We were once again able to get some hands on playtime with Lords Of The Fallen recently, this time however we managed to capture some exclusive gameplay for you guys to enjoy. Firstly I would like to say that Lords Of The Fallen has been called a Dark Souls clone by many, and I actually think this is unfair to the game, yes it has elements that may remind you of the Dark Souls series, but by no means is it a clone. In our first preview of the game we played a section further into the game, the demo we played this time round was more at the beginning, and just as visually stunning as the previous encounter with the RPG title from Deck 13, CI Games and Square Enix.
To recap, you play as Harkyn, a man who has many sins to atone for, each of these tattooed on his face, so he can be reminded of them daily. When old foes attack the realm of humanity, Harkyn is broken out from prison to defeat the forces that now threaten all of mankind, and with his victory is a chance to redeem himself for the sins he committed. Freed by his mentor Kaslo, he must navigate the demonic realms and defeat these demons at their source. Lords Of The Fallen will have 11 weapon classes, with many options to suit all players, and find the best way for you to defeat these forces of evil. In the gameplay below I start off with the standard shield and sword combination, and then switch to the heavier hammer, to show you just how the different weapons affect your combat, speed and agility. Lords Of The Fallen is a brutal and tactical game that requires players to use both cunning and skill in order to defeat some of the enemies you will encounter.
Impressive atmosphere is in abundance throughout the game.
During my time in Lords Of The Fallen, again I was surprised and delighted at how detailed and atmospheric the environments were in the game, with light shining through the windows sparkling off the metallic armour of Harkyn. Candles flickered in stone hallways thick with dust, fires lit dank dark spaces like beacons of hope in the night. Honestly the whole setting and feel of the game was incredible, and wandering through this realm you find yourself in, lends to the severity of the situation mankind now finds itself in. Enemies are varied and some are so huge that dying became part and parcel of the gameplay. As I stated before in our last preview, you will die a lot in Lords Of The Fallen, it’s a game that requires skill to master, not just reload and shoot at everything that moves. Dying has its own consequences, as you will lose experience at the point you died, meaning you will have to recover this experience again in order to equip some gear. Fortunately this experience hangs around after your death and returning to the scene of your gruesome and bloody death quick enough will allow you to recover it.
Fighting these big enemies becomes a battle of brains over brawn, and you will have magic at your disposal in limited quantities, this will not win the battle for you in many cases, but will afford you some breathing time to allow you to compose yourself and battle on. In the gameplay below you will see the starting of a deep and immersive world filled with grotesque and often overpowering foes, large enemies are common and it will take effort in defeating some of these. Your energy depends on what weapons and armour you have equipped as you will see, the hammer for instance requires somewhat more energy than the sword to swing, making your blows slower but more powerful when they connect with the enemy. Not locking onto the enemies in the game makes the experience that much harder, as they are not always there when you strike, as you will notice I tried this out in the video below and often found myself swinging wildly into thin air. I do suggest you lock on as soon as you see an enemy, as it greatly improves your chances of success. Lords Of The Fallen is going to be a campaign of around 20 hours, so it’s not for the faint of heart, and with the gameplay being as challenging as it is, I suspect this play time will increase dramatically for players.
Lords Of The Fallen has many options and enhancements for players to chose from, and the gameplay below does little to show this, what it does show however is the incredibly detailed world that you get to play in, a world that has some of the best graphics I have seen to date on the new generation of console. RPG gamers will absolutely thrive in this world of desperate struggle, unimaginable monsters and hard battles that would test even the most seasoned of players. Lords Of The Fallen is due to release on October 28th in North America and October 31st in Europe on PC, Xbox One and PS4. The following gameplay was played on PS4 on the day, a console I have to say I am not all that familiar with, so forgive my poor effort, as I tried to figure out where the Y button was.