Worst
The Hero's Journey
You play as Harkyn, a criminal whose sins are tattooed upon his face. But as creatures called the Rhogar invade from another dimension, hard men are needed to fight a hard menace. Harkyn is released from prison in the hopes that he can succeed where righteous others have failed.
There's some interesting story to be had, specifically in the form of scrolls (basically audio logs) that tell tales of a dead god or questionable religious leaders. Unfortunately, it's rarely presented upfront. What you get is a plot that rears its unsurprising head mostly near the conclusion and is made worse by an emotionless protagonist with little character to speak of.
Balance
Overcoming the oppressive challenge of Demon's Souls and Dark Souls is highly euphoric, but some people find their hills too intimidating to climb. Lords of the Fallen has a much gentler slope while still sharing many of the same gameplay systems. And by gentle, I mean it may as well be flat. Deck13 and CI Games may have taken the philosophy of accessible a bit far.
It's very easy to break rather than be broken by the encounters thrown your way, especially if you invest into any class spells. I chose the Solace specialization, which granted me powerful healing and reflect magic that meant I never had to touch another health potion again. The limited number of attack patterns and wide openings of bosses meant they were all beaten on the first attempt. New Game+ is suppose to push back more, but having upgraded my spells and equipment during the first playthrough, the second offered little resistance. In fact, I can count the number of times I died in total on one hand.
Visual Variety
As good as it looks, there's not necessarily a whole lot to see. Harkyn's journey takes him through castle-like monastery walls, snowy exteriors, and to the Rhogar realm and back. Few distinct areas round out to each. Many of these locations are also cut of the same cloth, put together into literal mazes, making it easy at times to get turned around.
LordsoftheFallen.exe
Slowly moving through the monastery halls with shield raised can be a harrowing experience. Each moment that goes on inspires dread that makes palms sweaty and brows furrowed. You don't know where the checkpoint is and your experience multiplier is at its limit.
Sadly, that's not a result of the its atmosphere. Lords of the Fallen has a tendency to crash on the PC. Bugs abound, as well. I've had enemies go invisible, backstabs fail repeatedly against certain enemies, item attributes not working correctly, and even had one foe lose hostility but continue to follow me around like a pet. I was sad when my friend finally resetted. To be fair, it's not as bad as it sounds, but the crashes do make the aforementioned risk and reward system just plain risky.
Conclusion
Lords of the Fallen has some room to grow, but the best of it far outweighs the worst. Its meaty combat and large collection of secrets keep it at the top of my play list. If the mechanics of the Souls games were their main draw for you, or if you were interested but put-off by their reputation for being difficult, then Lords of the Fallen is worth checking out.
