Lords of the Fallen is an exhausting technical achievement

What number of spirits do you assume are surrounding you at this very second? Lords of the Fallen presents you with this grim newfound curiosity, then fingers over the device to satiate it. A lamp allows you to take a peek on the realm of the lifeless — referred to as the Umbral realm — in actual time throughout your campaign. Straight away, the lamplight reveals {that a} seemingly inaccessible lake hides a traversable hole pit, whereas innocuous corridors change into swarmed with floating corpses. But, as compelling as this use of twin realities is, Lords of the Fallen can’t escape the chilly contact of an array of design and tempo frustrations that plague all the expertise.

Lords of the Fallen, to not be confused with its 2014 namesake, is developer Hexworks’ try at carving out an id within the Soulsborne style, after taking the mission over from Deck13 and Defiant Studios. Like this 12 months’s Lies of P, the 2023 Lords of the Fallen takes cues from the later period of FromSoftware works. And in contrast to its predecessor, you’re now not pressured to play as a fitness center bro who’s skipped leg day his whole life. Alongside a sturdy character creator, motion feels far looser and extra responsive this time round.

Not like Lies of P, fight doesn’t revolve principally round good parries within the type of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Parries exist as a mechanic, however you lose well being even when performing them efficiently. This well being will be recovered in case you hit the enemy whereas staying out of hurt, à la Bloodborne. As time went on, nevertheless, I discovered that this trade-off discouraged me from attempting to interrupt the enemy’s stance altogether. Fortuitously, the sport provides sufficient weapon selection, together with spells and a plethora of ranged choices like elemental grenades and crossbows, to swimsuit completely different methods and playstyles.

Picture: Hexworks/CI Video games by way of Polygon

The largest draw is the presence of the Umbral realm. At first, the lamp appears virtually gimmicky, its novelty revolving round witnessing how completely different the environments are within the underworld. A handful of hours into the sport, Umbral turns into central to your journey. Staircases made out of bones and sliced spines performing as bridges are sometimes the one manner ahead, however you possibly can’t use these pathways when you’re nonetheless within the land of the dwelling — that means your character has to die, both voluntarily or involuntarily, with a view to march ahead.

Much like Sekiro, you get a second life each time your well being bar is depleted, however you’re additionally taken into Umbral within the course of. You’ll be able to select to set off this transition manually utilizing your lantern, too. For both technique, the escape plans are comparable: Relaxation on the sport’s model of bonfires to return from the lifeless, or use sparsely scattered corpses that break upon use. When you survive the journey, you’re primarily regaining that misplaced life.

The mechanic takes on a stronger presence if you’re pressured to change. Whilst you can maintain the lamp to stroll over an already fashioned bridge or via a gate, it’s not attainable to work together with the surroundings. Some passageways require you to govern platforms to create a path first, which thrusts the truth shift upon you. Different occasions, you’ll get pulled into Umbral by an enemy who manages to hit you when you are lighting up the surroundings, creating a way of urgency. The longer you keep in Umbral, the extra dread you’ll really feel. Enemy presence steadily will increase, culminating in a strong grim reaper (et tu, Persona?) chasing you down.

Initially, these spectral getaways felt exhilarating. Returning to the realm of the dwelling simply earlier than a horde of undead husks managed to seize me jogged my memory of the fun of reaching a protected home in Left 4 Lifeless by a scratch. Mockingly, although, these escapades revealed one in all Lords of the Fallen’s foundational flaws: an overreliance on giant enemy teams performing as a shallow issue ramp. Each realms becoming a member of forces would usually end in a dozen or extra foes to keep away from via slim corridors or instadeath pits. Each time I dared to make a run via an space, the variety of mobs was so ample that the preliminary novelty become an annoyance that I might purposefully search to keep away from.

Picture: Hexworks/CI Video games by way of Polygon

Picture: Hexworks/CI Video games by way of Polygon

Picture: Hexworks/CI Video games by way of Polygon

Picture: Hexworks/CI Video games by way of Polygon

Avoiding the enemy mobs introduced extra frustrations to gentle. Bosses are a continuing presence, generally virtually back-to-back, which turns into exhausting – particularly when some don’t supply a lot of a problem after you’ve realized their patterns. Furthermore, a number of of them get added to the roster of normal mobs virtually instantly after. As a lot as I help builders behind experiences of this scale reusing belongings intentionally, the outcomes right here had me exploring zones with the identical actual enemies, time and time once more, solely in bigger numbers. The few intelligent moments that broke this monotony, both standout encounters or some Umbral-related shock assaults, had been senselessly repeated. It didn’t take me lengthy to marvel if the sport ought to simply have been scaled again.

After 30 hours and counting, the world of Lords of the Fallen is one I’ve loved visiting, however in the end dread inhabiting. High quality-of-life parts, like the choice to create your personal checkpoints in designated areas, are sometimes jeopardized by an precise checkpoint discovered two homes later, after you simply used up a uncommon useful resource. Magic lessons, that are launched as “superior” within the character creator, truly appear integral, with merchandise descriptions, weapons, and reasonably highly effective spells demanding a stat dedication that knights or archers merely can’t afford. Seamlessly switching between realities, as spectacular because it seems to be in motion, isn’t new. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Aside and The Medium boasted their SSD-powered tech years prior, whereas Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver showcased comparable concepts to Umbral with its Spectral Realm a long time in the past.

Lords of the Fallen, then, faces a peculiar conundrum. In its campaign to innovate and stand out from its 2014 predecessor, the expertise focuses on sheer amount and synthetic makes an attempt to entice you into overstaying your welcome, ignoring the pillars of the style — from the rigorously crafted pacing to the methodical sense of problem. This ignorance is, at occasions, supported by a self-fulfilled creative id, with formidable vistas and oppressive environments which might be value witnessing. However in the end, my curiosity in regards to the world of Lords of the Fallen was met with unnecessary restraint at each flip. After seeing the ghosts surrounding the expertise, I’m determined for the prospect to shift my gaze away from this realm.

Lords of the Fallen will likely be launched on Oct. 13 on Home windows PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Collection X. The sport was reviewed on PC utilizing a pre-release obtain code offered by Hexworks. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These don’t affect editorial content material, although Vox Media might earn commissions for merchandise bought by way of affiliate hyperlinks. You will discover further details about Polygon’s ethics coverage right here.