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Lords of the Fallen - Review Thread

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 - 75 average - 74% recommended - 45 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.

XboxEra - Jesse Norris - 9.4 / 10

Lords of the Fallen is a stunningly good game. Following a path set for it by Dark Souls 3 it nails every major part of what makes From’s games so damned good. Stunning visually, the art style and music are some of my favorites. While the very end does get too “big” for its gameplay this one is an easy recommendation to both the most hardcore Souls lovers and those who feel intimidated. Seamless co-op takes what is a great game and makes it a special one.

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.

GameSpew - Richard Seagrave - 9 / 10

With its stunning visuals and unique mechanics, Lords of the Fallen has quickly become one of our favourite Soulslikes. Its setting may be derivative, but it’s so well realised that you likely won’t care, especially when you’re switching between the worlds of the living and the dead, each with their own monstrosities to deal with and treasures to find. Hexworks has created something that genuinely feels like a successor to Dark Souls, leveraging the power of next-gen to push the genre forward. And so, put the mediocrity of the original Lords of the Fallen out of your mind: this may have the same name, but it stands head and shoulders above its predecessor in every single way.

Use a Potion - 9 / 10

Lords of the Fallen is an impressive release that trumps the original in every way, all whilst introducing some splendid mechanics that help it stand out in the crowded Souls-like genre. The parallel worlds idea is really, REALLY cool, whilst simply exploring the land of Mournstead is always satisfying thanks to its wonderful environmental design and sense of unpredictability across both Axiom and Umbral. It gets all of the basics right too, with combat slick and varied throughout and each epic boss encounter putting your skills to the test. Whilst I’ll admit there were some areas which lacked the polish for it to fully match up to the likes of Elden Ring, Lords of the Fallen is still a very good game. The difficulty spikes can be a little bit unfair in places, especially when the game overwhelms you with a high enemy count, but it doesn’t stop Lords of the Fallen from being another Souls-like release that REALLY deserves your attention.

Fextralife - Fexelea - 8.8 / 10

Lords of the Fallen is an amazing achievement from the Hexworks team, and Souls-like fans will immediately feel at home in this highly ambitious title. Despite a few performance issues, and a handful of bugs, Lords of the Fallen is some of the most fun I've had this year, and that's saying something considering the titles that have launched in 2023.

Gamersky - 心灵奇兵 - Chinese - 8.5 / 10

Lords of the Fallen is probably the closest game to the Dark Souls series. Its unique world-switching mechanic, resurrection upon death, and bonfire-building features show the development team's deep understanding of Souls game design.

Generación Xbox - Pedro del Pozo - Spanish - 85 / 100

Possibly, we are facing the closest soulslike and almost equal to the Dark Souls saga itself. It has absolutely everything a fan of the franchise could want from this type of game: It is difficult, challenging, but not impossible or unfair, it has many possibilities to approach the adventure, and technically accompanies both sight and ear. Perhaps the story does not become so transcendental, because it is one that we have already seen more than once, but we must not detract from it, because the design of the characters is impressive in many cases, something that also happens with the more than 30 bosses that are in the game, each with its own mechanics, phases and aesthetics.

Seasoned Gaming - Zach Bateman - 8.5 / 10

CI Games and HEXWORKS have realized their potential by creating one of the greatest souls-likes I’ve had the pleasure of getting lost in.

The Nerd Stash - Patrick Armstrong - 8.5 / 10

Lords of the Fallen ranks amongst the best Soulslikes!

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.

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.

Hobby Consolas - Álvaro Alonso - Spanish - 80 / 100

Despite its many problems, Lords of the Fallen has managed to conquer us by combining the soulslike of always with a mechanic as novel and interesting as the jump between worlds. If they correct their failures, we could be facing one of the great surprises of 2023 and one of the best soulslike of recent years.

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.

INVEN - Kyuman Kim - Korean - 8 / 10

Returning as a reboot after nine years, 'Lord of the Fallen' successfully carves its unique niche on the solid foundation that is familiar for those fans of Souls-like genre. Some elements, such as unseparated multiplayer even after death are even better! However the lackluster impact of combat and rather frequent system clashes left a big room for improvement. Luckily, the developer is eager to make the game better with patches before release so, we'll see.

PSX Brasil - Portuguese - 80 / 100

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Slant Magazine - Aaron Riccio - 4 / 5

Umbral is a beautiful dark twisted fantasy, and then there’s all of Axiom to explore as well. The developers have made the most of these realms, layering distinct challenges atop one another. And the result is the best of both worlds: Axiom’s dense, gothic world (and its interconnected twin in Umbral) and a second life with which to better appreciate the masocore combat.

The Outerhaven Productions - Keith Mitchell - 4 / 5

Lords of the Fallen (2023) is finally here, despite a challenging development cycle, and it's a way better game than the original title. Everything that I had issues with the 2014 game has been addressed, and then some. Combat is fun, the world is beautiful, and I can't get enough of the unique way we can visit the world of the dead using a lamp. It really bugs me that the game on the PC has some slight performance issues that hold it back, and that's a shame. Still, Lords of the Fallen (2023) is a great Soulslike that fans of the genre need to play, despite a few flaws with the game.

VideoGamer - Finlay Cattanach - 8 / 10

Lords of the Fallen is a game that wears its passion and love of the genre on its sleeve. A gorgeous world, gripping gameplay, enthralling bosses, and depthless worldbuilding persist in spite of some rough edges and a struggling sense of unique identity.

We Got This Covered - David Morgan - 4 / 5

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.

WellPlayed - Nathan Hennessy - 8 / 10

Lords of The Fallen makes up for its clumsy combat and opaque systems with the fantastic Umbral lamp and its impressive audiovisual design.

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.

COGconnected - Mark Steighner - 77 / 100

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.

Video Chums - A.J. Maciejewski - 7.7 / 10

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.

GamingTrend - Abdul Saad - 75 / 100

While not without its issues, Lords of the Fallen is an entertaining game with many great action RPG elements and challenging but satisfying gameplay.

Multiplayer First - Paulmichael Contreras - 7.5 / 10

Just like the original that preceded it, Lords of the Fallen is a solid Soulslike game, which relies on a familiar game loop of dying repeatedly, learning from your mistakes along the way, while finding a nice track of enemies to slaughter endlessly as you slowly grind your character’s level up to meet the challenge, or for those more inclined to not cheese things, then memorizing enemy attack patterns as you fight and claw your way to victory. The Umbral mechanic has brought something new to the table, but it’s a shame visits to the other side are limited. Hexworks set a high bar for themselves, and while they didn’t quite reach the heights they were going for, they should be commended for what they have accomplished.

Spaziogames - Domenico Musicò - Italian - 7.5 / 10

Lords of the Fallen fails to meet every expectation and its own ambitions. With many technical flaws and some gameplay issues, CI Games and HexWorks reboot is very far from top notch soulslike games.

The Games Machine - Marco Bortoluzzi - Italian - 7.5 / 10

While Lords of the Fallen has a good foundation, what is built upon it often leaves a sour taste, and not all of it can be boiled down to personal preference. Poor optimization, wonky hitboxes, poor enemy variety and a frustrating lock system are only some of the issues we encountered. This is the kind of game that could become great, but it needs patches and updates to get there.

Tom's Hardware Italia - Andrea Maiellano - Italian - 7.5 / 10

Everything works and is fun, the ideas are many, and very interesting, and the general feeling is to find oneself in front of a work done with passion. However, slips on that banana peel called "experience." We would have preferred to be confronted with a Souls-like that was more refined in its foundations and capable of introducing a couple of thick innovations, as opposed to playing a title that errs on the side of presumptuousness in terms of copying FromSoftware's work, causing the many, perhaps too many, ideas it puts forth to falter.

Daily Star - Tom Hutchison - 3.5 / 5

It looks medieval, dark, like a bloody horror film and it plays tough.

GAMES.CH - Benjamin Braun - German - 70%

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.

Gamer Guides - Chris Moyse - 7 / 10

Lords of the Fallen is a solid, if conventional Soulslike, offering imposing adventure while never quite breaking new ground. Though a litany of performance woes currently hinders the experience, expansive realms, gloomy lore, and a bloody, heavy-handed challenge await the more sadistic corners of the game-playing audience.

Hey Poor Player - Shane Boyle - 3.5 / 5

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, so here’s hoping Hexworks are hard at work on further optimization updates that brings performance to a level worthy of the rest of the package.

MonsterVine - Sean Halliday - 3.5 / 5

Lords of the Fallen is a solid and enjoyable task but rarely goes beyond good, instead, it titters on the edge of being special. Great looking, but ultimately too safe and lacking a real bite, Lords of the Fallen may not push the genre in any real direction, but it’s a worthy addition.

Push Square - Aaron Bayne - 7 / 10

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.

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.

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.

TechRaptor - Joe Allen - 6 / 10

Lords of the Fallen's shameless copy-paste approach to Dark Souls undermines its great level design and the potential evident in some of its boss encounters.

Eurogamer - Ed Nightingale - 2 / 5

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

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.

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.

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.

Skill Up - Ralph Panebianco - Unscored

Video Review - Quote not available

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