Lords of the Fallen is soon to be the latest in a long line of action RPGs, a genre that seeks to challenge players and hold up their triumphs if and when they eventually succeed and we got to go hands-on with this preview. After some time with the game and the developer, I learned a bit about why HexWorks chose to return to the world created in the original 2014 title, in addition to some of the key features that set it apart from others in the genre.
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Set 1000 years after the original Lords of the Fallen, the factions created by the Judges – heroes who defeated the demon king – have followed their leaders into corruption, which risks allowing the demon king, Adyr, to make his return. While the two games are narratively connected, this passage of time allows HexWorks to expand the world and the lore, and to dig deeper into both. Part of this involves bringing concepts to life which may have only been referenced in the original game.
While the Lords of the Fallen preview boasts a much larger and less linear world than its 2014 counterpart, players will also be exploring two parallel worlds built right on top of each other. Axiom is the world of the living, and ideally where players will be spending most of their time, while Umbral is the land of the dead. The two realms may resemble each other, but there are key differences in each that can reveal a path forward or reveal a hidden secret that can help players to defeat a formidable enemy.
Additionally, dying in Axiom immediately revives players in Umbral to give them another chance at survival; it’s only by dying in Umbral that players experience true death, creating the unique opportunity to teeter on the edge of defeat and make a miraculous comeback or seal their fate.
While it seems like a straightforward back-and-forth journey at first glance, returning from Umbral isn’t as simple as entering it, which can be done at any time with the press of a button. Players will need to find and interact with special sites to come back to Axiom, adding an element of risk when exploring, both in new and familiar areas. Sometimes your narratively significant soul lantern will be enough to affect your path forward; shedding a light on these drastic differences in geography can be enough to clear the way like walking through a set of prison bars that don’t exist in Umbral.
Other times, however, nothing short of a total world switch will help, lest you drown in the depths of a lake that only appears in Axiom. Spending time in Umbral is risky in more ways than one because the longer players stay in the land of the dead, the more attention they attract, making it more dangerous by the minute. This danger isn’t without a benefit, however, since players will earn a multiplier to the leveling resources they earn.
While players have a second life, enemies also have a sort of soul form that can be exploited with the lantern. Players can absorb creatures that may be reaching into Axiom to assist enemies or rip the soul out of an enemy, giving them the opportunity to simultaneously inflict heavy damage and stun their foe. In the couple of hours I spent in Lords of the Fallen during this preview, I was consistently surprised by the various scenarios and applications for the two-world mechanic. At one point, I even shouted in fear as a revolting but benevolent merchant suddenly appeared due to a transition into Umbral.
As a player that enjoys a solid parry mechanic, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that many armaments are capable of parrying, not just the shields. Additionally, parrying and other actions (like kicks and some heavy attacks) greatly contribute to breaking an enemy’s posture. While a single parry may be enough to stun a normal grunt, bosses and other tougher enemies will require a constant barrage to stun them for that elusive special attack. Even normal attacks can build up this meter, but you’ll still need to use one of those specific moves to completely open them up.
With the parry and block actions tied to a single button, the developers wanted to train players to learn parry timing, while minimizing risk from failed attempts. Blocked attacks still hurt the player, but a portion of the damage remains on the health bar as “withered damage”. Successful player attacks can refill some of this withered damage, but a single unblocked enemy attack will completely wipe it away. Weaker or faster weapons require several attacks, while stronger, heavier weapons fill more health in a single swing – HexWorks wanted to create a fair and fun system that promotes a rhythm in combat that works for any character build.
While I didn’t get to see it in action, the developer stated that Lords of the Fallen could be played as a completely cooperative experience. I don’t know how players will interact while separated in Axiom or Umbral, or if that’s even possible, though I’m curious to see it in action, in addition to PvP. For now, though, with this preview, Lords of the Fallen is poised to breathe new life into a long-dormant world.
Lords of the Fallen releases October 13th on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S|X, and PC.
