Hexworks’Lords of the Fallen(a modern reboot/sequel toLords of the Fallen, confusing though it may be) is due to come out on October 13, and there’s a measure of hype surrounding the game’s release. An Unreal Engine 5 offering,the game is poised to look great. Will it run great as well, though? Setting these issues aside for a bit, there’s also the question of the game’s mechanical difficulty and, indeed, relation to the reveredDark Soulsfranchise and its many offshoots.
From Software is the studio responsible forDark Soulsand, by extension, the Soulslike craze. As of late, the studio has taken some time off majorSoulsprojects, such asthe phenomenalElden Ring, to produceArmored Core 6. A great game, to be sure, but hardly a Soulslike, which suggests there might be a bit of a market gap thatLords of the Fallencould end up slotting into.
What is Lords of the Fallen?
Obviously, the newLords of the Fallenis not an actualSoulsgame, as such. It is neither affiliated with nor supported by From Software, and stands on its own two feet as a Hexworks/CI Games production.Lords of the Fallenis, however, a Soulslike: a game that takes ample cues from titles made by From, to the point where it may well end up being similar enough to appeal to the same audiences.
Something similar happened withthe recently releasedLies of P, in fact. That game’s similarities with, say,Bloodborne, did not go unnoticed, and the reviewer felt that it was a tad too similar to what From Software had made in the past.
It is unclear whether the same thing will happen withLords of the Fallen, but the good news is that the game does have a few key novelties going in its favor. For one, it plays host to two separate dimensions: the world of the living and the world of the dead, with the players able to freely move from one to the other. The feature is like something out of aLegacy of Kaingame. Secondly,Lords of the Fallenhas a streamlined two-player multiplayer mode that doesn’t require the same sort of fiddling as a From Soft game does.
So, there’s potential merit in Hexworks’ new title, but it may pay off to wait until the first reviews are in, naturally.
