Gamescom Opening Night Live today was packed with trailers but what grabbed us, in particular, was the new trailer for the dark fantasy RPG The Lords of the Fallen being developed by Hexworks, who are rebooting the 2014 title who are under CI Games. While we didn’t get any gameplay this time, we did get a few minutes of a cinematic trailer so we’ll go over what was shown.
The Lords of the Fallen Dark Fantasy Action-RPG Trailer First Impressions
The trailer kicks off with narrator actor Joseph Quinn, who’s instantly recognisable if you’ve watched Stranger Things, then blended in with some heavy metal “Mother”. Firstly it follows a knight a Dark Crusader, who looks to be carrying two types of weapons, the first being a large sword to fight off the undead with your classic melee combat. The second is a glowing medieval torch/lantern which seems to have some more mystical powers as it has tentacle strings of sorts that seem to exorcise the red, glow of the undead. A potential boss fight that goes awry, leading to the main character being stabbed and left for dead. But the glowing lantern seems to possess some power that restores life to the knight, maybe it has a limited number of lives to give, but the mechanic seems a little unclear at this point.
The trailer also gives away some of the enemies players will face including as I said previously a potential boss fight which poses quite the challenge ending with the main character falling into a pit of undead skeletons. Another enemy shown during the trailer is a three-headed flying dragon of sorts, another boss or mini-boss fight perhaps, which looks to be an interesting creature to face as you’ll have to dodge three heads, not just one. The world looks to be steeped in medieval fantasy, with some magical or supernatural influence, especially with that glowing lantern. The first title also used a mix of melee and magical spells with a strongDark Soulsinfluence, there could be the continuation of this but new abilities by the looks of it.
Worlds within Worlds
From the press release developer Hexworks has revealed that in this entry of the game it takes place a thousand years after the events of the first game, so it will be a whole new adventure to experience. The worlds are interconnecting so there could be a variation in the types of regions you will set foot in. It sets to be five times larger than the original game, so the scale will be much bigger than the feel of the prequel. The world will also be full of NPC quests, characters and also a rich story to follow.
What’s also interesting as when the game was first announced it was calledLords of the Fallen 2, but this announcement has seemed to have dropped the 2. This might be to do with concentrating on a different story slightly from the first, as the timeline is now a thousand years later. The first title focused on Harkyn who faces the Rhogar army and Adyr, who are banished to a different realm. The “interconnected” worlds sound like there would be more realms, more possibilities to explore or possible threats. The video description does mention that the quest is still to overthrow Adyr, who is a demon God, and the video shows their influence once again gripping the world.
Tactical Fluid Combat
You will be creating your own hero, but no details on how customised the character aesthetics will be but in terms of progression and customisation a full range. You can embark on your journey in the solo campaign or team up with a second player in “uninterrupted online co-op” which is a brand new feature for this IP. The tactical combat sets to be fast and fluid, with the use of spells and character buffs from magic. This could be especially useful in co-op as you could help buff your partner. So far we don’t know if it will be like inElden Ringif you can use summons to help in battle, or purely ranged magic.
A Stacked Team
Hexworks has quite the talent working on this game as the Executive Producer Saul Gascon has worked on the likes of Dead by Daylight and PayDay 2, so that would work in the favour of the co-op features mentioned. Then there is Creative Director Cezar Virtosu who has worked on Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and Assassin’s Creed Origins, which have some amazing worlds.
We can’t wait to see more of this game, as it looks like they’re breathing some fresh air into the franchise, and the world sounds like a more expansive realm with more opportunities to explore especially with the use of Unreal Engine 5 which has some stunning graphics for next-gen consoles as well as PC. We especially can’t wait to see how the combat has changed as it sounds to be much fastersoulslikecombat, and what new abilities or magic spells players will be able to wield.
The Lords of the Fallenwill be released on Playstation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC. No release date has been announced but a full gameplay reveal is slated for later this year.
