Dark Souls fans prepare yourselves! There’s a new game in development that promises to be one of the most challenging action RPG’s ever made. Lords of the Fallen made a very impressive debut at E3, and from the brief demo I saw, this is one that fans of the genre will definitely want to keep their eye on.
Set in a medieval fantasy setting, a demonic army of lords and generals, called the Rhogar, return to terrorize the land after 8000 years of peace. Little is known about these legendary creatures, and learning about their strengths and weaknesses will be an important aspect of the game, according the the game’s producers.
You can play as one of three classes, (unknown if there will be more classes at launch) and use a mix of weapons and supernatural powers. The warrior, equipped with heavy armor, moves slowly, but delivers tremendous damage with his rage/berserker skill. The Cleric, who delivers precise attacks while wielding the Cleric’s hammer to deliver thunderous blows and create a clone to distract the enemy, and the Rogue, light and fast, dodging attacks with the blink of an eye, dealing critical strikes and sneaking within the shadow. Skills are bound to weapons, and the player can freely switch classes and tactics, depending on what weapon is equipped.
Lords of the Fallen is not a hack and slash, and players will be punished should they attempt to play as such. Death is frequent, and an integral part of the game. Combat is tactical, using well thought out attacks and dodges, a mix of weaponry and supernatural skills. Patience and careful planning is key. You will not encounter large waves of enemies, but one to two at a time, each battle extremely challenging despite the small number of foes. As well, there are 15 “bosses”, or demonic lords, huge supernatural beings, like a knight made of lava. These encounters are quite lengthy, and will have numerous stages as the battle wages on, each growingly increasing dangerous.
While Lords of the Fallen is not an open world RPG, exploration is encouraged. The world opens up chapter by chapter, and everything is interconnected. You will often find yourself backtracking, as you gain new skills, items and experience, to unlock doors that were once inaccessible, defeat a gatekeeper that was previously much too difficult to face, or to find one of the many secrets scattered throughout the land.
With a beautiful medieval fantasy world, complex combat system and huge, epic boss battles, and tactical gameplay, this has the potentially to be pretty amazing, something for hard core action RPG fans to look forward to. Lords of the Fallen is tentatively scheduled for release sometime in 2014 on next-gen consoles and PC.
