By Mark Mizusawa
Design Editor
Atop the summit of a snowy mountain lies a castle, decrepit from abandonment but far from uninhabited. Grotesque creatures roam the halls with trans-dimensional knights. This castle lies at the epicenter of an invasion of the human realm by the Rhogars, a domination-bent race from an adjacent reality.
Harkyn, a convicted criminal with his past sins literally etched into his face as a form of punishment, is freed by Kaslo, a mentor in the twilight years of his life. He is freed to investigate and face the horrors that lurk within the confines of the castle walls, and find what may be his best shot at redemption.
If there’s one area in which Lords of the Fallen goes above and beyond, it is visuals. The effects capture the atmosphere of the snowy-abandoned-castle-on-the-mountain-summit setting.
The central plot itself isn’t anything special. Harkyn must travel through treacherous territories and alternate dimensions to defeat the commanding lords under the dark opposing rule of a force known as The Fallen (hence the title). Not terrible per se, just not enough to drive the game by itself.
During his trek, Harkyn also runs into unique individuals with their own afflictions and backgrounds.
Early on I ran into a monk with an infected arm requesting an assisted amputation. After separating said appendage with a dull axe, the guy asked me to look for his medical tools so he would not bleed out (the nerve). Not entirely eager to go too far out of my way, I decided I would return to him later. So, yeah, he kind of died.
The point here is that side quests seem to be on a sort of timer or progression limit—kind of a cool trope-breaking and rarely-implemented feature, if not slightly irritating. Sometimes I just want my monks to keep severe blood loss on hold.
An easy comparison to draw from Lords of the Fallen would be to the games of the Souls series (Dark and Demon alike). The similarities between the combat mechanics are immediately apparent. Nonetheless, Lords of the Fallen has enough going for it to be its own thing.
The gameplay puts a spotlight on heavy men with heavy shoulders wearing heavy clothes swinging heavy objects at heavy enemies. Needless to say, there’s a lot of apparent weight behind the movements and actions, which adds a certain specific charm.
It’s important to mention that at the time of this review I encountered a couple of game-crashing bugs. Perhaps a fix is coming in the near future, or perhaps one has come out between my typing this and this issue being released, making me look like a big doofus. In any case, it’s a major deterrent at the moment.
Lords of the Fallen is for those looking for a soul-inspired action RPG with heavy action and combat. Chances are it won’t take more than a few minutes of research to decide if this game is for you, but for those on the fence, it’s definitely worth it.
