Lords of the Fallen: Free for Gold Members

From March 16th to April 15th, Lords of the Fallen is free for Gold members on Xbox One. This game has received a lot of positive reviews and is good enough to barely drop in price since the day of its release nearly a 1½ years ago (I know because I checked every week for the last six months) but now it’s free! Its current availability on Games with Gold is the reason for this article, so this isn’t so much a review (hence the absence of a score) as it is a friendly reminder to get online soon and download this bad boy.

LotF is a tough, third-person RPG akin to Dark Souls. Well, “akin” might not be the best description but it’s hard to call it a “direct clone” without selling short the game’s separate identity, which it definitely has. Deck 13 Interactive and CI Games put a lot of work into creating a unique experience, so from here on out this article will refrain from comparing Lords of the Fallen to Dark Souls as much as possible.

The World of the Fallen

In LotF players assume the role of Harkyn, a brutish-looking man with face tattoos recently released from prison to battle the demonic Rhogar infesting the world. Why Harkyn was imprisoned is never fully explained, but the game alludes to his crimes being fairly heinous. Regardless of his past, whether or not he’s actually a vicious jerk is left up to the player, as there are many choices players will have to make throughout the game that shape Harkyn’s personality. Will you be a caring hero who cuts off a monk’s arm to save his life from poison or will you be a heartless S.O.B. who leaves him to his fate? Would it affect your decision if you knew you would receive a reward for saving him?

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Problem is, you never know what repercussions your choices will have. This kind of ambiguity and uncertainty runs deep throughout the entire game. There is little hand-holding and players will have to explore the world in detail to uncover all of its secrets. Certain doors can only be opened after specific criteria have been met but there is little indication as to what that criteria is, if it has been achieved or where the newly opened door is even located. There is also no map to follow, so players need to have keen situational awareness and a good sense of direction to navigate the world and unlock its mysteries (which is reminiscent of another game that sounds a lot like “lark holes”).

Fighting the Fallen

Combat in LotF is slow and methodical, emphasizing patience and strategy over speed and flash. Regardless of your character build, players can cycle Harkyn’s combat methods between a sword-and-board defensive style, a nimble dual-wielding offense and a two-handed grip for raw power. Harkyn has a stamina meter which depletes with every dodge, block and sword swing, so careful energy rationing is key to your survival. Carelessly banging away at your enemy’s defense is a sure-fire way to get hacked to death by Rhogar while Harkyn struggles to catch his breath.

The very best aspect of combat in LotF are the boss fights against the titular Lords, huge demon creatures with a variety of attacks and abilities. Some of these encounters seem insurmountable at first, but after a few attempts you will recognize their weaknesses and figure out a strategy to take them down (which is somewhat similar to another game that rhymes with “bark poles”). Though it’s never explained in-game, every Lord can also be defeated in a special way that grants you bonus rewards, making your victory all the sweeter.

Defeating enemies and looting treasure chests will gain you a huge variety of weapons, armor and other gear, all of which have a considerable impact on gameplay. Harkyn can wield swords, daggers, hammers, scythes and a variety of other weapons which all have their own attack speed and properties that force you to mix up your combat strategy. Armor pieces require you to balance defense and speed because overloading on heavy gear will make you a walking tank but will also leave you about as fast as a sedated tortoise.

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Harkyn can wield magic as well. At the beginning of the game, you must choose one of three spell trees to augment your play style: the Brawler tree is comprised of offensive magic, the Solace tree is focused on defense and the Deception tree is mostly for misdirection. There is no way to play as a full mage and magic is mostly only there to supplement your melee abilities, but your magic skills can be beefed up enough through character leveling to drastically change your odds in battle.

As good as combat is in the game, the occasionally necessary platforming sections are atrocious. Besides boss battles, jumping a small gap is easily the best way to see the game over screen. This can get frustrating, especially since you respawn back at the last save crystal you visited and you only have a limited time to fight your way back to the location you died to recover your ghost and regain all the experience you lost (which is a lot like another game that rhymes with “park moles”).

The Look and Sound of the Fallen

The graphics of LotF are gorgeous. The detailed, atmospheric environments create a fully realized world featuring snow-capped mountains, crumbling castles and shadowy graveyards. All weapons and armor have an elaborate and distinct appearance and enemies, especially the terrifying Lords, look epic. The only time the visuals of the game falter is during conversations; characters gesticulate unnaturally (and too quickly considering they’re covered head-to-toe in tons of armor) and their faces go through robotic contortions that really break the immersion of the game.

The sound quality is generally excellent as well. The clash of swords banging off shields, the somber voice acting and the guttural roar of ferocious enemies fit the world and tone of the game perfectly. Unfortunately, the sound can occasionally glitch for no reason, leaving some explosions silent and some dialogue reduced to mere subtitles. Luckily this problem rarely occurs and is easily fixed by reloading the game.

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Conclusion…of the Fallen

Overall, LotF offers a decent challenge and an impressively immersive world, which is kinda like another game that rhymes with “hark coals”…ah hell with it, the game’s almost exactly like Dark Souls. There are obviously a glaring amount of similarities between the two games, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Banjo-Kazooie was more-or-less Mario 64, but that never stopped it from being awesome in its own right. It’s the same case here. If you always thought Dark Souls looked like fun but you never had the prerequisite masochistic tendencies necessary to play the series, Lords of the Fallen is the game for you.

LotF isn’t exactly a cake-walk, but it doesn’t put players through nearly as much of the cruel punishment that’s waiting for them in Dark Souls. FromSoftware’s flagship series has the difficulty cranked up to eleven, but LotF mercifully dials it down to around seven or eight. The combat is also more active in LotF, offering a more balanced and fun hack-and-slash experience than gamers get from the pray-and-poke action found in the other game.

LotF is fairly short, but after beating the final Lord you can play through again on a tougher difficulty in NG+ and even NG++, which adds a lot of replay value to the game. Lords of the Fallen is good enough to justify paying for, but if you act quickly you won’t have to shell out one red cent. Download it now before it goes back to its regular price on April 15th.

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