Lords of the Fallen: A twisted love letter to classic Dark Souls

The Lords of the Fallen sequel/reboot draws near and after spending several hours playing it and chatting with its leading developers, we have some impressions to share.

After playing the opening hours of 2023’s Lords of the Fallen, our journey through this nightmarish world was eerily familiar, yet filled with a current-gen polish that games like the Dark Souls trilogy and Bloodborne could only dream of.

Our initial impressions were that the game felt a lot like the PS5 remake of Demon’s Souls, which is not a bad thing, but from an aesthetic point of view, Lords of the Fallen leans even more heavily into the grimdark setting.

The game is both a sequel and a reboot of the original Lords of the Fallen from 2014. In terms of lore, the game is set in the same universe, but one thousand years after Harkyn’s brutal adventure, so fans of the original will be pleased to know that the events of that game have not been swept under the carpet.

While 2023’s entry will stand on its own merits and tell its own story, it will follow on from one of LotF 2014’s three endings – although, you’ll need to wait and see to learn which one. Indeed, Harkyn and the events of the first game have fallen into myth and now a new champion rises to carve their own brutal legend.

Lords of the Fallen’s world is oppressive and deadly.

Gloriously grimdark

Tonally, Lords of the Fallen (2023) is a much darker fantasy than the original game, abandoning the High Fantasy setting of LotF (2014) for something more akin to FromSoftware’s deliciously depressing multiverse. Fans of Bloodborne and the three Dark Souls games will lap this up, as Lords of the Fallen may be closer to being Dark Souls 4 than Elden Ring ever was. While Elden Ring marked a stunning evolution in the Soulslike formula, going open world and pushing the Souls series to incredible heights, it lacked the dank and oppressive atmosphere of earlier From games, at least for the most part.

While exploration is paramount in all Soulslikes, and not taking anything away from Elden Ring’s GOTY status – as there’s a lot to be said for the claustrophobic corridors of Lordran, Dranglaic, and Lothric, not to mention the desolate battlements of Boletaria and the diseased streets of Yharnam – something was lost when FromSoftware made the transition to the open-world sandbox that was the Lands Between.

While players were encouraged to forge their own path in Elden Ring (and what a glorious path it usually was), it lacked the atmosphere and character that often defined the previously more curated and smaller-scale obstacle courses of earlier games.

Lords of the Fallen doesn’t feature an open world, but it doesn’t need one.

Careful curation vs. Open world

While freedom was Elden Ring’s key strength, it was also its limitation. While this was something we felt keenly back in our Elden Ring review, Lords of the Fallen reminded us of what these games can be when they aim to deliver a tighter experience. Lords of the Fallen scratches an itch we’d forgotten we were feeling, it fed an old craving that had been dormant since we played Demon’s Souls, during the launch of the PS5. Lords of the Fallen offers a classic Soulslike experience, a carefully curated journey into the darkness where only the bold will come out the other side.

Gone are the lush fields and beauty spots that made Elden Ring such a stunning, if not still often forlorn experience. Instead, Lords of the Fallen drags you out of the light and back into the darkness. Then it continuously stomps on you until you’re molded into a shape that can not only face the horrors that lurk in this grim world but competently overcome them. The game does not feature an open world but instead exists in a cleverly interconnected area a lot like Bloodborne and Dark Souls, as well as the original LotF.

Like FromSoftware’s titles and the original game, Lords of the Fallen is tough, even its opening cut scene makes it clear that the protagonist is merely a lamb to the slaughter. This world, and everything in it, wants you dead and you’ll be chewed up and spat out, sometimes literally, time and time again. In our playthrough of the opening hours we faced several bosses, some were quite simple duels while others were epic encounters with gigantic flesh monsters or cursed former heroes. Some we were able to beat during our first try while others took us a few more attempts.

Some of LotF’s bosses are nothing short of epic.

Malevolent multiplayer

Unlike FromSoftware’s games or the single-player-only original Lords of the Fallen, this sequel/reboot can be played through in co-op in its entirety, we didn’t get to experience any multiplayer in this session but we were given some tantalizing information about how it will work. In previous Soulslike games, coop partners can be summoned at certain points to either help guide you through an area or to fight alongside you during a boss battle. Once their task is completed, your companion will return to their world and will need to be summoned again if your partnership is to continue.

Lords of the Fallen will eliminate this requirement and will allow two players (at least) to seamlessly play through the whole game in a single sitting, should they wish. This is quite a radical departure from the established norm but will be great news to players who enjoy taking on monsters and exploring together. PvP will also exist in the form of invasions, however, we’re unsure if this mechanic will work like other Soulslike games, or feature its own unique style.

We were also able to summon NPCs to help us during boss fights, they usually died before the battle was over, but provided a useful distraction. Although we imagine summoning an NPC will give the boss a health/power buff, so some players may choose to solo most foes. However, every NPC is a character from the game’s hub area and story, so each boasts a different fighting style, therefore some NPCs may be more useful in certain fights than others.

Things get even more deadly in Umbral, where dark spirits literally try to claim your soul.

Drag me to Hell

The game’s main draw, and what separates it from previous Soulslikes is the Axiom and Umbral system. These are two parallel worlds that exist alongside and bleed into each other during gameplay. Axiom is the material world of the living while Umbral is the spirit world, a twisted Hell dimension where you’re vulnerable and continuously hunted by its spectral denizens. The longer you stay in Umbral, the more the danger will mount, pressuring players to return to Axiom – and relative safety – as soon as possible.

Should you die in Axiom, you’ll enter Umbral and the world around you will change. The system reminded us of Demon’s Souls’ soul form or becoming Hollow in Dark Souls 1, although, rather than just you changing, it’s your surroundings too. This dual-world system is reminiscent of the Soul Reaver games, which used a similar dynamic. It’s sometimes necessary to briefly enter Umbral in order to solve certain puzzles. Rather than dying though, players can take advantage of a lamp in their possession to see what the location they’re in looks like in Umbral when compared to Axiom. What’s even more unsettling though, is raising the lamp for too long draws the attention of the lost souls of the Umbral plane, opening you up to attack even when in Axiom.

We found the Axiom/Umbral system a little confusing at first, but the game offers various hints to help players understand and make use of the mechanic, and we’re confident it’ll be Lords of the Fallen’s crowning glory. However, there’ll be a contingent of gamers who find it annoying, especially when it breaks up the action to provide a challenging puzzle or obstacle to overcome. However, those who take the time to engage with it and make use of the system will be the ones who get the most out of Lords of the Fallen. While you explore one world, events continue in the other and this sometimes becomes apparent even without you raising the lamp or dying, which at times was very cool.

As we said in our first preview of Lords of the Fallen, this is a game that every Soulslike fan needs to play, especially if you prefer the more curated design of the earlier entries. Couple that with current-gen visuals and some creative and original ideas, and Lords of the Fallen may be the first Soulslike game not developed by FromSoftware that pushes the envelope in a truly meaningful way, all while paying homage to what has come before.

For more Lords of the Fallen and Soulslike content, check out some of our below guides:

Everything we know about The Lords of the Fallen | Lords of the Fallen preview | Wo Long Fallen Dynasty review | Best Soulslike games ranked | Elden Ring DLC | Elden Ring review | Elden Ring: The best is yet to come