Steven Ruehrmund (EggMcFluffin)

This game is a prime example of how developers have no clue what makes Souls games and Soulslikes fun and interesting. Lords of the Fallen is a tangled mess of cliches and overused mechanics that come together in a package that feels more like a job than a game. The regular enemies hit way too hard compared to the bosses which seem like pushovers by comparison, and I can’t even count on both hands the amount of times they use the tired “enemy hiding behind a box waiting to push you off a ledge” trope. The level design is way too convoluted, and the only mechanic that makes this game unique, transitioning to umbral, makes everything look the same which makes navigation feel like a chore. Without any distinct landmarks in most areas, I found myself just wandering aimlessly half the time not knowing if I’d be running into a boss or finding a checkpoint. On that note, the checkpoint system is all kinds of messed up. There’s only one checkpoint, or vestige, per area. You can use umbral seeds to create makeshift checkpoints, but only at specific spots in the areas and these seeds are very few and far between unless your willing to waste time farming one specific enemy or spend your precious vigor (a substitute for souls) at the umbral merchant in the hub. The leveling system seems entirely broken as well. No matter how high you level up vitality enemies will still kill you in just a few hits, and the damage scaling on weapons doesn’t seem to matter because you’ll still be taking the same size chunks out of enemy health bars in the late game as you were at the beginning. All in all, I really didn’t enjoy my time playing through this game like I did Elden Ring, Dark Souls, or any of the many soulslike games that have been released. The develops seemed to care a lot more about making the game difficult instead of making it fun and enjoyable. I felt no sense of accomplishment beating each boss. I only felt anxiety about what might come next, and that just isn’t what these kind of games are supposed to be about.