Lords of the Fallen made its debut on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S a year ago, and now it has plans for ?Sony's upgraded console. Publisher CI Games and developer Hexworks confirmed plans for PlayStation 5 Pro enhancements?, which aim to give the action RPG even more of a visual boost.

On PS5 Pro, Lords of the Fallen promises "a 40% increase in pixel density over the base PlayStation 5 console." Visuals in Performance Mode have been upsca?led from 1440p to 4K60, locking the action in at 60 frames per second while increasing the clarity of details in the distance. Ch??aracter and environmental textures have also been refined.

Those who prefer to play on Quality Mode can look forward to a native?? 4K3??0 experience, "showcasing intricate visuals across the dual realms of Axiom and Umbral at a stable 30 FPS."

Future of the fallen

Since it hit consoles and PC, Lords of the Fallen has had a number of post-launch updates and content releas?es, including the Clash of Champions boss rush mode that arrived back in May. Hexworks isn't done with it at this point,?? even without the Pro enhancements taken into consideration. 

There are further updates and enhancements on the way across all platforms. While we don't know much about the specifics just yet, many of t??hem are apparently based on player feedback, so it should be interesting to see what they have in store for everyone.

There's also t?hat sequel that ?was referenced in CI Games' roadmap. Whether or not it ends up hitting the 2026 win??dow with the promised "elevated production values," for now we can get a taste of some visual improvements when PS5 Pro launches in November. 

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Having launched in October 2023, Lords of the Fallen quickly made a name for itself as a reasonably solid Soulslike that could've used a bit more time in ??the oven. Thankfully, developer Hexworks took the time to deliver improvements, with update 1.5 adding the Master of Fate modifier system.

As Lords of the Fallen prided itself on attempting to innovate the Soulslike niche with features such as its twin-world rendering, it should come as no surprise that its Master of Fate modifiers were the most exciting item on the post-launch content docket. Specifically, Master of Fate allows players to essentially redefine the rules of the experience through custom modifiers that include randomized item and enemy spawns, a full-fledged Ironman mode with perma-death, and loads more. The release of the Master of Fate with update 1.5 signals the end of Lords of the Fallen's post-launch content roadmap, implying that Hexworks may be movin?g on to other projects.

Lords of the Fallen: Update 1.5 introduces the Master of Fate modifiers

As described in Hexworks' latest Lords of the Fallen video overview, the Master of Fate is an all-encompassing gameplay modifier system the sort of which we don't usually get in Soulslikes. Unless we discount community mods, that is. Master of Fate doesn't kick into action until after you've? already completed ??the game's main story at least once, mind.

Here's the full list of Lords of the Fallen Master of Fate modifiers:

• Randomizers, which massively increase the game's unpredictability via enemy and item placement (and more)
• Pre-upgraded loot, which maxes out any item you pick up and use
• Ironman mode (perma-death mode resetting your world progress, but not your character progression)
• Withered Healing options, which allow you to heal only if you're dealing damage for a set amount of time
• Vestige Decay options, which reduce the number of Vestiges you'll encounter during your playthrough
• Enemy count options, massively increasing the number of enemies that spawn in

The Master of Fate doesn't appear to be excessively punishing as a system. Players are free to mix and match modifiers together however they see fit, and the game world can be reset back to ne?utral if the going gets particularly tough.

Since it first came out, Lords of the Fallen has received over two dozen content updates including new armor sets, questlines, spells, equipment storage, events, and more. This has resulted in a substantially better playing experience in most ways that matter, and with continued bug-fixing and performance improvements, Lords of the Fallen is now a much bet??ter game than it was on day one. For those who might've bounced off the experience early on, Update 1.5 may signal the time to come back and wrap things up at last.

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Publisher CI Games has revealed that just ten days after releasing, Hexworks developed Soulslike RPG Lords of the Fallen has sold over one million units across all platforms. In my recent review I noted that while LotF has some issues, it also has its moments of greatness. Lords of the Fallen joins Lies of P as two recently released Soulslike titles to have crossed the one million unit mark.

"Lords of the Fallen is the most important and ambitious game we’ve developed in our 20-year history, and the ??first in our new planned AAA pipeline of games in the years ahead. o see this fresh and innovative take on the action-RPG achieve one million sales in just 10 days has been humbling for everybody at HEXWORKS and CI Games."

- Marek Tyminski, CEO, CI Games.

Surely one of the reasons Lords of the Fallen has seen some early success is Hexworks dedication to improving the game. Since its launch, several patches have been released on all platforms to improve performance as well as add new features. A revamped New Game Plus mode was just added to the Soulslike, as wel??l as crossplay between PlayStation 5 and Xbox Ser?ies X|S.

Lords of the Fallen is a?vailable now on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Seri?es X|S.

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Update: Lords of the Fallen Review

Lords of the Fallen is brutal. I mean like, really brutal. I fully intended to have beaten the game and written a full review in time for release. But according to a recent tweet by the developers, there are 30 bosses in total. Which means I have...uhh...a few more to go. And for the record, I'm no Soulslike newbie. I've Platinumed most games in the series, and at least beaten those I haven't. But like I said, Lords of the Fallen is hard.

Of all the bosses I've fought so far, I've had varied feelings all across the board. Some have been incredibly fun, with well-thought-out mechanics. Some of them felt a bit "Tank and Spank", so to say, not requiring too much extra ?effort. And then others have been so incredibly frustrating. And don't try and tell me to "Git Gud", I swear that's not the issue here. A few encounters just have over-the-top or even unfair mechanics.

I already knew I would have a tough time with one of the earlier bosses, The Congregator of Flesh. The colossal abomination infl??icts poison damage, which is my Achilles heel. The encounter takes place in an already limited area, which is not ideal given the sheer size of this creature. But the beast also has a flurry of attacks from nearly every angle. A claw swipe, a backhanded swipe, a ground slam, a body slam, a head slap. And if you manage to gain some ground, don't be surprised if the creature charges or leaps on top of you. All while each attack inflicts poison. It was a challenging encounter, which at times felt like I just had to brute force through the chaos.

But despite the frustration, af??ter downing the Congregator of Flesh I felt accomplished and excited to push forward. Fans of the g??enre will recognize this feeling.

Lords of the Fallen (PC, PS5 [reviewed], Xbox X|S)
Developer: Hexworks
Publisher: CI Games
Released: October 13, 2023
MSRP: $59.99

Reboot Initialized

The original Lords of the Fallen (2014) was the first Soulslike game I actually completed in its entirety. For me, I had an easier time getting into it than Dark Souls at the time because of its more direct storytelling. It wasn't until I played Bloodborne the following year that I came to appreciate FromSoftware's style of storytelling, and went back to—and fell in love with—the Souls series. So when I heard news of Lords of the Fallen retur?ning in the form of a ??reboot, I was super excited.

So far it feels like a proper reboot, with mostly upgrades in place. Visually, the world of Axiom is absolutely beautiful. The decision to make this a current-generation-only title was a good one, by far. The lighting effects create some insanely realistic landscapes. Early on you'll reach a very detailed castle, which is quite a sight on its own. But the way the sunlight bounces through cracks in the crumbling walls is just pure art. Lords of the Fallen is one of the more visual?ly appealing titles? I've played.

All the staple Soulslike features are here. Dodging, blocking, Vestiges (bonfires) to rest at and spend your Vigor (souls) to upgrade stats. Hexworks doesn't try to hide their inspiration for Lords of the Fallen, but rather embraces it. However, the game seems faster as a whole. From movement to combat, things just feel a bit zoomier, if that makes sense. As a result, dodging feels like the intended defensive strategy here as opposed to blocking. Parrying exists, but I often found it more worthwhile to just dodge out of the way and ??get some hits in.

There is one thing missing from the original that really bums me out, though. In Lords of the Fallen (2014) there were special weapons that could be obtained by defeating bosses while also completing certain challenges during the fight. For example, th??e first boss would drop a Greatsword for defeati??ng him. But if you could defeat him without taking any damage, he'd drop a special version of the Greatsword that had slightly higher stats and a special ground tremor attack.

From Axiom...

One of the new systems in Lords of the Fallen intertwines death with the world. When you are alive and well, you are in Axiom, the r?ealm of the living. But on another plane of existence is the realm of the dead, called Umbral. You have a magical lantern that grants you access to Umbral. With this power, you can enter the realm of the dead to reach inaccessible areas, and then return to Axiom once you find a Vestige. The Vestiges are locations where previous Lamp Holders have died. Once found, they can be activated which turns them into a checkpoint spot where you can rest and allocate your Vigor.

The two realms also come into play when dying, as well. In more traditional games in the genre, death causes you to drop your Vi?gor/souls/unspent experience. Then you have to make it back to where you died in order to retr?ieve what you dropped.

In Lords of the Fallen, dying sends you to the Umbral realm, with your Vigor dropping where you died in the realm? of the living. You'll have to navigate the Umbral realm and find a Vestige to return to Axiom in order to reclaim your Vigor. If you die again while in the Umbral realm, you'll permanently lose your dropped Vigor and respawn at the most recent Vestige.

It's a different system for sure, but I'm not completely ??convinced it enhances the formula in any way. I've probably been more perturbed by it than anything, but maybe that will change by the time I have reached the end.

...to Umbral

I've encountered a handful of bugs so far, but nothing game-breaking. Also, I feel it's important to point out that Hexworks has been releasing ?pretty frequent patches throughout the pre-release period. I've had my hands on Lords of the Fallen for less than a week and have already seen several updates come through that have noticeably improved my performance on PS5 as well a?s fixed some bugs I personally encountered.

On a related note, the au??dio has been a bit hit-or-miss so far. Typically audio cues are vital to certain boss mechanics in these sorts of games. But in most cases, there's just a lot of sounds going on all at once. Sometimes I'll even expect there to be an audio cue so I k??now a certain mechanic is coming, and then it just...doesn't...and I get smacked and die. And I'm not quite sure how to explain it, but some of the audio just feels off. Executing a parry, for example, feels very underwhelming. It literally sounds like someone hitting a Tupperware bowl with a wooden spoon. An unenthusiastic *Thwop*, if you will. It feels out of place, to say the least.

My time with Lords of the Fallen so far has been mostly positive. But I can't help but feel some of the newer systems don't add much good to the game. Mixed with the sometimes unfair mechanics and difficulty of specific boss encounters, it's definitely hampered my experience a bit. However, overall Lords of the Fallen is a polished Soulslike gam??e, which is never a bad thing. I still have a fair bit to play through, so there's a lot of opportunity for the scales to tip one way or the other!

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

The post Review in Progress: Lords of the Fallen appeared first on Destructoid.

More lords, more fallen

Lords of the Fallen is back, with a reboot of the action RPG dubbed The Lords of the Fallen. The new game is targeting PC, PlayStatio?n 5, and Xbox Series X|S.

Shown off during today's Gamescom Opening Night Live, the new adventure takes place more than a thousand years after the events of the original game.

The Lords of the Fallen has a massive world, over five times larger than the original according?? to developer Hexworks. It will have a bunch of RPG elements, including a narrative filled with characters and quests.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPGuYZ59NV8

New lords in town

Thou?gh there is create-a-character and a single-player campaign, players will also be ??able to invite another person over for uninterrupted online co-op.

"The Lords of the Fallen is the spiritual successor fans of the original title have always wanted," said creative director Cezar Virtosu in a press release. "The game is significantly larger, with a vast, interconnected dual world split between the realms of the living and dead, that players can explore alone or with fri?ends. It's darker and more challenging, with faster soulslike combat, stronger thematic, richer narrative, deeper RPG systems, and more imme??rsive storytelling.

Hexworks is using Unreal Engine 5, and designing exclusively f?or the newer generation of consoles and PC.

No date has been set yet.

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