Lords of the Fallen launched on Oct. 13 to a very mixed reception. Critics and players alike are completely divided: There are reviews on both ends of the spectrum, and just like Marmite, you’ll either love it or hate it.
Fans cherished its old-school approach to the Souls formula, with an interconnected world dotted with sparse checkpoints, clever shortcuts, and gorgeous vistas, while detractors rightfully criticized its performance issues, glitches, and lack of quality-of-life features, among other frustrating idiosyncrasies.
Now, players on Reddit are praising developer Hexworks for the things they got right, and lamenting about the issues that left a sour taste in their mouth. Here’s a look at what the community is saying.
One Redditor praised Lords of the Fallen for having that “authentic Souls feel,” which is a big compliment. Most fans agree the game itself plays well, and that’s a huge achievement for a Soulslike.
Lies of P surprised everyone recently with its tightly designed combat and ruthless bosses, but before then, no Soulslike could even hold a candle to the greatness of FromSoftware’s releases. Games like Steel Rising and Thymesia were solid attempts at Soulslikes from small teams, but ultimately, their combat was too clunky and unsatisfying, and they’ve since faded into obscurity.
Despite having a few quirks here and there, players are praising Lords of the Fallen for the simple fact that it plays just like a Dark Souls game, and it makes sense. It’s a bit slower than the quickened pace of Bloodborne, DS3, and Elden Ring, but weapon hits are satisfying and crunchy, ranged and magic builds are completely viable, and there are dozens of weapons with unique movesets.
The most pervasive criticism regarding Lords of the Fallen’s combat pertains to enemy placement and density; if you’re not careful, you’ll easily get swarmed, stun-locked, and die. Melee combatants are regularly backed up by ranged snipers with near-godlike accuracy, and enemies infinitely spawn in Umbral, the dark world, so most of the time you’ll be sprinting past them.
In my opinion, though, it’s nothing that can’t be solved with some AoE spells and a big sword—and like Dark Souls 2, you’ll need to carefully plan your approach rather than charging in like Leeroy Jenkins.
Alongside its combat and build diversity, fans also praised Lords of the Fallen’s exploration, art style, and world-building, which really isn’t surprising given the game’s striking aesthetic. In a post titled “Give Me DLC,” one player wrote “I haven’t even finished the game yet […] but I love it and only want more,” while also acknowledging that the developer has work to do to bring the game up to standard.
I wholeheartedly agree with this Redditor and think there’s so much potential for Hexworks to further explore Lords of the Fallen’s world, either within Mourncrest or beyond. I reviewed Lords of the Fallen for PS5 and loved the whole journey, especially as a die-hard Dark Souls fan (even DS2, which might explain a lot), but not everyone had a glowingly positive experience like me.
Performance issues aside, Lords of the Fallen is still plagued with bugs, some of which are costing players hours of progress. One player reported losing 50 levels after disconnecting from a host, and others reportedly had their character’s stats changed to what looks like a preset developer build. Everyone with the glitch gets the same stats, including 15 Radiance and, oddly, zero Inferno. It’d be hard not to uninstall after this one.
Crashes are frustratingly common, especially on loading screens and, strangely, when talking to covenant vendors like the Shrine of Adyr. Some players are even complaining about corrupted save files, and I know their pain, as an update made my save invalid while I was playing the review build. Game-ending problems like this really aren’t ideal, and hopefully, Hexworks will iron out these kinks with patches in the near future.
Those able to play unhindered are criticizing Lords of the Fallen’s sheer lack of quality-of-life features: There’s no item storage, you can’t preview armor dyes before buying them, acquiring boss weapons is needlessly obscure, and most systems are woefully under-explained. I get that this is a Souls game, but inclusivity isn’t a bad thing, and the developers would’ve done well to make the experience a bit smoother for newcomers to the genre—or those who don’t play with the Wiki open on another screen.
Speaking of missing features, in a bold (but deliberate) move, Hexworks removed all the Vestiges from New Game Plus and beyond. Imagine doing a Dark Souls playthrough without bonfires! You still get Vestige Seeds, so you’ll have one checkpoint at a time, and you can teleport to Skyrest Bridge and back, but this is a punishing change that really shakes up the game.
Lots of players are criticizing Hexworks for this decision, but I think it’s an interesting change that we should persevere with for now. The whole world is interconnected and built to be seamlessly traversed, and there are shortcuts back to Skyrest Bridge on most if not all major routes. It adds an interesting layer of challenge that makes the game worth playing again to overcome.
If one thing’s for sure, with a community this divided, Hexworks has certainly left an impression on players. While Lords of the Fallen does have a plethora of problems that need fixing if the game is to become a mainstay in the Soulslike subgenre, it has a lot going for it, and I for one am excited about its future.
