Game Information

Game Title: Lords of the Fallen (2023)

Platforms:

  • Xbox Series X/S (Oct 13, 2023)
  • PlayStation 5 (Oct 13, 2023)
  • PC (Oct 13, 2023)

Trailers:

Developer: Hexworks

Publisher: CI Games

Review Aggregator:

OpenCritic - 74 average - 74% recommended - 29 reviews

Critic Reviews

AltChar - Semir Omerovic - 95 / 100

Lords of the Fallen stands as a genuine ode to the souls-like genre, a shining masterpiece that deserves recognition as one of the finest action RPGs in recent years.

Attack of the Fanboy - Christian Bognar - 4.5 / 5

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.

But Why Tho? - Eddie De Santiago - 8 / 10

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

CGMagazine - Philip Watson - 8 / 10

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

Destructoid - Steven Mills - Unscored

My time with Lords of the Fallen so far has been mostly positive. But I can’t help but feel some of the newer systems don’t add much good to the game. Mixed with the sometimes unfair mechanics and difficulty of specific boss encounters, it’s definitely hampered my experience a bit. However, overall Lords of the Fallen is a polished Soulslike game, which is never a bad thing.

Eurogamer - Ed Nightingale - 2 / 5

Missing the elegance of FromSoftware, Lords of the Fallen is let down by Soulslike clichés and performance woes.

Game Informer - Wesley LeBlanc - 6 / 10

Despite a solid gameplay foundation, stunning world, and unique two-realm mechanic, by the time I reached credits after 48 hours, I was overjoyed to be done.

God is a Geek - Mick Fraser - 8 / 10

Lords of the Fallen is an enjoyable, challenging game, and the aesthetics are out of this world, but it suffers at times from a lack of focus.

IGN - Travis Northup - 8 / 10

Lords of the Fallen is an awesome soulslike with a fantastic dual-realities premise, even when performance shortcomings and wimpy bosses crash the party.

IGN Spain - Alejandro Morillas - Spanish - 8 / 10

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.

PC Gamer - Harvey Randall - 79 / 100

Some of the best boss fights in the genre’s recent history, riddled with difficulty spikes in all the wrong places.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun - Ed Thorn - Unscored

A Soulslike elevated by a magnificent realm-hopping twist, yet chained down by a host of irritating little flaws.

TheSixthAxis - Jason Coles - 4 / 10

I desperately want to like Lords of the Fallen, but it’s the first game all year that’s actively annoyed me. I love the Soulslike genre more than any other, but this game took all of the lessons it could have learned since the original Lords of the Fallen and either forgot them entirely, or just misunderstood them so greviously that you’d assume it skipped a class.

Wccftech - Francesco De Meo - 6.8 / 10

Lords of the Fallen boasts impressive visuals and an interesting story for a soulslike, but unfortunately, that’s where the praise ends.

  • NeryKEnglish
    61·
    1 year ago

    Friend and I were looking for our next co-op game after Remnant 2 (very good btw) and were somewhat eagerly awaiting this one. Turns out it has the same PvP invasion mechanic as the Souls game unless you play offline. That’s a deal-breaker for us unfortunately.

    • simple@lemm.eeOPEnglish
      41·
      1 year ago

      It gets better. According to Oroboro (popular pvp streamer), it looks like you can invade people of any level. Your stats will be scaled down but you can still use your overpowered gear and invade someone that just started playing.

    • Wumbologist@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Any idea what the co-op system is like? I don’t mind the invasions so much but I despise FromSoft’s multiplayer systems for co-oping with friends.

        • Wumbologist@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          1 year ago

          Thanks, this info is super useful. Story progression not carrying over isn’t a huge issue to me, so long as you’re allowed to keep playing with the host past where your own game world is. I never liked how dark souls required you to play levels multiple times in a row if you want to keep playing with friends.

          These two bits are really nice to see too

          When playing online, the host’s game world will reflect their progress in the storyline. As an accompanying player, you won’t advance your own story, but you’ll keep any items, levels, achievements, and currencies you earn during the online session. These will carry over when you return to your own game world.

          As a joining player, you have only one life. If you lose it, your body will fall to the ground and you’ll switch to spectator mode. The host has two options for resurrecting you: they can either interact with your fallen body on the spot, risking exposure to enemies as it’s not a quick ritual, or they can do so via a nearby Vestige.

  • 9cpluss@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    1 year ago

    Seems to have massive performance issues that get worse the longer you play. Hope they manage to fix that. Was looking forward to playing it coop with a friend.

  • squirrelwithnut@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    1 year ago

    I love Souls-likes. I’m looking forward to this one, but I’ll wait for additional patches to fix the performance issues.

    • PlantJam@lemmy.worldEnglish
      53·
      1 year ago

      I appreciate seeing games referred to as soulslike. Immediate hard pass. The genre has a lot to offer and I see why so many people like the games, but for some reason I just really don’t ever want my own skills as a player to determine the outcome of combat.

      • dogslayeggs@lemmy.worldEnglish
        9·
        1 year ago

        I just really don’t ever want my own skills as a player to determine the outcome of combat.

        I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone voice this sentiment before. I think I get what you are saying, but it just doesn’t sound like what most people say.

        • PlantJam@lemmy.worldEnglish
          41·
          1 year ago

          Yeah, I don’t think I’ve heard it from anyone else either. It generally only applies to PvE content like in RPGs. I do enjoy some shooters like CS:GO.

      • Grangle1@lemm.eeEnglish
        4·
        1 year ago

        That’s the one thing I would really appreciate about Souls-likes: no RNG, less being forced to grind for better stats/gear, if I want to beat the challenge I have to improve my own skills and legit “git gud”, as they say. When you finally beat it, it feels so much more satisfying. So I appreciate the genre from a design standpoint. That said, the frustration of the hours to days it would take me to do that is enough to keep me from playing them myself. That, and the super-dark art and aesthetic of so many of them turns me off from them too. I prefer brighter, more colorful games.

        • Cybersteel@lemmy.mlEnglish
          1·
          1 year ago

          too much bullet spongy and just pumping up enemy hp for easy increase in difficulty

  • simple@lemm.eeOPEnglish
    32·
    1 year ago

    Reviews are generally what I’ve feared. The visuals and concepts are cool but the combat seems floaty and the game seems generally unpolished.