Lords of the Fallen: Hands-On Preview

ign.com:

The original Lords of the Fallen holds the distinction as being one of the first non-From Software developed Soulslikes to put its own unique stamp on the genre. It’s a stamp that, nearly ten years later, is very faint and hard to make out, and also has itself been stamped over many times. That said, this new Lords of the Fallen, developed by the newly formed Hexworks studio, is looking to put a new stamp on the genre as the first truly “next-gen” soulslike, thanks to visuals powered by Unreal Engine 5, an ambitious parallel realm mechanic, and a release that leaves previous gen consoles in the dust. I got to play through about two hours, and based on those early impressions, Lords of the Fallen is certainly shaping up to leave quite a mark.

My memories of the original Lords of the Fallen have largely faded away, with the exception of one sticking point: I remember the movement and combat feeling very slow and lumbering, even when using the class that’s supposed to be the quick one among the three starting choices. This new Lords of the Fallen corrects that right out of the gate. I started with the Exiled Stalker, an agility focused class who fights with twin daggers and employs a playstyle of very fast and rapid strikes and found him to be just as quick and responsive as I would have hoped.

There’s a great fluidity to Lords of the Fallen’s combat too. You can seamlessly flow from light attacks to heavy attacks, and can even change weapon stance in the middle of a combo as well. I could start with two light attacks, press the stance switch button, and do another light attack, I’d get a unique attack in which my character seamlessly goes from a dual-wielded slash, into a two-handed thrust. This is even better when you add