Lords of the Fallen

Hexworks set out to make a soulslike that could stand alongside the genre’s best, and in some ways they succeeded. Lords of the Fallen, released in October 2023, introduces a dual-world mechanic that gives the game a genuine identity in a crowded field. The ability to peer into and eventually cross between the living world of Axiom and the dead realm of Umbral using a lantern-like tool creates exploration possibilities that no other soulslike has attempted at this scale.

Community reception has been divided, which tells the story of a game that does some things exceptionally well and other things poorly enough to undermine its strengths. Over 50 patches and updates since launch have addressed many of the initial complaints, and the conversation around the game has shifted from frustration to cautious respect.

The Umbral Lamp and the World Between Worlds

The Umbral Lamp is the game’s defining feature, and it works. Holding the lamp up reveals a parallel version of the world layered on top of the one you’re standing in. Paths that are blocked in Axiom might be open in Umbral. Bridges that have crumbled away in the living world still stand in the realm of the dead. Puzzles require switching between both planes, and the environmental design rewards players who think about both layers simultaneously.

Fully crossing into Umbral raises the stakes. The longer you stay in the death realm, the more aggressive and numerous the enemies become. A mechanic called Dread escalates over time, spawning increasingly dangerous creatures the deeper you push without returning to the living world. It creates a genuine risk-reward tension that makes every decision to cross over feel consequential.

The gothic art direction deserves recognition on its own terms. Axiom is a crumbling medieval world of fallen cathedrals and dead kingdoms, while Umbral transforms those same spaces into nightmarish organic environments of flesh, bone, and writhing corruption. The visual contrast between the two realms is striking, and the world carries a cohesive dark fantasy aesthetic that gives the game real visual identity.

Boss design is another high point. The best encounters in the game demand pattern recognition, resource management, and smart use of the Umbral Lamp’s abilities. Several bosses have become community favorites for their visual design and mechanical complexity, and the challenge feels earned rather than artificial in these encounters.

A Game That Mistakes Punishment for Challenge

The most common criticism from the community is that Lords of the Fallen confuses difficulty with frustration. Enemy density is the primary offender. Areas routinely place large groups of enemies in tight spaces, and the game often spawns additional foes behind the player or around corners in ways that feel cheap rather than challenging. The impression many players share is that the developers leaned on sheer numbers instead of smarter enemy placement.

Checkpoint spacing compounds the problem. Vestige points, the game’s equivalent of bonfires, are sometimes placed far apart with dense enemy-filled stretches between them. Dying deep in one of these stretches means replaying significant chunks of content, and when the death feels unfair rather than earned, the repetition wears thin quickly.

Performance was a major issue at launch, particularly on PC. Frame rate instability, crashes, and problems specifically related to the Umbral realm’s visual complexity frustrated players throughout the first several months. Hexworks has addressed many of these problems through a steady stream of patches, and the current experience is substantially better than what early adopters encountered. But the launch state damaged the game’s reputation in ways that linger.

The overall design carries what many players describe as an overwhelming sense of familiarity. Mechanical systems, level design philosophy, and even specific encounter structures borrow heavily from the genre’s most popular titles. The Umbral Lamp gives Lords of the Fallen something truly original, but the rest of the experience often feels like a compilation of ideas from other games rather than a cohesive vision of its own.

Post-Launch Redemption

To Hexworks’ credit, the post-launch support has been extensive. Over 50 updates addressed performance, rebalanced enemy spawns, improved the lock-on system, added quality-of-life features, and refined the Umbral realm’s difficulty curve. The Version 2.0 update represented a significant overhaul that made navigating Umbral less punishing while preserving the tension that makes the mechanic work. Players who bounced off the game at launch have returned to find a meaningfully improved experience.

Should You Play Lords of the Fallen?

Soulslike fans who have exhausted the genre’s major titles and want something with a unique twist will find the dual-world mechanic worth experiencing. The Umbral Lamp creates exploration possibilities that nothing else in the genre offers, and the gothic art direction makes the world memorable. Players who enjoy co-op in their soulslikes will find functional online multiplayer with cross-platform support.

Skip it if your patience for unfair-feeling difficulty is low, because even in its patched state the game still leans on enemy density more than most players prefer. Those who need smooth, consistent technical performance from day one should know that the game’s optimization has improved but still isn’t perfect. And if you want a soulslike that stands entirely on its own identity, the heavy borrowing from other games in the genre may bother you.

The Verdict on Lords of the Fallen

Lords of the Fallen is an ambitious soulslike that gets its most distinctive feature right. The dual-world mechanic, powered by the Umbral Lamp, creates a layered exploration experience that no other game in the genre offers, and the gothic art direction gives the world a haunting visual identity. But ambition without execution only gets you so far. Performance issues, frustrating enemy density, uneven checkpoint spacing, and a second half that relies on overwhelming the player rather than challenging them hold the game back from the standard set by its inspirations. Extensive post-launch support has smoothed many of the roughest edges, making the current version a significantly better game than what launched in October 2023.