Lords of the Fallen (2023)

This game is honestly way better than I originally expected. Aside from the performance issues that has been talked about by everyone and their mothers, the game does a solid job world building and setting itself apart from every other souls-like. The Lamp mechanic is very well executed and feels balanced of both combat and exploration. The story is serviceable not gonna blow anyone's mind. The combat at first felt clunky, but after the first few hours and once you find the right weapon that calls to you, it becomes quite fun and engaging. It's not quite as challenging as some of the other games in the genre, but that's not to say that it's a walk in the park either. Overall i think if you're looking for another souls-like to sink some hours into with decent combat, a beautiful world, and unique and interesting exploration mechanics, this might be the game for you.
Overall Score: 7.5/10

i tried lords of the fallen quite a long time ago when it was first released. i saw a really cool, grim-dark soulslike, one of my favorite genres of games. and so, i bought it week one and tried it out. i first entered the game, looked at the graphics and went: "wow! this looks so cool!" and then fast forward a few hours and...
i didn't like it.
the game was riddled with issues, both gameplay wise and performance wise. i don't have a state of the art pc, but i do have one that can run games like Cyberpunk with little to no issues. this one saw stutter after stutter, the frames were dropping constantly, and i wasn't having a good time. i dropped the game around 6 or so hours into my initial playthrough.
a year went by after i dropped the game, and i haven't picked it up since. but after playing through all of the good soulslike games in my library, Lords of the Fallen was just glaring at me saying "look at me. LOOK AT ME. i know you want to. i've gotten better. trust me."
and so i did. i wanted to see if the game improved upon it's absolutely abysmal launch state and i gotta say: it did! for the most part.
this very quick "review" are just brief points on which parts i liked, and which parts i didn't like.
DISCLAIMER: my opinions. take this review with a grain of salt.
stuff i liked
+ enemy density is no longer a pain in the ass (launch game had 50%~70% more enemies in each area, especially when in umbral)
+ combat feels really good to pull off
+ weapon movesets are badass (you can powerstance a dagger and a longsword, like HELLO?)
+ switching from one-handed R1's to two-handed R1's seamlessly is so fun (even if i didn't use it too often :P)
+ movement is slick and responsive
+ builds can be pretty varied, and SPLIT DAMAGE DOESN'T SUCK!!
+ all weapon types are viable, with no weapon being absolute ass
+ way better performance, way less stuttering even on higher graphical settings
+ the armor sets look cool af (paladin set ftw)
+ some of the weapons are absolute eye candy
+ the atmosphere of the game is amazing
+ the boss fights i've done so far were enjoyable for the most part
+ lore is pretty interesting, got me reading some of the item descriptions
+ no adp
stuff i thought was whatever
some umbral seedbeds (temporary vestiges ) are unnecessary, as they're usually not that far away from a normal vestige
not that much enemy variety, but i didn't mind
some spells (radiant spells, mostly) felt underwhelming to use
i didn't feel the need to perfect block/parry that much when rolling has a stupid amount of i-frames and the sidestepping felt good
short swords are kind of boring, but to each their own
stuff i disliked
- stamina regens SO slowly, even after equipping a stamina regen ring AND using an item
- consumables that don't get rid of a status, heal, or return you to vestige are useless
- you can't use both a bow and magic, why?
- no actual filtering in menus, everything is sorted by type
- no separate tabs for each armor piece, they're all on the same page
- absolutely ZERO explanation on some mechanics (certain status effects, quest items)
- no reason to stay in the normal world (axiom), when umbral gives you shortcuts, extra items, etc.
- item descriptions being locked behind leveling radiance and inferno is questionable
- some non-cutscene bosses are pretty underwhelming (mostly gank fights and "bosses" that later appear as normal enemies)
- you don't use umbral lamp in virtually any scenario besides rune farming and exploring umbral
- some level designs feel kinda samey: area blocked unless you're in umbral, explore that a bit, go back to axiom, back into umbral because it's blocked again, rinse and repeat
- the requirements as well as the order to do certain actions to unlock some endings is VERY convoluted for zero reason
summary
i actually enjoyed the game this time! there are still some glaring issues that i cannot overlook, but overall it's a solid game at its current state. i would only recommend getting this at a discount, as the issues do not justify a 60 dollar pricing range, but you will enjoy the game once discounted.

I went into this game with middling expectations because of the Mixed reviews it has, but I really liked it. Right before playing it, I had just finished my 2nd replay of all 3 DS games and I was looking for more, and this game delivered 100%.
My opinion of it might be favorable because I encountered zero performance issues, no in-game bugs, and only a single crash over my ~50 hours of gameplay. If those things had been present, I'd probably have less positive a reaction to it.
I've seen a lot of people complain that the 'difficulty' in this game rarely felt fair compared to other games in the genre and I'm pretty confused as to what they're comparing it to. DS3 is littered with ganks, things shooting at you from higher altitudes, tandem fights that are hard if you don't have the right tools or approach to deal with them, and this game is largely the same.
Graphics-wise, it's great. Challenge-wise, it's not that hard. Maybe DS2 Sins level. But the world exploration was fun, the visuals and ambiance wonderfully dark and Gothic, and the playtime really satisfying for a full game purchase.
If you find yourself wanting more DS, this is the closest thing to it I've played. If you find that idea unappealing, then this is probably not for you.

I'm surprised how polarizing this game is. I understand it had a rough launch, but by the time I joined the party in late February 2024, most of the initial complaints seem to have been fixed.
I haven't noticed any performance/stability issues despite running the game on an AMD system (Ryzen 7 5800X & Radeon RX 7900 XTX) which is apparently not ideal for Unreal Engine 5. Other stuff like mob density, different combat/quest/mechanics bugs also seem to have been mostly addressed. Sure, there are minor bugs like weapons and armors clipping through each other, or the occasional path finding issues with the mobs, but I really haven't seen anything major (and I'm currently at 97 hours in the game).
Difficulty wise I would say LotF is "medium". It's a souls like, you are expected to die a couple of times (and you will), but I don't find the game frustrating at all in its current patched/adjusted state. Moreover, you practically have two lives with the Umbral plane, giving you a chance to fix what you messed up in Axiom, the "real world". With that being said, some of the unique mechanics of LotF (mostly the ones revolving around the Umbral plane) can be quite confusing at first and maybe a more detailed tutorial wouldn't have hurt. For example so many people complain due to lack of checkpoints/vestiges, when in fact you can create temporary ones almost every other corner and the required Vestige Seedlings can be easily farmed/bought (I never ran out of them). Bosses are a bit hit or miss, with some really cool ones (like Pieta, Lightreaper), some tougher ones (Tancred, Judge Cleric) and some pushovers. I'm not a die hard souls veteran, some bosses did make me sweat, but even while fighting the more difficult ones, I always saw the light at the end of the tunnel and did not feel completely overwhelmed and outclassed. This is a plus in my book.
Another recurring complaint I read from many reviewers, is the lack of enemy variety and the reuse of (lesser) bosses as normal enemies later in the game (after being initially defeated). While this can be regarded as valid complaint game play wise, I think it makes sense story/lore wise. From a game play perspective the world is big (not Elden Ring big, but still big), however the story only takes place in Mournstead, you don't travel to other kingdoms or through a whole continent or such. There are around 50 enemy models (according to the LotF wiki) + the unique bosses, which I don't consider as bad as some people claim. With that being said, adding weapon variety to the existing enemy models could improve this aspect of the game and would be welcome.
On the other hand, what the game lacks in tutorials and enemy variety, it makes up in combat and more than makes up in atmosphere (lore and visuals).
Starting with combat, no, it's not as polished as in some other games from the genre, like Sekiro or Elden Ring (let's be honest, FromSoftware has been perfecting the formula for years and years), but it's sure as hell not as boring or clunky as some claim. There is a good weapon variety, all with corresponding move sets, different stances, dual wielding etc. and a weapon upgrade system which is simple, but pretty much makes any weapon viable throughout the game. That's solid in my book and it's hard to believe some people could not find any combination that would work for them. As for magic, I think it's actually one of the best implementations in this genre, with some cool spells and easily accessible.
And finally the atmosphere I mentioned... this is subjective of course, but when it comes to world building I found LotF to be my favorite in the genre. The universe is dark and brutal with a fantastic artistic style. The factions, while not very original at first glance (the Holy, but corrupted knightly order, the Hallowed Sentinels, the medieval inquisition like Dark Crusaders, the demonic "invaders", the Rhogar) all have that extra spice that make them interesting. This in itself would be enough, but then you have the accessible parallel Umbral plane which puts the whole thing on another level. I think it's a great idea and very unique in its implementation, with some fantastic lore bits behind it (like the whole lamp bearer concept). I know these aspects are not important to everyone, but for people who like the more atmospheric, more immersive dark fantasy games with lots of small (and sometimes hidden) lore details, LotF is really a goldmine in this genre.
So do I recommend this game? Absolutely! LotF does not revolutionize the genre overall, but it's a very solid souls like with some unique mechanics, which dare I say, even raised the bar a bit in terms of atmosphere and visuals. 9 out of 10.
P.S. It seems the game is still negatively labeled, despite all the improvements it received since release. I also noticed a lot of Dark Souls/Elden Ring fans actively bashing it no matter what, which I honestly don't understand, it's not like these games are mutually exclusive... so I recommend some of the very negative, "game is shit" or "worst game ever created" reviews to be taken with a grain of salt :)

Game is honestly over-hated. It's no Elden Ring, but it is a just solid old school feeling souls game with absolutely immaculate vibes. Mega props to the devs for the post launch support and ironing out all the bugs. Give this one a try for real.

I strongly feel like this game is currently underrated.
For some background, I've played all From Software "Souls" games (and Elden Ring) since Demon's Souls at their respective launches, and completed most of them 100%. My playstyle usually emphasizes magic, and I also do a lot of cooperative and competitive multiplayer.
I'll compare Lords of the Fallen to Dark Souls 3, since I think that's the closest point of comparison among From's games. I'd say the games are quite comparable in their overall size, and in character build variety. I also think things like NPC quest arcs are actually quite similar: both feature some needlessly obtuse conditions, though LoTF might go a bit further in arbitrary NPC location placement. To me, both also suffer from a bit of a samey-grim-dark area syndrome, at least throughout large parts of the game -- DS3 was a low point for From Software in that aspect.
There are certainly some aspects in which LoTF falls flat compared to DS3. Perhaps the most significant one are boss fights. The number of truly memorable boss fights in LoTF is lower, mostly constrained to maybe one boss with unique moves and mechanics per major region. I'd say that this is one of the biggest weaknesses of the game.
However, there are also some areas in which I believe that it genuinely does much better than Dark Souls 3 in particular. One of them is the interconnected and many-branched world structure. At any point starting from the mid-game of either title, it feels like you have more genuine options on how to proceed in LoTF than you have in DS3. The areas are also more interconnected, but still in ways that make physical sense.
Finally, the mirror world (called "Umbral" in LoTF) could be considered a gimmick, but it was more well-integrated into various aspects of the game design than I expected when I started playing it. It serves to make exploration more interesting and varied; enables some new traversal puzzle mechanics; allows for adding visual interest and environmental storytelling in some areas; and finally also provides an interesting risk/reward mechanic in terms of combat.
On the technical side of things, one aspect that is certainly nice -- speaking as a PC gamer -- is playing one of these games with full Ultrawide monitor support, and without the arbitrary 60 FPS cap that From Software still enforces. I didn't experience any particular performance or crashing issues, but I also play on a rather high-end PC.

I would give it an 85% rating. It has a few technical problems and doesn't come close to Elden Ring or Bloodborne. But in the end I think it was a very good Soulslike game. It has a dark atmosphere, an exciting world design, a fantastic soundtrack, an interesting lore and it looks great. So my brothers and sisters, scourge yourselves, wet your weapons with blood and fight in the light of Orius against Adyr's dark henchmen. In light we walk!