Lords of the Fallen Game of the Year Edition 2014

Contrary to what some people might think when they read other reviews: Your grandmother probably won't be able to master this game! - It is not too hard though and you'll probably finnish it within a dozen hours (more if your grandma is watching you playing and constantly tells you how shockingly violent it is). The only thing causing frustration for me: Way too much respawning of enemies.

Let me preface this review by saying that I'm not a SoulsBorne player. That said, I have watched enough people play said series to know this game is heavily inspired by them. Like the SoulsBorne games, this is not an easy game. Strong enemies can kill you in just a couple of hits, and even weak enemies can be a threat if you are not paying attention. This isn't a hack and slash game; you can't just hammer the melee attack and dissect your enemies. You need to be methodical and patient, and keep a close eye on your opponent for cues as to what attack is coming next. Lords of the Fallen is a very pretty game, and I would say it is reasonably well optimized. While there is a lot of visual polish, the gameplay can be somewhat rough around the edges. Attacks can feel sluggish. Blocking consumes an inordinate amount of stamina compared to dodge rolling, and even using a tower shield enemies often find ways to strike you from above, or behind, or the side. Sometimes you will even get struck by the backswing of an attack that wasn't even directed at you. Magic feels somewhat slow to cast, given how fast the enemies can move. The combat does improve a bit as the game progresses, and as you unlock new equipment and improve your stats. Don't be afraid to experiment with different weapons and armor, it can significantly alter how combat plays out. This isn't a game for the impatient, or those who are put off by a high degree of dificulty. You will die, probably a lot. The key is to learn from your mistakes and get better, bit by bit. This game doesn't hold your hand. A lot of gameplay mechanics I had to learn by trial and error, and I'm sure there is still much for me to learn yet. If you enjoy action RPGs that reward strategy and methodical combat, and you don't mind a game that lets you learn by doing, then Lords of the Fallen is well worth the price.

The good: the graphics are nice and the atmosphere is great. Cool cinematics too. The voice-acting works as well and the story is interesting enough to make me want to know more. The bad: the combat is very slow. There is no feeling of dynamics. Your character moves with the grace of a heavy tank. Even if you remove all armor and the character moves more quickly, the combat itself and the way your character swings his weapons is still slow. And the boss-fights are annoying. Mostly because of glitches. When you try to time your dodge exactly to the heavy blow of the enemy and your game stutters in exactly that moment, the dodge doesn't work. Unfortunately this happens often. Conclusion: perhaps the devs should have made this a movie. The cinematics are way better than the rest of the game. If you have a high frustration tolerance and don't mind working your way through lots of boring combat, then you might enjoy the game for the atmosphere and story. If you like your combat fast and dynamic - well, better watch a let's play of this game. You can fast-forward in those. Disclaimer: I never played Dark Souls, so I don't care that this game isn't Dark Souls.

I regret buying this game, it's not unplayable but it's definitely not fun. Maybe I'm just used to more fast paced and dynamic games, but this game feels very clunky and sluggish. There's a significant delay between the controls and the character actions that makes it very difficult to get any flow and dexterity in the combat. I can certainly see how this is inspired by Dark Souls, but the difference between this and the Dark Souls games is that the Dark Souls games feel significantly more responsive so you can achieve some flow and dexterity in the combat.

The game is challenging (dark souls inspired) but never unfair. Even when a single anemy attack wipes out 80% of your life you have enought time bevore the next attack to drink a portion. Some decision making, puzzeling and finding/opening short cuts. Game crashes happened about every 10h. For a game were you die a lot it would be OK but, there was one boss enemy, after about 75% of the game, were crashes occoured every 2 minutes. I think this was caused by sparkle animation. This nearly broke the game (minus one star). I managed after fiddeling with the graphics and avoid looking at the boss. (Aim ,shoot, run in circles, repeat). As I found out this problem can differ from system to system and occour at different places, so keep this in mind when buying the game.