Lords of the Fallen, for xbox one
Rating: 7.0/10; Good
Played: 2021
Slightly recommended for Dark Souls fans who want something new, or those who want to try an easier game in the sub genre
Lords of the Fallen is a Dark Souls clone. The developers clearly played DS, loved it, and said "hey let's do this but make it easier". They say that imitation is the highest form of flattery, so I am more inclined to think of this as an inspired homage rather than a shameless ripoff. Many mechanics are copied exactly while there are a few unique features that make this game interesting in its own right, but it was clearly made on a tight budget.
If you don't know what Dark Souls is, it is a 3rd person action rpg with weapons that have specific motions through 3D space, very precise hitboxes that require attacks to actually touch the vulnerable bits of enemies (and they you), and a limited stamina resource that governs offensive and defensive moves. LotF simplifies some of the mechanics and starts off by making you play as a predefined character; Harkyn the badass hardened criminal. Though the game does not go into detail about his crimes, nor about why he can so easily die and respawn. I can kinda see why demonic enemies might respawn, but why would human soldiers? There just seems to be a bit of mismatch between the lore and mechanics, not that the lore is particularly interesting. "Evil" god, freedom for humanity, ancent heroes, forces of light that are not so light, etc. It is not bad just generic. You start off by choosing a magic school and weapon set based on the 3 ancient heroes, though it is never explained why Harkyn can even use magic. You can mix and match for 9 different classes, but a new magic school is unlocked for each new game +, and you will gain access to all equipment regardless.
The game has an excellent tutorial that teaches you the most important mechanics right off the bat. Just like Dark Souls, you have a quick weak attack, slower strong attack, jump attack, kick, dodge roll that works better with lighter gear, block that takes some damage from your stamina instead of health, and timed parries. All of these cost stamina and give the same methodical resource management focused combat of the Souls like genre. Each weapon type has specific animations for each attack, which directly affect the speed, range and recovery of attacks. For example, the sword has a standard slash attack while the power attack is a thrust lunge with more range, windup and recovery. Speaking of windup, every action in the game is done at a ponderous pace that really makes you feel the ridiculously bulky armor. Attacks take a couple of seconds between button press and striking, even with quick weapons like shortswords and daggers. Harkyn, you know you can hold weapons in a ready state to attack almost immediately right? Using magic and consumables takes forever, and is especially difficult to time during boss fights. Hope you never get cornered and surrounded, because the enemies will knock you down and shove the camera so far into your crotch that you will have no idea what is going on.
Character advancement is pretty much the same as Dark Souls; you get souls from killed enemies that can be spent at bonfires to improve stats or magic. The stats show exactly how you will improve with each point (except the magic spells, which have vague and sometimes incorrect text) and the entire system seems more simplified; there are fewer stats with more clear cut purpose for each and seemingly no soft caps. Weapon scaling is also greatly simplified, with some getting bonus damage from strength, dexterity or faith, but never from more than 1 attribute like in DS. Though the UI is a bit confusing when it comes to figuring out how much total damage or defense an item has. There are items that directly grant spell or attribute points instead of souls, which is more friendly than eating lots of items for minor benefit each. But they increase the amount of souls needed for the next point, which punishes the player for using them early. Souls are dropped on death with a stupidly timed limit on retrieving them, however the bonfires can be used to deposit them and save without resetting enemies. The enemies only respawn if you die or specifically choose to heal/restore potions, which can lead to the very safe playstyle of running back to deposit souls frequently. There is no excuse for losing significant souls, and no reason to take them into a boss fight. There is a risk vs reward system that gives bonus souls for shunning the bonfires, but is not necessary. An interesting change is that bonfires only restore a limited number of healing potions, so if you use too many you will have to backtrack to other fires to be in top shape.
Perhaps the best and most unique aspect of the game is the gauntlet, which is a ranged weapon that consumes mana, and mana regenerates. This is a much more friendly system than the limited X casts per rest and soul costing arrows of Dark Souls, though it does encourage taking it slow by waiting for mana. You can last especially long by using healing magic. The gauntlet is used by switching stances between the 3 available, which replaces the multiple equipment slots and 2 handing button of DS. There is a 1 hand + shield stance, 2 hand stance, and 1 hand + gauntlet. In addition the gauntlet has 3 modes; normal shot, shotgun and grenade. On top of the button for switching consumables, it can be a little confusing to handle. An interesting side effect of this is that some weapons can only be swung 2 handed regardless of your stats, so using those significantly reduces your versatility. I only found the normal shot to be useful, but once you start upgrading each type with elemental effects they gain entirely new abilities. The upgrade system involves slotting elemental runes into the slots on weapons and armor for minor stat boosts and useful elemental damage. Unidentified runes must first be identified at the blacksmith in a sort of gambling system where you can bet more souls for a higher chance at getting better quality. The amount you can bet is very limited though, so there is no worry about breaking the bank. The entire system is fairly simple with the only problem being the inability to replace runes with nothing; instead you will need to keep extra low quality runes to swap for your good ones when changing gear. Non physical damage is a major part of the game because every armor and shield has separate defense values for each damage type. This means that your sweet heavy armor and big ass shield will do nothing against enemies that use elemental damage, as I am sure you will find when you are steamrolled by your first encounter with that. On the plus side, this also works against enemies, particularly those annoying shield users.
The main reason that is game is easier than Dark Souls is simply because the enemies do not hit as hard. Your health and armor go a lot further, which in turn allows you to make more mistakes and learn without being punished as severely. That and their slow movement speed means you can usually out walk them. Make no mistake though, the enemies and bosses are not push overs. They will wreck you if you are not careful, and there are some definite difficulty spikes. New game + is the biggest such spike in so far as I don't believe it was properly tested; cough self healing final boss cough. It is also absurd that you can only do new game + twice, after which that character is no longer playable? I did not play that far, but that is terrible design. The game also has poor quest direction, which reaches astoundingly low with the dark space side areas, where you are put into an area so dark that it is difficult to navigate. You take damage for venturing into the dark, and the objective is vague. In fact, I was unable to complete one for no apparent reason.
Lords of the Fallen is a budget Dark Souls clone whose less punishing difficulty makes it an excellent place to start with the genre. It definitely has some jank, but even has some innovation that makes it worth checking out for any Souls like fan.
