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Many Soulslikes depend upon replayability. Getting good is fun, but sometimes, the most satisfying thing is using your newly honed skills to overcome initial challenges. Players can pursue self-made challenges such as speedruns and no-hit runs, but the best Soulslikes do much of the work to incentivize replays themselves. Lords of the Fallen made a splash when it was released, but now that more players are completing their journey through Mournstead and venturing into New Game Plus, some have called the game’s NG+ design into question. Difficulty is the whole point of Soulslikes, but some argue that Hexworks made mistakes in their approach. Here’s the story of the disaster the Lords of the Fallen developer averted.
Fast Travel and Vestiges in Lords of the Fallen NG+
To understand the controversy that divided Lords of the Fallen players, you need to grasp how fast travel works in the game and NG+. As the player explores the demon-infested land of Mournstead, they encounter Vestiges. These lamp-holding shrines enable the player to rest and level up, as well as fast travel to any Vestiges already discovered. In addition to Vestiges, the player will periodically meet Umbral Flowerbeds in which they can plant a Vestige Seed. The Seedling then acts as a temporary Vestige, allowing the player to rest and fast travel to that location. When the player plants a second Seedling elsewhere, the first one disappears.
It’s an elegant system strongly reminiscent of genre juggernauts such as Dark Souls and Elden Ring. Vestiges not only allow the player to quickly navigate the sprawling land of Mournstead but also reduce the return journey to difficult bosses to the bare minimum. Hexworks made a controversial decision: the only Vestige in NG+ would be the one in Skyrest Bridge, Lord of the Fallen‘s hub. That meant players could only fast travel between there and one other location, wherever their Vestige Seedling grew. Vastly restricting fast travel would make the game more challenging and force players to engage with the world in different ways. At least, that was the idea.
The Patch That Restored Fast Travel
Player criticism came quickly. It’s worth noting that a good amount of backlash came from players who hadn’t actually beaten the game yet and had yet to experience NG+ in Lords of the Fallen for themselves. The major fear involved backtracking and the progress route. What if you’re deep in Forsaken Fen and realize you need to go to the Manse of the Hallowed Brothers for a quest? Instead of a few seconds of fast travel, the player was looking at minutes of running and fighting through hordes of enemies. If they died along the way, they’d need to start all over. Vestige Seeds are relatively rare. There simply wouldn’t be enough to facilitate fast travel everywhere.
Hexworks faced a difficult decision. Should the developer honor its original vision, knowing it would anger some players? Or should it satisfy player demands, knowing it would mean making a game Hexworks didn’t want? Surprisingly, the devs seem to have found the perfect solution. Players who prefer the challenge of no Vestiges can still play that way. Those who would like to keep fast travel as it is can instead restart the game without saying goodbye to Vestiges. Successive journeys would increase the difficulty, but only if the player wanted it to. It’s New Game Plus, your way, and most players seem pleased with the change.
The Future of NG+ in Lords of the Fallen
Lords of the Fallen has faced some significant growing pains since its release, including a variety of bugs and crashes. Yet Hexworks has relentlessly worked to improve the game. It pushed out several major patches in just a few days’ time, solving one problem after another. Finding an elegant compromise to fast travel in NG+ is just the most recent of the devs’ successes. It’s obviously important for games to be as good as they can be upon release. Yet it’s a beautiful thing to see a developer willing to acknowledge community feedback and work toward a solution that almost everyone can be happy with. Lords of the Fallen isn’t perfect, but it’s getting better every week. The roadmap suggests there are pleasant travels ahead, whether or not there are Vestiges along the way.
Lords of the Fallen is available for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.
