Lords of The Fallen 2023 | Review

Initial Release Date: October 13, 2023

Developers: HEXWORKS, Defiant Studios

Engine: Unreal Engine 5

Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows

Genres: Action Role-playing, Adventure, Fighting

Mode: Multiplayer and Solo

Publisher: CI Games

Spoilers Throughout!!

Introduction

Lords of The Fallen is a Souls-Like reimagining of CI Games’s 2014 Lords of The Fallen which I did play a little of back when that launched. The latter was a super clunky turtle-like early take on Dark Souls’s style of FromSoft games. Lords of the Fallen Video Playlist.

Don’t fret, because Lords of The Fallen 2023 is much different and a much better video game than it’s 2014 predecessor. With that said, it still has some issues I’ll go over below. Also, for this review’s and your sake I did not complete Lords of The Fallen 2023.

I reached the Calrath section as of typing. Spider-Man 2 launches tomorrow so this is a time thing for me. Don’t forget I do all of the Youtube and this website’s content alone. This review will never be written if I don’t do it today so.

Presentation

Lords of The Fallen 2023 did not have a good start technically on my Xbox Series X which did receive a patch two days after launch which helped with the framerate and bugs which consisted of Pieta’s melted wax looking face in her intoduction cutscene.

After the latter patch, Lords of The Fallen received another patch the following day which seemed to take it a step back in performance mode. The performance took a hard hit most noticeably in the famous Umbral Bellroom Vigor farm area.

I also experienced two hard crashes and weird frame lock ups while in Umbral in Skyrest Bridge. Not all is bad though as Lords of The Fallen nailed some aspects of it’s gameplay and in it’s visuals department.

Story

Lords of The Fallen 2023 is about the Umbral Lamp being passed onto you, the player by the previous Dark Crusader who perished. You as the chosen one must light five beacons for a holy religious order lead by Exactor Dunmire.

Lords of The Fallen 2023’s world lore has to do with stopping the demon god Adyr’s demonic army taking over Mournstead. The story is told like most souls-like video games in a ambiguous way meaning watching spirit Stigmas and collecting collectibles tells the story. I thought Lords of The Fallen’s story was below average.

Gameplay

Gameplay while in Axiom (normal plain of existence) was great. I went with a Radiance Paladin Holy build featuring Pieta’s Sword and a Preacher Holy Hammer (dual wield) while sporting Fitzroy’s heavy armor.

Lords of The Fallen 2023 heavily features and Umbral Lamp mechanic while novel and useful wore out it’s welcome in regards to it’s gameplay connection inside Umbral. Umbral is a maze of ever spawning demonic enemies that get more powerful the longer you stay inside.

Granted there are items that can alleviate Umbral’s pain which wasn’t necessary for me since I was leveled high. The problem with the overlapping twisted Umbral realm on Axiom for me was the map layouts. True, there are so many ladder and bridge shortcuts, interconnectedness in Lords of The Fallen. None of it was fun though.

I felt too rushed and discombobulated while in Umbral. I shouldn’t feel rushed when I am trying to learn where to go, where I am and what to do. Otherwise, the gameplay was fun on a combat level. I thought the bosses I faced were all solid and different in positive ways.

I did catch mini-bosses being regular enemies after you immediately defeat them i.e. Inferno Enchantress and Otto Bulwark. Skyrest Bridge is the main HUB where all of the NPCs gather that you meet in Mournstead. NPCs sell weapons and items or can upgrade your warrior.

Visuals/Graphics

This is the best looking Souls-Like alongside Playstation 5’s Demon’s Souls that I played. Framerate and bugs not withstanding in my playthrough CI Games’s utilization of Unreal Engine 5 was truly current gen from a visual standpoint, lighting being the most impressing.

Sound/Music

Sound mixing was terrible here. Music didn’t stand out during boss fights or while exploring. When I’d perform Radiant Weapon there was literally no sound for this flashy magical holy ability. Voice acting was awful as well.

Final Verdict and Score

Lords of The Fallen 2023 has solid combat with a unique Umbral Lamp mechanic that leads into a convoluted twisty confusing Umbral map at times (swamp/Blighttown areas). Axiom was great to explore. Umbral not so much.

Visually stunning graphics, good boss fights with simplified builds/abilities. Lords of The Fallen 2023 is really good and could’ve been great with some changes to the Umbral realm’s gameplay mechanics. Also, I’ll state again that this review was written up till Calrath’s part of the game. Later – Jason