Lords of the Fallen is set to release tomorrow on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, but critical reviews went live today. The reboot sequel to publisher CI Games expands on the original game while switching to a new developer. This time around, Hexworks is taking over for Deck13 Interactive, which was acquired by Focus Home Interactive in 2020. The early Metacritic results show the move to expand and change developers was a good one, as Lords of the Fallen is currently enjoying higher scores than the 2014 original.
As of this writing, Lords of the Fallen has a 77 on Metacritic with 43 reviews on PC, while the PlayStation 5 version holds a 73 across 23 reviews. Currently, the Xbox Series X/S version is unscored because it only has two critic reviews. What’s interesting about these scores is that the scores are kind of all over the map, though they do obviously trend higher. It seems that the difference in opinions falls down to the reviewer’s opinions on how well Lords of the Fallen pushes the Soulslike genre forward.ย
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For some, the game replicates the feel of a FromSoft game well and has enough ideas that expand on the original game to keep them interested. Others find the combat and exploration “frustrating” and say that it fails to capitalize on some of the more innovative ideas it puts forth. Of course, there are a few reviewers who are firmly in the middle of the two camps, but those are relatively few and far between.
It’ll be interesting to see what the fan response to the game is given how it’s been received by critics. The original game was reviewed a bit harsher (68 on PS4 and 73 on PC), but the user score fell right around that same number. It’s hard to put too much stake into user scores on Metacritic, but it’s worth noting that fans and critics were roughly in line with each other back in 2014.
What is Lords of the Fallen?
As mentioned above, Lords of the Fallen is a Soulslike action RPG. Unlike many popular games in the genre, Lords of the Fallen lets you play through the entire game cooperatively, which could help out with some of the more difficult boss fights. There are also PvP fights if that’s what you’re looking for.ย
One of the biggest selling points for the sequel is how much bigger the game’s world is compared to the original. In fact, the base map is sort of doubled because there are two different realms that are layered on top of each other. You can travel back and forth between them, unlocking new areas as you do so. While it has been in the works for several years and changed developers a few times, it seems like CI Games has landed the plane relatively well, given the circumstances.
Lords of the Fallen releases on October 13 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
