It is impossible to play this game without thinking of Dark Souls. Namco Bandai has clearly taken notice of the success of those titles, and it looks like they’re trying to dominate that segment of the market with more titles.
Lords of the Fallen is being developed by CI Games and Deck 13 — not From Software, the creators of Dark Souls.
During the hands-on demo, there were two paths to take, one took you through a short level with a magic-user wielding a staff, and the other put you directly into combat with an enormous demonic knight wielding a flaming sword, putting you in the role of a a hammer-wielding fighter looking like a hybrid of War from Darksiders, Dr. Doom, and a Dark Souls character.
Lords of the Fallen has an aesthetic entirely its own. It is a lovely mix of grungy, bloody, creepy, and shiny-badass exquisite equipment. During the level playthrough, I picked up a new set of armor which completely changed the look of my character.
The Boss Fight
I took the boss fight first, and promptly died over and over. As you do in these types of games. But through trial and error I eventually learned how I had to fight the battle. As in Dark Souls boss fights, the Demon Knight was pretty obvious about broadcasting his next move with just enough lead time for you to shield-up or dodge-roll. As in Dark Souls, you have an Endurance bar which drains when you attack, roll, or block with a shield. The endurance regenerates faster if you’re not actively holding your shield up. You also have the option to switch between single-handed-plus-shield or double-handing the hammer you’re hefting.
So I died a lot. A whole lot. The combat is fast and heavy, requiring immaculate timing and patience. It was difficult but fair (mostly, caveat below), and finally winning the fight was extraordinarily satisfying.
The only way in which this boss fight mechanically differed from a Dark Souls was an increased emphasis on dodging and rolling. Personally I found this a lot more natural, fluid, and fun than Dark Souls’ sometimes clunky and slow fighting (even though it is intentionally clunky and slow in those games). The increased emphasis on dodge-rolling does bring Lords of the Fallen’s combat system a few shades toward a more traditional action-adventure game like Darksiders.
This was still a pretty early build, but the Demon Knight had one insta-kill move (whether you were shielding or not) which was a little inconsistent in its tracking and hit area, making the boss fight a little irritating at times.
The Level
Then I took a quick foray into the level-traversal side of the demo. The magic wielded by the other character was pretty satisfying. Again, though, if you’ve played Dark Souls, you already know how the fighting goes for the most part. Even a trio of low-level enemies can easily kill you if you fight stupid, and even the grunts take some work to dispatch. The magic wielder swapped between spells by equipping different magic gauntlets. There is a “mana” bar and the spells have a cooldown.
You’ve got your classic action stuff, fighting, loot chest smashing-in-ing, and a creepy ass dungeon to crawl. There were some interesting environmental opportunities as well. At one point a hulking, heavily armored knight came charging out of a hallway. With a heavy downward swing, he opened up a hole in the floor, down into a presumably bottomless pit. I situated myself on the far side of the pit, and when the hulk charged me he dropped down the hole and disappeared. Problem solved.
In short, if you’re a fan of Dark Souls, you’re almost guaranteed to like this game. Keep an eye out for this one.