The first time I died in Hexworks' Lords of the Fallen reboot during a preview event last month, I immediately got discouraged, expecting to have to retrace my progress like in other Soulslike games. Instead, my character was taken to Umbral, a parallel world of the dead, where I would find myself trying to escape back to the overworld of Axiom.

This mechanic reinvigorated me. I knew about Umbral going into this preview. Still, my brief experiences playing Soulslike games taught me that death was inevitable and that retracing my footsteps was just another part of the journey. Admittedly, this is one reason I don't necessarily play Soulslikes, apart from being generally bad at them, but the Umbral mechanic in Lords of the Fallen might change that.

While some might decry this as making Lords of the Fallen easier or that death doesn't have meaning, that couldn't be farther from the truth. 

New Beginnings

Lords of the Fallen is the franchise's reboot by Hexworks and CI Games and is slated to launch in October. While it’s clearly inspired by both its predecessors, improving on them meaningfully, it also hearkens back to the Dark Souls games that inspired the franchise. 

The most creative aspect of the reboot is this Umbral world - a parallel universe that runs alongside the main overworld of Axiom. This is the realm of the dead, and it’s just another path players will take to save Axiom from Adyr, the demon god, who is being resurrected after decades of war between those who follow him and the Church of Orius. 

It’s a dark, grim world that also has its own ethereal beauty. While much of the screen space is taken up by the character’s immediate surroundings, there are times when grand vistas of the world of Axiom dominate the screen, showing the incredible art direction driving Lords of the Fallen forward.

War-torn landscapes are dominated by giant hands hewn from the rock around them like a twisted Argonath were always an awe-inspiring sight. The creatures themselves looked haggard, twisted to suit Adyr’s needs. I often found myself dying early in our two-hour hands-on in Los Angeles last month because I was admiring the visuals of Lords of the Fallen. Hexworks have outdone themselves in this department, and I can’t wait to see what the full release game looks like.

Improving Lords of the Fallen

The original Lords of the Fallen was actually the first Soulslike game I played. I loved the concept and, again, the art direction from the studio. However, the hulkingly slow movement and combat that never felt as responsive as it should have put a damper on the experience. I never finished Lords of the Fallen (2014) as a result. 

Immediately out of the gate, the reboot solved some of those issues. Playing the Mournstead Infantry class in my playthrough, the weaving of light and heavy attacks always felt active. Oftentimes if I was hit during a combo sequence, it was because I misjudged the timing, never because I felt like I was weaving my sword through molasses. 

Movement felt immediately responsive, yet still weighty. Hexworks has straddled the line here expertly, making Lords of the Fallen feel almost Elden Ring-esque. This, coupled with that incredibly responsive combat and the ability to weave light, heavy, and stance changes into combat, makes for a much more satisfying experience than just swinging meaty, heavy, and light attacks with abandon.

As a Mournstead Infantry, I was equipped with a long spear and shield, which suited my style perfectly. I wanted the agility the class offered to dodge when I needed it, but I could also poke at enemies from a safe distance.

However, the most significant improvement to the formula is this parallel world of Umbral and how it plays into the death loop. Death is no longer the end in Lords of the Fallen; it’s simply another journey. One we all must take (thanks, Gandalf). 

The twisted world of Umbral is traversable at any time, technically. Carrying an Umbral Lantern, you can peer into the realm, seeing its twisted depravity on full display. While the Umbral realm is where you go when you die for the first time, it’s sometimes the only means of traversal in areas. This means you’ll have to risk your mortal life to get through a puzzle or sequence, only to find an escape into the world of the living.

This is an incredible deviation from the traditional Dark Souls formula. Death was a teacher in those games, beating into the player’s head through sheer repetition more than anything else. You die, you learn, you improve. Here, none of that is lost. However, with Umbral, there is more to it. You aren’t just knocked back to the last respawn point, but you can overcome that first death and come out the other side stronger.

This immediately affected me, someone, who is historically trash at Soulslike games. Seriously, I still have yet to beat the first boss in Bloodborne. Not even the actual boss, like…the first mini-boss.

Yea.

Learning in real-time rather than the dull repetition of respawns and retreading my footsteps is such a huge boon - especially knowing that I can eventually emerge from Umbral back to Axiom without ever seeing a game over screen. 

This was most keenly felt when coming up against the first major boss in the playthrough. Pieta, a fallen angel, was an intense fight about halfway through our demo, and in true Soulslike fashion, I found myself staring over many, many times.

Pieta has two phases like most bosses in the genre, one where she’s dashing around the battlefield in melee, taking her radiant sword and striking down her foe (that’s me). This was actually relatively easy to get through. Dodging, and even parrying, was incredibly intuitive as Pieta telegraphed the attacks rather well. 

However, that was just the warm-up. In phase 2, she sprouts wings, turning into the fallen angel meant to smite her foes in Orius’ name. Here she would rain the battlefield with radiant swords crisscrossing the stage, swoop in and slash with devastating force, and even send angels of her own to attack. 

It was the ultimate test of everything I had learned up to this point. Getting in and attacking, dashing out of there in time to not feel the clap-back from Pieta, and putting my parrying skills to the test - Pieta was a fun boss to fight. But what made it more enjoyable was that I never felt like one lousy misstep would see me respawning a moment later. Having two lives to play with really made me feel loose.

I took chances. I tried to perfect parry to get in some extra damage. I would start a combo sequence knowing I could dodge out of it if I needed, and even throw my javelin to get some additional damage in when keeping my distance.

When I would get caught peeking, I knew I had the Umbral life to fall back on. Being able to keep playing through that initial death is invigorating, though I did tend to sit back more on my heels, knowing one wrong move would bring the game over screen. However, I never felt discouraged when it happened (and did happen), like in similar games. This new take on death and giving multiple chances plays into how I’ve always wanted Soulslikes to operate: let me take chances without fear of getting wrecked immediately. 

Definitely not an easy mode

This doesn’t mean that Lords of the Fallen is easy-mode Soulslike. Far from it - it’s still a hardcore Soulslike experience. In fact, Umbral is more dangerous than Axiom. From wrecked, writhing creatures that can pop up at a moment's notice (seriously, I started to smash any eggs I would find on the path, hoping that they wouldn’t spawn demons) to the fact that Wither damage takes a toll the longer you’re in Umbral.

Wither damage effectively lessens the overall pool of health, and healing in Umbral only nets back a portion. Otherwise, hitting enemies first and not getting hit in turn is the only real way to negate that Wither.

There’s a risk and reward for traveling through Umbral. Even if you weren’t sent here through a creature killing you, you still died to get to Umbral. So one life and you’re gone. But the longer you’re in Umbral fighting, the more you’re rewarded with experience to spend at the next shrine. It’s a tradeoff that I can’t wait to see veteran Soulslike players experiment with to their advantage.

At the end of the two-hour or so demo, I wasn’t ready to stop playing. As someone who really doesn’t play a lot of Soulslikes, Lords of the Fallen has captured my attention. I adore the world-building and the art direction, and the Umbral mechanic is so exciting as someone who struggles with these games. It makes Lords of the Fallen more accessible, not easier. And to me that’s huge. 

Lords of the Fallen will be released later this year across PC, Xbox Series S|X, and PlayStation 5 on October 13th.