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The new Soulslike, Lords of the Fallen, is a reboot/sequel to the original 2014 game of the same name that wasn’t exactly a smashing critical success upon release. As one of the earliest examples of a Soulslike title outside of the FromSoftware canon, the first Lords of the Fallen suffers from all of the pitfalls of being an early adopter. The new industry has clearly learned from both the shortcomings of the original game and from the legion of other Soulslike titles that have sprung out left and right in the near-decade since 2014. The end result is there are a lot of things about this reboot that just make its predecessor look silly.
Lords of the Fallen 2023 vs. 2014: Combat
One of the biggest criticisms many players have with the original Lords of the Fallen is its combat. It feels creeping and sluggish to the point where fighting many enemies just doesn’t have that satisfying punch that it does in the Dark Souls trilogy. In contrast, the new game has clearly taken notes and has put together a combat formula that easily satisfies the Soulslike itch. Not only does it flow much more smoothly, but there are so many more expanded combat options that push Lords of the Fallen in 2023 leagues ahead of its ancestor.
Lords of the Fallen 2023 vs. 2014: The Umbral
One of the biggest features that make Lords of the Fallen 2023 stand out from both its predecessor, and from the Soulslike genre as a whole, is the Umbral. The Umbral Lantern completely changes the way world exploration and traversal is approached, with both the ability to reveal hidden paths and rooms along with the ability to completely switch dimensions. This opens up so many opportunities never before seen in the genre.
Lords of the Fallen 2023 vs. 2014: Customization
One of the main areas where the original Lords of the Fallen felt separate from Dark Souls was by having a set protagonist, meaning one with a set look and name that couldn’t be changed by the player. That was an interesting idea for this format, but it did limit customization quite a bit, both in terms of Harkyn’s look and the number of available classes to choose from. The new Lords of the Fallen winds up feeling more like a FromSoftware Soulslike in its class selection, especially with classes like Condemned, which is just the LotF take on Deprived, but that added layer of customization is definitely appreciated by most. It doesn’t help that Harkyn wasn’t particularly well-liked as a protagonist. It doesn’t seem like there were many rooting for his return.
Lords of the Fallen 2023 vs. 2014: Visuals
The original Lords of the Fallen had a bit of a tonal problem. In terms of concept and mechanics, it was obviously a game trying to scratch the Dark Souls itch, but in terms of visuals, the game looked like a pretty run-of-the-mill fantasy world. The decrepit and depressive visuals presented in FromSoftware’s games aren’t present and the result is a world full of towns, bosses, and enemies that feel devoid of personality. The 2023 reboot adds a flare that makes every area far more interesting to explore and just observe. Particularly the Umbral, which has already been coined as one of the most mechanically unique portions of the game, also sets itself apart as visually dissimilar from anything else in the Souslike genre.
Lords of the Fallen 2023 vs. 2014: Originality
Overall, the new Lords of the Fallen just winds up feeling more like its own game than its 2014 predecessor. The original received a lot of criticism as a “poor man’s Dark Souls” and it did little to disprove those claims. While the new title could also have some trouble escaping the “Dark Souls clone” allegations with a lot of striking design similarities that nearly venture beyond just sharing a genre with FromSoftware, it absolutely does enough in other areas of the game to warrant its existence as a notable title within the genre that this series was an early pioneer in. The ability to traverse dimensions, the open map design, and an original story concept are all things that make Lords of the Fallen in 2023 easily something more worth remembering than the game that came before it.
