They say that imitation is the highest form of flattery and Lords of the Fallen makes no effort to hide its source of inspiration. There is no doubt that this game is imitating Dark Souls. From the combat to the actual button mapping, Lords of the Fallen wears its inspiration on its sleeves. That is not to say however that it is devoid of its own individuality, but even with its best efforts, it never reaches or comes close to the heights of the game it tries to be. With that said however, when the Dark Souls comparisons are taken out of the equation and we play the game for what it is, Lords of the Fallen is actually a good, if not flawed effort that manages to be fun despite itself.

lordsofthefallen

Players take on the role of the recent prison inmate turned saviour of humanity, Harkyn, who embarks on a journey of redemption and salvation. Harkyn is released from prison by a monk named Kaslo and the two journeys out into the wild and even different dimensions to battle the forces of evil and save mankind. While it sounds like a setup to an epic fantasy tale, Lords of the Fallen never manages to convey any sort of compelling reason to care. The world building is uninteresting and falls into the standard fantasy affair. Harkyn seems to have an interesting backstory but it’s never fully explored and feels like a wasted opportunity. The worst offenders are the characters themselves who feel like soulless add-ons forced to deliver cringe-worthy dialogue. Littered throughout the game however are little audio logs that do provide some interesting insight into what is currently happening in the game.

The open environments are really good and are a treat to look at when given the chance. Unfortunately, you’ll be confined to tight indoor corridors most of the time that all seem to look alike after a while. Lords of the Fallen is also prone to weird graphical pop-ups and other bugs and it even crashed at one stage. Most of these niggles were ironed out in the day-one 5 gig patch though.

Lords-of-The-Fallen-Screenshot-02Luckily for Lords of the Fallen, the combat is its one true saving grace. Instead of opting for a faster pace experience like most hack-n-slash/action RPG games do, it focuses much more on carefully analysing your opponent and wisely choosing your strikes. Attacks have real weight to them and depending on your weapon type it becomes really important to time your attacks appropriately. You’re given the option of light and heavy attacks with light attacks doing less damage but are faster and heavy attacks being the opposite. You’re also able to charge up your heavy attacks for more damage. To effectively pull off any of these moves, you have to diligently manage your energy gauge.

Each move that you pull off drains your energy gauge thus reducing the number of actions you can pull off at any given time. Management of this gauge becomes just as important as timing your attacks. This type of calculated and methodical gameplay is really effective in keeping the player engaged during every encounter while still providing the satisfaction of dishing out tons of hurt unto your foes. While the combat is pretty good, the enemies themselves offer very little in the way of actual challenge and variety.

After a while enemies start falling into a predictable pattern and most of them feel somewhat similar to one another and because of this battles become somewhat predictable and even though it still maintains that strategic element throughout, you never quite feel that threatened  or anxious for what awaits you. The biggest problem with the combat however, and what actually holds it back from being great, is that it’s not balanced.

Lords-of-the-Fallen-3

Two factors contribute greatly to these imbalances. Firstly it’s the magic system. At the start of the game you’re given the choice of choosing between three classes, namely Cleric, Warrior and Rogue. You can also choose between one of three magic classes, each relating to one of the starting classes. So immediately you’ll have access to magic, but the magic spells are easily spammable as your MP recharges quite quickly. Some spells are ridiculously over powered with effects ranging from deploying a decoy to distract enemies to casting a spell that boosts your defense, regenerates your health and reflects damage back at the enemy. While it does make one feel quite powerful it also leaves the combat feeling very one-sided sometimes.

Then there is the equipment. While Lords of the Fallen provides the option to equip your character to suit your playstyle, it never feels fair playing as a character equipped with anything else but heavy armour. While light armour does give you more mobility, attacks are not easy to dodge with agility alone. Enemies tend to lock onto you for the majority of the attack frames which leaves you with a small window of opportunity to attack before they start attacking again and not taking damage is mostly unavoidable. This behaviour makes heavy armor more appealing and preferable as you’re able to absorb more damage and handle blows better. It’s a shame really as there is a decent amount of equipment options available to the player.

LOF

Lords of the Fallen does employ some new and novel features though, especially in the way it handles experience points. Throughout the game, you’ll get checkpoints that give you the option to pour all the experience points you’ve gained so far into spell/attribute points (used to increase spell levels or stats respectively) as when you die you lose those accumulated points. If you choose not to use the checkpoint however, a multiplier will be added that increases experience points as you kill more enemies. It then becomes a nice double-edged sword that has you constantly questioning whether or not you should push through sections without using a checkpoint in order to gain more exp.

Last Updated: November 7, 2014

Lords of the Fallen
Lords of the Fallen provides players with a solid experience and fun combat system, but it never provides enough reason to care about anything else.It's a shame as the game does have a lot of potential. With a little more polish and tweaks done to the story and balance, Lords of the Fallen could be a great title. Right now though, it isn't.
6.8
Lords of the Fallen was reviewed on PlayStation 4
68 / 100

46 Comments

  1. DAFUQ 6.8??????

    Hehehe

    Lekker naweek almal!!!

    Reply

    • Ghost In The Rift

      November 7, 2014 at 15:36

      Lekker naweek,dop en tjop vir my!!!

      Reply

    • Eric

      November 7, 2014 at 16:51

      BOKKE!!!

      Reply

  2. Ghost In The Rift

    November 7, 2014 at 15:36

    I will play this before any of the new AC:UPLAY!!!!

    Reply

  3. ReaperOfSquirrels

    November 7, 2014 at 15:38

    I’m sick of these scores that are X.Y when Y isn’t = to 0 or 5 😛

    Lekker Review Umar… my friend’s playing this at the moment and says it’s about as buggy as the first Dark Souls on PC, but a lot more enjoyable XD

    Reply

  4. L337J1MB0B

    November 7, 2014 at 15:40

    Umar is just biased as it’s not the Last Guardian.

    Reply

    • Cadis Etrama Di Umar

      November 7, 2014 at 15:44

      Most probably yes lol

      Reply

  5. Ryanza

    November 7, 2014 at 15:41

  6. Hammersteyn

    November 7, 2014 at 15:43

    I want to buy this but games are expensive and FC4 is already on my list. Decisions decisions

    Reply

    • Ghost In The Rift

      November 7, 2014 at 15:45

      inie mini minie mo????

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        November 7, 2014 at 15:46

        grab it second hand by it’s toe?

        Reply

        • Ghost In The Rift

          November 7, 2014 at 15:47

          ……….thats all i got…o_O

          Reply

    • Captain JJ the pout

      November 7, 2014 at 15:48

      For me it’s easy enough luckily. FC4 = Uplay. Lords of the Fallen = No Uplay.

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        November 7, 2014 at 15:49

        hehe

        Reply

      • Ghost In The Rift

        November 7, 2014 at 15:50

        Then whoPlay??:-P

        Reply

        • Ragnar The Vengeful

          November 7, 2014 at 16:05

          WiiPlay not supported.

          Reply

    • Darren Peach

      December 13, 2014 at 00:34

      Get Far Cry 4. The huge length and all the stuff you can do is vast. On a side note, It feels very similar to Far Cry 3.

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        December 15, 2014 at 08:00

        Done and done FC4 😀

        Reply

  7. Ghost In The Rift

    November 7, 2014 at 15:44

    I remember playing bound by flame which not that great of a game but i enjoyed it allot though(i am easily amused)
    so i will definitely try this!!

    Reply

    • Cadis Etrama Di Umar

      November 7, 2014 at 15:46

      Go for it, its not a bad game 🙂 Its a new IP so support it, it has its fair share of problems, but hopefully we’ll see more, it has potential.

      Reply

      • Ghost In The Rift

        November 7, 2014 at 15:49

        Cool,ill give it a month for patches:-D

        Shit wait,then DA:I is released..o_O……DAMMIT!!!

        Reply

  8. Cadis Etrama Di Umar

    November 7, 2014 at 15:45

    To clear up the .8 …. Its not quite a 7, but its closer to a 7 than a 6. Falls short of hitting a 7 due to my above mentioned complaints about the game 🙂

    Reply

    • ReaperOfSquirrels

      November 7, 2014 at 15:47

      Why not just round up to 7 or down to 6.5? O.o

      Reply

      • Cadis Etrama Di Umar

        November 7, 2014 at 15:51

        Like I said, closer to a 7 but not quite a 7 and I don’t think its 6.5

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn

          November 7, 2014 at 15:51

          6.75?

          Reply

          • Cadis Etrama Di Umar

            November 7, 2014 at 15:53

            Hmmmmmmm, maybe. the main character does have a sweet beard, so 6.79?

          • ReaperOfSquirrels

            November 7, 2014 at 16:12

            Noooo! Stoppit!!! Both of you!!!

  9. Captain JJ the pout

    November 7, 2014 at 15:47

    I saw this on Steam. Looked interesting, but the user reviews were also quite mixed. Oh well.

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      November 7, 2014 at 15:47

      The user reviews are pretty positive on Metacritic as well.

      Reply

    • Cadis Etrama Di Umar

      November 7, 2014 at 15:48

      For the most part its a solid action game. While it is an RPG and it does allow you mix and match stats, its far too unbalanced for it to really matter

      Reply

      • Captain JJ the pout

        November 7, 2014 at 15:49

        I have the Witchers ahead of me and still on Shadow of Mordor, so I think by the time I can get around to this one it’ll be quite a bit cheaper.

        Reply

        • Cadis Etrama Di Umar

          November 7, 2014 at 15:52

          Most probably yes. With so much other games to buy, its a bit hard to recommend this over anything else, especially if you’re on a budget.

          Reply

  10. Hammersteyn

    November 7, 2014 at 15:53

  11. Ceyber, Hans

    November 7, 2014 at 16:10

    Solid review. I could never finish Dark Souls so this game has been a welcome addition. Really enjoying it and although the negative points you mention are on the money, they don’t detract too much from the overall experience. The story though is, as you say, mediocre at best.

    Reply

  12. Quo Vadis?

    November 7, 2014 at 16:38

    soooooooooooo…… This is basically Dark Souls lite? Half the calories of the original?

    Reply

  13. ColtNoir

    November 7, 2014 at 18:37

    souls games look f*cking terrible, laughably so. Lords makes this game type look good while still keeping it relatively difficult.. stop whining and play the game.

    Reply

  14. Skyblue

    November 7, 2014 at 23:45

    The original Lords of the Dark Souls, 80’s style bitches (refresh)

    Reply

  15. CAE9872

    November 8, 2014 at 08:42

    Great review Umar. I saw this in shops yesterday (Toys R Us has PS4 limited ed for R599 and Xbox One limited ed for R899?????????). I am tempted to get this though – I know I will enjoy it despite its quirks.

    Reply

    • Cadis Etrama Di Umar

      November 8, 2014 at 11:06

      You probably will 🙂 like I mentioned, it is a fun game. I still feel this game should be supported.

      Reply

  16. SmurFyZA

    November 8, 2014 at 09:41

    Was really keen to play this game – Now I’m not sure if I even want to :/

    Reply

  17. Trailer

    November 8, 2014 at 10:25

    A little perhaps, unfairly judged game. LotF has a lot of potential. Producers have said from the beginning that the game is inspired by other games. So, gather up the best, from other games, and put together into a whole. Adding something from each other. The game is a great alternative for players who painfully bounced from the DS. But all in all, everyone has their own opinion:)

    Reply

    • Cadis Etrama Di Umar

      November 8, 2014 at 11:03

      Completely, which is why yes, I mentioned Dark Souls in the start because there is no way around that, but I didnt want to constantly compare this game to it. I wanted to judge it on its own merits. Unfortunately, I felt that while it provided a solid experience, the game undermined itself far too much. The story was never compelling and the game itself never provided the challenge or balance to complement its design. So it ended up feeling like a pretty straight forward action rpg.

      Thanx for taking the time to read the review though 🙂 Its sad that such civil comments of disagreement are so hard to come by

      Reply

  18. Uther D

    November 10, 2014 at 01:50

    For me Lords of the Fallen is not that bad, I think 8/10 is good score fot this game. I know tkat they is not perfect but developers release patch with fix so now game not crashed at once. Everyone have his own opinion for it. My is that this game is very good and I recomended it for all of you who want have good game with difficult combat.

    Reply

  19. Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)

    November 10, 2014 at 10:10

    If games weren’t so expensive, I would have gladly thrown this into the shopping basket. 🙁 Alas… I can only get one this November.

    Reply

  20. Treezle

    November 10, 2014 at 11:02

    Was the 6.8 rounded up or down? So like, 6.79999995 or 6.84999995?

    Reply

  21. Kirk Apolo

    December 13, 2014 at 00:05

    Very nice Lords of the Fallen review. I think in Lords of the Fallen we can find similarity to a few another games not only Dark Souls. For me this game is great mix another game with great idea to creat Action-RPG game. I hear Lords of the Fallen will be trilogy so I’m very interesting how will looks next part of this game. Games Online

    Reply

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