By Ross Edwards „Lords of the Fallen“ wants so badly to be „Dark Souls.“
And why not? Developer From Software’s captivating series has built a legion of fans with its tight combat, unrelenting difficulty and dark, compelling, fantasy atmosphere. A few dozen hours with the Souls series were enough to transform even my begrudging respect for the dungeon-crawling, hack-and-slash genre into outright fandom.
So who can really blame developers Deck13 Interactive and CI Games for their blatant mimicry of such a successful formula?
Does „Lords of the Fallen“ hold its own with its critically acclaimed predecessor? Not in the least. In fact, it falls noticeably short in almost every way.
That said, there’s still enough done well to make this obvious clone an intriguing title in its own right.
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Let’s begin with the similarities – and there are plenty to go around.
The tale of Harkyn, a prisoner released in order to fight off a demon army, is told in familiar fashion. We learn only the basics from the outset and piece together the story by finding scrolls and occasionally speaking to other characters.
Basic premise, atmosphere, enemy design, leveling, gear and especially combat are all ripped straight from the „Dark Souls“ formula. Players use a nearly identical control scheme, following familiar strength, speed and magic builds, while choosing whether to sacrifice the safety and poise of heavy armor for the agility to move, evade and attack more quickly with medium or light equipment.
The cornerstone of the „Dark Souls“ series was the delightful mixture of combat that was crushingly difficult but also always, without fail, fair. A repeated step led to the same outcome every time. Defeating an enemy, then, was only a matter of learning his attack patterns and devising a successful strategy to counter them. Thus, every fight became a physical chess match.
„Lords of the Fallen“ tries desperately to emulate this formula, but the controls are too loose to allow such precision. The camera swings wildly in unexpected directions, turning the tense circling of two cautious enemies into a nauseating experience reminiscent of the teacup ride at Disney World.
Battling multiple foes at once is especially problematic, as the camera refuses to stay fixed in an area where more than one is visible, and killing the first doesn’t automatically lock the character’s gaze onto the next.
Camera troubles plague players outside of combat, as well. Much of the game takes place in tight surroundings, and the wildly swinging point of view, combined with drab background colors that bleed into one another, makes it very easy to overlook chests. It’s a routine experience to round a corner and find a sword stuck through your abdomen before you have a chance to get your bearings.
And while defeating enemies was a matter of patient experimentation in „Dark Souls,“ it’s much more prudent in „Lords of the Fallen“ to simply grind low-level enemies for experience until Harkyn becomes an overpowered killing machine.
This concept, at least, has an interesting flourish all its own. Players can level up their spells and attributes by defeating demons, but the longer they go without banking that experience, the higher the multiplier they earn and the better loot they find for killing the next, and so on.
Any death will cost Harkyn all of his experience, resulting in a mad dash to reach his ghost and reclaim his winnings. Thus players wager their ability to stay alive and gain exponentially better rewards against the safety of cashing in and upgrading.
Part of the game’s charm comes from its shortcomings. Typos litter the text and dialogue exchanges are downright laughable. There’s a moment early on in which a character loses a limb and continues the conversation without missing a beat.
Underdog status suits „Lords of the Fallen“ well. It isn’t the masterpiece that it seeks to emulate, but if you can bear the rough patches long enough to get a feel for the fighting mechanics, there’s actually a decent video game here.
Fans of the Souls series looking for a new fix, and those who tried but were turned off by its difficultly, are encouraged to give „Lords of the Fallen“ a chance. Newcomers, however, may want to start with „Dark Souls“ to truly see what all the fuss is about.
Final score: 7 out of 10
„Lords of the Fallen“ ($59.99) is available for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The Xbox One version was used for this review.