Lords of the Fallen from CI Games is a punishing, Rated M for Mature Soulslike on PlayStation 5. Learn more about it in our Lords of the Fallen review!
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Lords of the Fallen from CI Games is a punishing, Rated M for Mature Soulslike on PlayStation 5. Aeons after his defeat by the hands of man, the demon God Adyr’s resurrection draws near. You’ll be placed in the role of a Lampbearer, and will be tasked with exploring the world of the living and the world beyond the darkness to try and defeat Adyr once and for all before it’s too late. You can take on this important mission either on your own or by joining forces with gamers from around the world, thanks to the game’s online co-op. That is, as long as you have a current PlayStation Plus subscription – be that of the Essential, Extra, or Premium variety.
The first step will be picking the class that you’ll be playing as. Your options are going to be Hallowed Knight, Udranger Warwolf, Partisan, Mournstead Infantry, Blackfeather Ranger, Exiled Stalker, Orian Preacher, Pyric Cultist, Condemned, and, if you own the Lords of the Fallen Deluxe Edition, the Dark Crusader. Each of these classes will offer different weapons, armor, and items for you to consider, as well as have different stat values for strength, agility, endurance, vitality, radiance, and inferno.
After that, you’ll get to customize your characters’ look by changing the head type, skin color, hair, tattoos, and general body shape. You can also pick any game modifiers for a more challenging or more relaxed experience. These include, for instance, Ironman, which means dying will reset your current playthrough, and you will awaken at the start once again. World progression is reset, but player progression and inventory are retained. Another option is the Pre-Upgraded Loot modifier, which will make all weapons, shields, and catalysts that you loot from enemies or in the world pre-upgraded based on your player level.
Once your journey begins, you’ll be taking control of your character with the left analog stick as you use the right analog stick to turn the camera. Sprint by pressing in on the left analog stick. Light attacks are mapped to the R1 button, while heavy attacks are set to the R2 button. Pressing in on the right analog stick will allow you to lock onto a target. Press up on the D-Pad to switch to ranged, and use ranged attacks by pressing the L2 button.
You can try to dodge incoming attacks by pressing the Circle button. Use the X button to jump. This button is also used for interacting with other characters or objects. Block attacks by pressing the L1 button. Switch between items by pressing left or right on the D-Pad, and use said item by pressing the Square button. You can heal a bit of your wounds by using the Sanguinarix from your items. Just select it and press the Square button to recover. This item will be automatically recharged when you revive.
Switch to your lantern by pressing down on the D-Pad. The lantern is an important item in Lords of the Fallen, since it will allow you to switch between the world of the living – known as Axiom – and the world of the dead – that would be the Umbral. You can use it to find new paths, hidden spots, and even items that are not visible while exploring Axiom. If you spot a red lantern with butterflies, that means a player died there. You can use your lantern to reveal the location of the killer so that you can hopefully get revenge for them. When holding up the lantern, press and hold down the Square button to completely switch to the Umbral
Since this one is a Souslike, you’ll be collecting a special resource called Vigor as you defeat enemies and bosses. You can also get Vigor from special items, such as an Enervated Vigor Skull. Think of Vigor as a mix of experience points and gold. You can spend Vigor at a Vestige to level up your character, thus improving its base stats based on your choices. You can also trade Vigor with merchants to purchase items and pieces of equipment to help you complete your mission.
And now, let’s talk about the trophies! This one features a full trophy list with a Platinum trophy for you to work on. It’s a long list that is split into 55 Bronze trophies and 7 Silver trophies. On top of that, there are two DLC trophy lists for the Master of Fate and Conqueror of Hardships updates, which add 6 Bronze and 3 Silver trophies, as well as 5 Bronze trophies, respectively. What will you need to do for that shiny Platinum trophy?
Some of the many objectives that you’ll need to complete include dying in Axiom for the first time, retrieving Vigor lost upon death, collecting all weapons, armor pieces, Umbral Eyes, rings and pendants, ammo types, Inferno, Radiance, and Umbral spells, throwables, and gestures, fully upgrading the Sanguinarix, fully upgrading a weapon, fully upgragind the Umbral lamp, calling a co-op partner to aid you, defeating a boss alongside a co-op partner, and defeating another player in PVP, to name some examples.
The lists for the Master of Fate and Conqueror of Hardships DLC trophies are going to be considerably harder to obtain, since they will require either dozens of extra hours on your end or near-perfect runs as you complete the game multiple times. You’ll have to reach an ending while activating a variety of modifiers, as well as defeat the game’s bosses while playing in Veteran Mode, which gives them new attack patterns, faster transitions, all while they aggro even more.
You can customize your experience by visiting the settings menu. From there, you can switch between Performance or Quality Mode depending on whether you want an increased framerate at a lower resolution or a higher resolution with a reduced framerate, activate or deactivate motion blur, film grain, chromatic aberration, and the umbral distortion effect. You can also choose if you’ll be playing with the Online Mode active, if you’ll allow crossplay, and if the co-op mode will have shared progression or no progression.
Lords of the Fallen from CI Games is a punishing, Rated M for Mature Soulslike on PlayStation 5. Aeons after his defeat by the hands of man, the demon God Adyr’s resurrection draws near. You’ll be placed in the role of a Lampbearer, and will be tasked with exploring the world of the living and the world beyond the darkness to try and defeat Adyr once and for all before it’s too late. You can take on this important mission either on your own or by joining forces with gamers from around the world, thanks to the game’s online co-op.
The game recently got updated to version 2.5, which gives you access to the following:
Bosses Reborn: With combat now faster, tighter, and more aggressive, bosses, mini-bosses, and enemies throughout the game have received extensive behavior updates across both Legacy and Veteran mode, to increase the soulslike challenge. Bosses like Pieta feature refined combos and increased moveset variation while the Congregator of Flesh has received less staggering and tighter pacing. Mini-bosses will pressure players further with faster attacks, smarter positioning, and cooldown logic, while normal enemies go a step further with a new global cooldown system adding to their aggression, alongside faster spell recovery, and reduced attack distance.
Veteran Mode: Beyond these refinements lies Veteran Mode — the ultimate test of skill and endurance. Here, many of Mournstead’s bosses have been further empowered with faster transitions, new attack patterns, and even more aggressive behavior. Those that conquer veteran mode will earn a final reward – the Veteran of the Veil breastplate with a unique item drop buff.
Boss Weapons Reforged: Several boss weapons now feature new signature attack animations.
Lords of the Fallen is out on PlayStation 5 with a $29.99 price tag. You can also get the Lords of the Fallen Deluxe Edition for $39.99, which, along with the base game, includes the following:
Dark Crusader Starting Class
Dark Crusader Armour & Weapon set
100 Page Digital Artbook
Digital Soundtrack
3D Model Viewer
Disclaimer
This Lords of the Fallen review is based on a PlayStation 5 copy provided by CI Games.
