In 2014, a studio called Deck13 released Lords of the Fallen, one of the earliest games to attempt to challenge Dark Souls for its dark fantasy RPG crown. Deck13’s effort in this regard was ambitious, but arguably pretty flawed; its levels were samey, its story was nonsensical and uninteresting, and its combat, while it had its moments, paled in comparison to Dark Souls.
That didn’t stop Deck13 from creating more Soulslikes, to varying degrees of success, and it also hasn’t stopped the Lords of the Fallen IP from continuing. A second game has been in development for a number of years, and it’s nearing completion, so let’s take a look at exactly what the new Lords of the Fallen game is, who’s behind it, and why you should be excited for it.
Lords of the Fallen release date – when is it coming out?
The Lords of the Fallen release date is currently set for October 13th. This game has had a very long gestation period indeed; it was originally confirmed in 2014, shortly after the release of the original Lords of the Fallen, but it’s undergone several development changes since then.
In 2015, it was revealed that original developers Deck13 wouldn’t be involved in the creation of the new game, and by 2018, it was clear that the game would serve as a reboot of the franchise rather than a straight continuation. In any case, Lords of the Fallen is slated for an October release date, and right now, it doesn’t seem likely that any kind of delay is incoming. Of course, we can’t be sure of that one way or the other.
Lords of the Fallen platforms – where will you be able to play it?
At present, Lords of the Fallen is set to arrive on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. No release appears to be planned for previous-generation consoles, thus continuing the increasingly prevalent trend of leaving PS4 and Xbox One behind. It makes sense; if Hexworks and CI Games want to emphasise the graphical fidelity of Lords of the Fallen, then developing only for current-gen consoles is a logical move.
It should, therefore, follow that Lords of the Fallen doesn’t currently have any kind of Nintendo Switch release date. It’s extremely unlikely that CI Games and Hexworks are working on a Switch version of the game; if they don’t want to release it for PS4 and Xbox One, then a comparatively underpowered console like the Switch doesn’t really stand much of a chance.
Lords of the Fallen trailers – what have we seen so far?
News of Lords of the Fallen was fairly quiet for a while after the sequel was confirmed in 2014. Bits of news here and there emerged from publisher CI Games, but it wasn’t until Gamescom 2022 that we got to see Lords of the Fallen officially re-emerge. At the time, it was called The Lords of the Fallen, seemingly to differentiate it from its 2014 predecessor. In that trailer, we’re introduced to the new game’s darker and more gritty world, soundtracked by Danzig’s “Mother”.
The next trailer that was released was a gameplay teaser, which arrived in December as part of The Game Awards. That teaser showed us a world that looks a lot more inspired than the 2014 game’s Warhammer-derivative artwork, as well as a slew of grotesque-looking bosses that we’re looking forward to slaying.
In March, CI Games took a more technical tone with the release of the “State of Unreal Technical Showcase Trailer”, which demonstrated some of the work that’s gone into Lords of the Fallen’s visuals. If you’re technically-inclined, then you’ll want to check that trailer out, since it’s got some juicy details about how the world of Mournstead will look and the sumptuous visuals you’ll see as you explore it. This was also the point where it became obvious that CI Games had renamed its new project to Lords of the Fallen, dropping the “the” from the name.
Finally (at time of writing, at least), a gameplay reveal trailer was released on May 18th. It’s pretty obvious that CI Games and Hexworks are trying to court fans of 2022’s wildly successful Elden Ring; after all, we’re pretty sure that one of the voice actors in the trailer is Anthony Howell, who plays Elden Ring’s Margit. This trailer prominently featured Iron Maiden’s “Fear of the Dark”, continuing the theme of hard rock juxtaposed with dark fantasy that Lords of the Fallen seems to be aiming for.
Lords of the Fallen gameplay features – what can we expect?
Rather ambitiously, Hexworks says it wants to be considered the second reference point for the Soulslike genre (after originator From Software, naturally). As such, you can likely expect gameplay rather similar to the Souls series, albeit with some key differentiating factors. Here are some of the core gameplay features you can look forward to in Lords of the Fallen.
- Two interconnected worlds to explore. If you’ve missed the connectivity of From Software’s level design since Elden Ring was released, Lords of the Fallen could be the game for you, as it seems to be nodding to that style with its own level design.
- Fully customisable character and class. Just like Dark Souls, you’ll be able to choose what you look like and what class you take on, then upgrade your gear and your stats to grow stronger and take on more fearsome foes.
- An innovative take on death. The Souls games innovated on death in gaming with the ability to recover your lost currency if you reach the spot where you died, and Lords of the Fallen is introducing another potentially innovative take on this mechanic. When you die, you’ll be thrown into the world of the dead, and you’ll then get a chance to fight through that world to reach your corpse. This means you won’t be battling through the same hazards you faced when you died, adding an extra dimension and some more tension to your attempt to recover your lost possessions.
