is definitely a great Soulslike title that any fan of the genre will appreciate. Aside from minor flaws related to poor mapping and other easily fixable blemishes, this game still gets a high rating and our warm recommendation.

Lords of the Fallen could have been another accessible cookie-cutter souls-like. But with the addition of Umbral, the world of the dead layered upon the living, it breathes new invention into exploration, increasing tension, and unique combat, managing to cement itself as essential in an increasingly crowded and quality genre.

Lords of the Fallen is one of the best soulslike out there. It is very ambitious and great to play, but it is not perfect. Its technical problems makes it very irregular, but at the same time the game is essential for all Dark Souls fans.

Lords of the Fallen isn’t trying to be for everyone. This is a game for those who miss the ‘classic Souls feel’ and wish to return to an adventure on a smaller and more detailed scale. It’s for those who fell in love with Dark Souls or Bloodborne and now yearn to play something like that again with all the polish of a modern title – although it must be said, some technical issues hold it back...We didn’t miss the vast open world of Elden Ring and even found it refreshing to return to a smaller, but wonderfully interconnected map where danger lurks around every corner. We didn’t realize we had an itch to return to this era of Soulslike games until we played Lords of the Fallen. While we may never set foot in Lordran again, we’re hopeful that our adventures in Mournstead are just beginning.

Yet another soulslike, but this one is better than the average. Some technical issues are holding it back, but overall it is a very enjoyable game.

Lords of the Fallen has plenty of problems, but we loved the combination of the same old soulslike formula with something as unique and interesting as the "double world" exploration. If they manage to fix some (if not all) of the problems, this might be one of the hidden gems of 2023... and one of the best soulslike of recent memory.

Lords of the Fallen is one of the most interesting souls-like games of recent years, providing new ways to face exploration in the genre, as well as a superb artistic section. Even with its irregular technical section and its roughness at the gameplay level, it is a highly recommended game.

Lords of the Fallen is a solid entry in the Soulslike genre, and deviates from the recipe enough to craft its own identity.

Taking all of this into account, it's still safe to recommend Lords of the Fallen to anyone remotely interested in this genre, be it veterans or those looking for an entry point. When it comes to Soulslikes, this release is very accessible to new players to the genre and offers more than a good challenge to those with more experience. While it still has plenty of fine-tuning ahead, Lords of the Fallen is a worthy reboot of its predecessor that offers something new and lays a strong foundation for future adventures in Mournstead and beyond.

Lords of the Fallen is full of good ideas and has the qualities to be a great Soulslike. But, in order to reach its full potential, some enemy mechanics and technical issues must be addressed.

Lords of the Fallen copies Dark Souls so thoroughly it feels like game design plagiarism but, astonishingly, it's indeed worthy of being mentioned in the same sentence as FromSoftware's brutal dark fantasy classics. Anyone who's survived Lordran, Drangleic and Lothric will find a lot to love here.

Lords of the Fallen is a massive improvement over its namesake prequel, and it provides many highs, but there are lows to match. For the masochist action RPG fan, though, there’s plenty to love, and it’s all going to hurt.

Lords of Fallen is a solid Souls-like that goes beyond being just another genre copycat. Its combat feels fluid and has plenty of depth due to its nine starting classes and its dual-world concept literally helps to add another dimension to its combat and exploration.

There's a lot to enjoy in Lords of the Fallen, especially with its phenomenal dual-world reality that adds a layer to exploration. Slaying bosses and trekking ahead may not always be a delight but what's here is still very good nonetheless.

With incredible art design, challenging action, and a very innovative, dual-world mechanic, Lords of the Fallen is probably a must-play for fans of Soulslikes. But it’s hard to ignore the game’s issues, too, from sometimes unrefined movement and clunky combat to its many technical hiccups. While these can be frustrating or worse, ultimately the game’s ambition and dark fantasy vision are at least as compelling as its flaws.

If one can look past the technical limitations and lack of control customization, Lords of the Fallen is a strong addition to the soulslike catalogue. With solid combat and fascinating, multi-layered exploration, not only does Lords of the Fallen do enough to stand out from a crowded field, it manages to be a great game for those with a Dark Souls itch to scratch.

Lords of the Fallen does a lot of things right. Its exploration is its strongest point, and jumping from the human and Umbra realms provides unique enemy encounters and secrets. However, while its combat could have been great, it's ultimately marred by poor hitbox detection and a lock-on camera that will get you killed more than it will save you. There is just something about the world that kept me coming back for more. Whether it was the exploration, the great monster and character designs, or the world itself. Lords of the Fallen is a great return to the dark gothic style of these highly difficult titles.

An ambitious action RPG with a unique two-world gameplay system and fun combat let down by a quagmire of ongoing technical issues.

Lords of the Fallen has a lot to offer but is largely held back by technical issues throughout, and the further I progressed through the game, the more striking these problems became, escalating from a few dips in framerate to hard crashes and glaring pop-in.

There’s around 40 hours of gameplay in here, and loads more if you want to properly explore every part of this devastatingly dark land. It looks medieval, dark, like a bloody horror film and it plays tough.

Lords of the Fallen is an exciting kind of Sous-like. Whereas many others aim to perfect the formula, Lords of the Fallen’s goal is to innovate. It certainly has its own array of problems, like lacking audio, repetitive enemy types, and combat that could be tightened up a little. However, when the game sinks its claws into you with its thrilling dual world mechanic, you won’t be able to get enough of it.

If CI Games should solve the performance issues on PS5, Lords of the Fallen is nothing less than one of the best Soulslike games so far. The game might be very similar in some of its basics, but cleverly makes use of its dual-layered game world that makes Lords of the Fallen stand out from the often trite Dark Souls clones. When the slowdown problem is gone, Lords of the Fallen isn't just a worth buy, it is a need to buy for any fan of the genre.

Engaging combat, brilliant boss fights, and top-notch level design that is amplified further by the creative dual-world mechanics introduced by Umbral, all coalesce into a version of Lords of the Fallen that not only leaves its predecessor in the dust but moves the genre forward in meaningful ways. That being said, it’s difficult to ignore the lackluster performance that significantly impacts upon the experience of the opening few hours, resulting in Lords of the Fallen not being the absolute recommendation that it should be.

Lords of the Fallen is a really good action RPG. The combat system is good, the music and visual style are good, and the world we find ourselves in is both interesting and tempting to explore. Without the technical problems, this would have been another notch up on the points scale.

Miles better than its predecessor, but still not outstanding: Lords of the Fallen is a rock-solid Soulslike in which a few major strengths collide with many small weaknesses.

I see a parallel between Lords of the Fallen and Dark Souls II: there’s something amiss here and there, but the game is trying its best. Everybody knows there are better, more polished titles in this genre, but what LotF lacks in terms of gameplay or technical execution, it makes up for with interesting ideas, solid boss battles or the unique atmosphere of Umbral, the realm of the dead. I recommend giving it a chance, because in most part it is a decent game.

Lords of the Fallen tries again with this kind of reboot and partially succeeds. The switching between weapons and items in combat is very nice and the two worlds are also very cool to explore, thanks in part to the visual presentation and audio. The downside, however, is the unstable frame rate, the lack of variety in enemies over time and crashes, which impact the enjoyment of play.

Lords of the Fallen lacks refinement in every respect, but is nevertheless a nice addition to the soulslike genre. The choice for Unreal Engine 5 is unfortunate, the difficulty level is anything but balanced and the number of excruciatingly bad bosses cannot be counted on one hand, and yet everything together forms an entertaining whole packed with content and also a nice stepping stone to a really good soulslike.

A repetitive Dark-Souls-by-numbers is livened up by a universe-swapping idea. Hey, why doesn’t FromSoft steal that idea for its next game? Seems only fair. [Issue#34, p.84]

While there are obviously some differences, Lord of the Fallen is very similar to Dark Souls. Sadly though, Lords of the Fallen is nowhere near as polished or well made as one would expect from a Dark Souls game. Its implementation of two worlds layered on top of each other is more cumbersome than interesting, there is a huge lack in enemy variety, enemy positioning can be too unforgiving, and technical issues like an unstable framerate and bad camerawork can be added to the long list of its shortcomings. On top of all that, the second playthrough is way too demanding and makes the first playthrough feel distorted.

Given the amount of time between Lords of the Fallen’s initial outing and its reboot, this new release feels far less like an attempt to right the ship and more like its own thing. This is a positive, as it certainly forges a strong identity of its own, and provides a robust amount of content to back it up. But much like its predecessor, it struggles to push past its self-imposed limitations, in this case revolving around its combat system and dual-world gimmick. With frustrating encounter designs and a need to fine-tune some aspects, the game veers from joyful to jarring and back again far too frequently to let a sense of fun be its main takeaway.

There is, at least, plenty to build on with the inevitable sequel, retaining all of this instalment's finer points and knocking the obvious dents out of its armour - a Lords of the Fallen 2.5, perhaps. [Issue#391, p.102]

Lords of the Fallen is a game I really wanted to like. The seamless transition between worlds is a joy to witness but it wears out its welcome quickly. Combat feels weighty and has plenty of neat twists. Unfortunately, the enemy hordes make engaging with combat feel like a chore. Level design hits some highs but the lows are agonising to traverse and I just left this game feeling frustrated. It's divisive, oppressive and I just can't bring myself to fully recommend it.

Lords of the Fallen is a satisfying action RPG and a remarkable soft reboot of a franchise that nobody thought had a future. There’s so much more soul here than the 2014 original, along with plenty of depth for those who want to engage deeply with its systems. This includes the fully malleable customization, in which classes can equip any gear once the stat requirements are met, essentially morphing mid-playthrough. It’s unfortunate that a genuinely great game is sullied by a severe lack of polish.

When the FPS isn’t dipping, and bosses aren’t cheesing you every step of the way, LotF feels good. But with myriad performance issues, broken multiplayer, and boss fights that increase difficulty through unfair mechanics as opposed to well-developed ones, it really weighs down on the experience. Lords of the Fallen is indeed a Soulslike. And for some, that’s all they need. But be prepared for a challenge to complete the journey, and not in a good way.

Lords of the Fallen is a game of uneven quality. At its best, it offers level design, bosses, and combat that’s generally up there among the best Souls-likes. At its – more often – worst, it leans hard on quantity over quality, and a fundamental misunderstanding of what makes those games challenging. My issues with its balance and difficulty can improve with patches, and my misgivings about its design pitfalls are the sort of thing that sequels improve on all the time. It’s left me wanting to play Lords of the Fallen 2.

I am quite sure that some people will absolutely love the intensity of the horror and dark fantasy that infuses Lords of the Fallen. As cartoonishly silly as it comes across by trying so hard, it is technically impressive. Similarly, the game is perfectly solid mechanically, and while it does have some issues with pacing and the design of some boss battles, it is, for the most part, very playable. I had more fun with this than I think it deserved, and while I’m not sure whether I was laughing with it or at it most of the time, I was definitely laughing and having fun with it. Who knows? Perhaps satirising the self-seriousness of dark fantasy was the entire creative point and if so, bravo developers, you nailed it.

Ultimately, Lords of the Fallen is a good enough "Soulsborne" entry, but a number of its technical issues and gameplay foibles stop it from being truly great.

Lords of the Fallen gets off to a great start with creative ideas, a truly disturbing atmosphere, and exhilarating combat. Unfortunately, several missteps ensure that the only things that are falling here are your expectations.