Lords of the Fallen

About

Welcome to the world of Lords of the Fallen, an action RPG similar to Dark Souls, but ultimately very different. Decide the outcome of the war between the Rhogar and Humans. Explore the monastery in the Human Realm and the Rhogar temple as you teleport through dimensions. Help the NPCs you encounter on your travels. Solve various puzzles, complete quests, find the best gear possible, and battle the bosses in your own way!

The game was developed by CI Games and Deck13, and published by CI games on October 28th, 2014. With over 10000 reviews on steam, its current rating is mixed, but don't let that fool you! Lords of the Fallen is a solid RPG well worth your time. Read on and find out some details that might persuade you into buying it today!

Character

Play as Harkyn, an ex-convict turned hero who just happens to be the only chance the humans have against the Rhogar invasion led by the mighty god Adyr. 

At the start of the game, you will have the choice of choosing one of three classes: the Warrior, the Rogue, or the Cleric, each with its own stats and magic abilities. 

The Warrior

This magic focuses on dealing lots of damage as well as increasing health regeneration. Very good for beginners as it directly helps in dealing with enemies.

The Rogue

Rogue's abilities increase energy restoration and have very nice combos, as well as invisibility with bonus damage. A good choice for anyone to likes to go in and out of combat.

The Cleric

Finally, the most defensive school of magic is the cleric. It increases magic recovery and focuses on creating shields, blocking damage, or counter-striking and stunning enemies.

After completing the game, you will be able to continue playing in NG+ and NG++ keeping your stats, abilities, and spells but choosing a new, different class to master.

Equipment

The combat might seem slow to some, but was it ever fast to wield enormous hammers or greatswords? No, no it wasn't. The bigger your weapon is, the slower the combat is. The same thing applies to armor, even the lightest armor feels slow and heavy (but it's still steel armor). In Lords of the Fallen you generally have 3 options when choosing weapons: weapon and shield, dual handing a weapon, or weapon and gauntlet. Armor is divided into light, medium and heavy categories.

Weapons

Let's start with the gauntlet as it is the only range option in the game. The gauntlet uses your magic to fire its abilities. It does this in one of three ways. Blast is a short-range blast that knocks back enemies. Explosive lobs an area of effect damage bomb. Projectile shoots a fast missile at the enemy.

All of these abilities can be altered with runestones, which you can mix and match to your style of gaming. For example. using the projectile with poison rune will not only deal damage over time but also slow your enemies allowing you to strike with more ease. 

Weapons range from small and fast weapons like shortswords and daggers to devastating greathammers and greataxes as well as anything in between. Of course, some weapons are better suited for certain classes. The fist weapons, shortswords, and the like match well with the rogue's style of hit and run. Cleric's high faith stat goes well with some greathammers that require high faith stat. Warrior can wield pretty much any weapon but works best with basic swords, hammers, or axes.

Theoretically, you could use the heaviest weapons with shields, but along staves, they are meant to be used dual-handed. 

Speaking of shields, they are separated into 3 categories: bucklers, kite, and tower shields. Bucklers require agility to use, while kite and tower shields need strength. You can also equip runes to shields, increasing some of their stats to further improve your chances of beating your enemies.

Bosses

A big appeal in these type of games are the bosses and LotF does not disappoint. You will fight all kinds of creatures, from wild beasts to giant army commanders and mutated humans. All bosses drop equipment when killed, but if you find their weakness and exploit it, you will receive an improved version of the same equipment. These mini-quests can be to either not take any damage, or don't block or simply beat the bosses in a certain order.

Closing words

Lords of the Fallen might not be the best game out there, but it's fun and I like it. It has 56 steam achievements and took me around 35 hours to complete. Released in 2014 means that most systems can run it. 

Minimum requirements are:

OS: Windows Vista, 7 or 8 (only 64 bit)

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 @ 2.66Ghz or AMD Phenom II X4 940 @ 3.0Ghz

RAM: 6Gb

GPU: GeForce GTX 460 or better

DirectX: Version 11

Memory: 25 Gb available space

Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c Compatible Sounds card with latest drivers