Lords of the Fallen’s 2023 reboot – which I’ll call Lords of the Fallen from now on for brevity’s sake – is a big, heartfelt attempt to reinvent a franchise which came under heavy fire in 2014 for being one of the first Souls-like derivatives.
Truth be told, Hexworks has done a damn fine job. But although it’s with a heavy heart that I have to admit it, I haven’t (Lords of the) fallen in love.
I like Lords of the Fallen. Quite a bit, actually. It might be one of the best non-FromSoftware Souls games we’ve gotten so far. It oozes creativity, its bosses are inventive and cool to look at, it has a huge host of weapons and spells to muck around with, and the Umbral Lamp – which lets you hop between the land of the dead and the land of the living – adds a ton to the setting and the moment-to-moment exploration. I can’t ignore some glaring design thorns in Lords of the Fallen’s rose.