Agent_4Seven
Tears of Nintendo
Yup, it's Agent with another wall of text again...
I'll start off by saying that prior to playing the 2023 reboot, I also played and finished the original Lords of the Fallen 2 times back in 2014 so I know all about it to compare both games to what others did since then, including From. Original game was not good, combat was slow and clunky af, there were no character classes or / and classes at all for that matter, you were basically playing as a melee tank no matter what you do. For the most part it was a very linear and straightforward experience with a very poor story and characters you couldn't give less of a shit. Why have I finished it two times? I honestly can't tell you why, probably cuz it looked great at the time... and back then there wasn't really any other alternative to Souls games and the original LOTF was basically the very first one made with such great visual fidelity. Some call it generic, but I actually think that what the original team had nailed at that time was first and foremost art, art direction and visuals as a whole, but everything else was clearly the first attempt to replicate Souls formula under a different name and IP.
And here comes a reboot, after ~ 10 years, dozens of souls-like's and souls-born's of various quality levels, rolls of toilet paper and face masks. At first and after it was announced, I honestly couldn't care less cuz the original game was bad gameplay wise and I had absolutely zero faith in the new reboot, but visually it looked interesting enough and with a few new mechanics other souls-like's and souls-born's don't have, so I thought... why the fuck not at least try and play it? And so I did... ffs. Ugh, where do I even start... But, okay, let's start with the positives first - believe it or not, this game has them and it's not just visuals (although I'll get back to that later), something I just can't say about the original game.
So, the Umbral world and switching worlds mechanic is effin' amazing, although it's nothing new in the grand scheme of things (various games in the past used it, albeit on a very basic technical level). Some are saying that "Oh, it's too effin' boring to pick up the lamp and slowly walk through the environment" and I can sort of get it you're not into that kind of thing gameplay wise and feel like it slows the action too much, but I like it a lot. First - it looks cool, second - it makes you do something other than just kill dozens of enemies and third - there's environmental puzzles in the game as well, simple enough, but at no point I was bored solving them.
The Umbral world itself looks like a very disturbing take on Giger's work but with a religious take and the environments filled with ash-like stuff, well, at least it looks that way. You can interact with the Umbral world while being in the real one, but it is limited to going through things which are not the Umbral world and vice versa. So for example, you can't go through the gate in the real world, but there's no gate in the Umbral so you can go through it in the real world while holding the lamp, same goes with some bottomless pits etc. But you can't look into the real world while being in the Umbral world, cuz it was designed in the way that you need to be in one or the other to progress or find something, otherwise it'll complicate things too much for no reason. I mean, it's so simple in concept but amazing at the same time.
Why is it amazing? Well, for one, weren't you bored af in almost every souls game (starting with Demon's Souls) while hitting every effin' wall on each map and location to try and find some hidden passages etc.? It's effin' stupid and LOTF 2023 fixed that completely - all you need to do is pick up the lamp and look for it, while also finding ways to go to someplace you can't go to otherwise and it's not always the main path. Moreover, there's also a really cool mechanic involving Umbral enemies which can grab and pull you into the Umbral world while you're searching for the way forward or secrets in the real world, so it's more than just world switching mechanic and it adds to the atmosphere, to the sense of dread and danger, cuz you never know when they'll grab and pull you into the Umbral world. So that's one thing I really like and love about this game cuz not only is it something different and cool, but it is also being used in gameplay and how you're exploring the world while also offering a risk reward system.
The second one is actually the real world in the game called Axione, which is in this really cool gothic-like medieval setting with very, VERY strong religious themes, motifs and symbolism, similar to what you can see in Blasphemous games. I just love the architecture of it, the level of detail, the sheer density of everything, the amazing dark atmosphere of it, animated environments and sounds. They effin' nailed everything perfectly here and I just love being in this world and exploring it, even though it's not a very good place to be in (let alone live). The sense of scale is also second to none, especially when you get out of the main hub for the first time and see just what and how much is under your feet, how far you can see in the distance and this enormous wall of the castle in front of you with bells hanging and ringing in the distance, various stuff floating around in the wind, the sheer amount of stuff you need to traverse and navigate bellow... It's breathtaking.
The third thing they nailed is fashion. There's really great armor and weapons designs here which I really like and especially the dark crusader armor set and weapons, hot damn. I mean, the original game had really cool armor sets, but this one is just on the whole other level of dark awesomeness, similar to Berserk and Blasphemous at the same time. I'm not that far into the game yet but already seen some great shit I can wear and use as weapons. UI design is also great, along with items art etc. The fourth thing is of course visuals and just how amazing the game looks on a pure technical level. I'll go as far as to say that this is the second best looking game in the genre on a technical level after Demon's Souls Remake. While at times it looks a bit flat and okay (mostly when there's a lot of wooden planks around, almost nothing else and it's... well, just boring visually and bad), there's a lot of locations and places in the early game which are amazing showcases of what UE5 can do and no other game in the genre has except Demon's Souls Remake on the PS5. The stone and ground work, the level of detail, the sheer amount of objects, geometry complexity is all next-gen and for sure was worth switching to UE5, even if it caused a shit ton of tech and performance issues in the process which are mostly fixed now? I mean, during the time I've played I haven't seen a single crash to the desktop except one time and I wasn't even in the game and just launched it. I think just one look at these 8K resized screens I made will be enough to see just how amazing this game looks:
So, after reading all this praze from me (if you've made this far, it means you like to read and not looking for stupid numbers) you're probably thinking - Wait, um, but WTF they did wrong then and what do you mean by poor realization and design decisions? Well, I'm glad you asked. After making and designing all this great shit I've talked about above and which I love to death, they somehow, for some inexplicable reason unkown to mankind, managed to fuck things up big time. How? Well now, let me explain.
First of all, it's not the usual thing when... you know how it happens, the devs aimed too high, decided to do lots of shit, be ambitious af and in the procce... No, that's not what happened here. The world changing thing sounds ambitious, but it's actually not, at least not in the bad way and in the way you may think. So, I already explained what Umbral is, how world switching works and what they did with all this in terms of gameplay and mechanics, this is the good part, the bad part is that they decided to make everything else in it complete shit! They've filled the world with endlessly spawning enemies, one unkillable one to which you can't do shit (even at the end of the game it looks like) and put it all on a effin' timer! But that's not all. Not only there's the fact that the enemies are respawning literally all the time you're in the Umbral, but they're also getting stronger the longer you are in there and they can wipe your ass in numbers even after they've issued a patch to reduce the amount of enemies.
Why it the fuckin fuck?! There's literally no reason for all this at all and especially when it comes to the reaper you can't kill. I can't for the life of me explain why they decided to do this shit in such a bad way and while doing so, killing all the good the world switching mechanic and Umbral world as a whole did for this game and for the souls-like genre when it comes to 3D games. Fucking why, HexWorks? Because there's an experience multiplier in the Umbral? Well, if that's the case, then let me inform you that it adds nothing to the game. The fact that enemies can pull you into the Umbral from Axione is more than enough to make you feel uneasy and couscous while using the lamp, while the sense of dread, the mood and the atmosphere adds to that even more. So why the fuck? It takes a while before the reaper starts to hunt you for sure, but it changes nothing, he just has no place in the world and so do the endlessly spawning enemies. But okay, I can sort of get and accept the fact that enemies are respawning endlessly, fine, I mean, if you're good, you can deal with it while also getting a lot of souls, so it can be another risk reward mechanic, but even this argument falls apart after hitting timer / reaper wall like a train.
Honestly, who the fuck thought that it was a good idea and design decision? So basically, they're not allowing you to explore the Umbral world (one of the best parts of the game) at your own pace, look for secrets, items etc, cuz you're always on a effin' timer and forced to look for a way out as soon as possible cuz otherwise you'll die either cuz of reaper, the sheer number of enemies, stupid enemy placements, cheap enemies hits, fucking snipers everywhere or bad level design with narrow corridors, very tiny passageways around bottomless pits etc. You can deal with the last few problems just like you could and did in the Souls games, but there's no timers, endlessly spawning and unkillable enemies there ffs! So yeah, that's "great". But does it end here? Fuck no, unfortuately.
As I've said, the original game had very clunky combat and it wasn't great or even good, it was servisable at best and terrible at worst. Now, combat in the reboot... how should I say it, hmm,.. it's definitely better than what the original had, but at the same time it's way too floaty, jelly-like and it feels like you're moving at slow motion or in some kind of jelly bobble all the time. Moreover, every time you do something, be it hitting enemies with the sword (I'll get to that shortly) you always move forward, so you can't just stand and swing your weapon, just forget about it. But here's an interesting thing - I NEVER fell to the bottomless pit cuz of this and I honestly don't know how I managed to do it even though I had plenty of close calls. Maybe there's some hidden magic under the hood in play here or maybe I'm just that good at avoiding bottomless pits in this game, I can't effin' tell ya.
And now let's talk about the shit fuckin' show which is broken af and barely working auto lock-on system. It's just... not... working.... at all! Believe me when I say that you'll be CONSTANTLY losing targets, fighting with and hitting the air cuz auto lock-on 90% of the time just turns off and also likes to lock on enemies it likes and not on those you want, so you're constantly fighting with this broken pos shit. Add to that the fact that you're always moving forward during attacks, the fact that there's plenty of very narrow places where you also need to fight with the camera and there's plenty of annoying snipers.... It just turns into a frustration fest very fast when there's a lot of enemies on the screen. But as if that's not enough to make you happy...
Wouldn't it be cool to also pick up the souls you've lost during the last fight and which are lying on the ground, waiting and calling for you to pick them up with a smile on your face? Or.. you know, get them back by... say... well, Idk, just hitting an enemy that killed you once? How nice, convenient and cozy, right!? Ri... WRONG! You, miserable fuck! What is it to you and where do you think you are, in kindergarten!? So yeah, guess what, some enemies like to pick up your lost souls and they WILL NOT give them back to you until you kill them. And wouldn't you know it, of course it is the most annoying af or damage sponge enemies in the game, which are magnetized to you and you can't get away from them that far once they'll start attacking you. So, have fun with that as well, you poor bastard.
Fuck, Agent, so much fuckin' text and it is still not all?! I'm afraid not, my dude.
So, it is encouraged that you use the deflection mechanic in the game and the timing window is actually good... most of the time, but here's the thing - the damage you do with your counter attacks is SHIT! So why even use this mechanic? Also, forget about one hit kill backstabs from souls games as well, here you first need to stagger enemies and only then finishing moves can be performed. There's also a Spartan kick which looks and feels GREAT and you can actually use it a lot and throw lots of enemies to bottomless pits or from high points on the map, it works almost like in Dark Messiah game, except there's no spikes on the walls and stuff like that could help you kill enemies faster. Btw, why the fuck there isn't any HexWorks (?), it is so obvious and would be so cool to have that option in the game as well, but nope, here comes a missed apportunity that could've helped to differentiate the game from other souls-likes and From games. What is also buffeling to see is the fact that the game is designed in a way to let you kill enemies in a predetermined number of hits. So let's say you can kill one enemy in 4 hits at the start of the game, then you start to go further to new locations, upgrade your weapon a bit... and it'll be the same 4 effin' hits and there's almost always 1 tiny effin HP left before the 4th and final blow. What the fuck is this and who's goddamn "brilliant" idea it was?
Anyway, there's still a lot I can say but when it comes down to it, the game is filled with all sorts of annoying af, stupid and downright idiotic design decision that no one else but HexWorks actually made during development and in their 3D Souls-likes or From for that matter in their games. So why the fuck, HexWorks?! Why did you smeared with shit all this cool and dare I say it, innovative stuff and ideas for a game in this genre which are actually done right (if not exceptional in some places)?! I honestly would like to punch in the face all responsible for this shit, with no ill intent though, I just hate what they did with some parts of the game by making all of these design decisions, which are objectively wrong, bad, shit and made the game worse for no good reason whatsoever. And the worst part about it is that to fix all this shit, they need to redesign how the whole game works, which they obviously are not going to do.
That's it... I'm d... oh, shi...
I'll start off by saying that prior to playing the 2023 reboot, I also played and finished the original Lords of the Fallen 2 times back in 2014 so I know all about it to compare both games to what others did since then, including From. Original game was not good, combat was slow and clunky af, there were no character classes or / and classes at all for that matter, you were basically playing as a melee tank no matter what you do. For the most part it was a very linear and straightforward experience with a very poor story and characters you couldn't give less of a shit. Why have I finished it two times? I honestly can't tell you why, probably cuz it looked great at the time... and back then there wasn't really any other alternative to Souls games and the original LOTF was basically the very first one made with such great visual fidelity. Some call it generic, but I actually think that what the original team had nailed at that time was first and foremost art, art direction and visuals as a whole, but everything else was clearly the first attempt to replicate Souls formula under a different name and IP.
And here comes a reboot, after ~ 10 years, dozens of souls-like's and souls-born's of various quality levels, rolls of toilet paper and face masks. At first and after it was announced, I honestly couldn't care less cuz the original game was bad gameplay wise and I had absolutely zero faith in the new reboot, but visually it looked interesting enough and with a few new mechanics other souls-like's and souls-born's don't have, so I thought... why the fuck not at least try and play it? And so I did... ffs. Ugh, where do I even start... But, okay, let's start with the positives first - believe it or not, this game has them and it's not just visuals (although I'll get back to that later), something I just can't say about the original game.
So, the Umbral world and switching worlds mechanic is effin' amazing, although it's nothing new in the grand scheme of things (various games in the past used it, albeit on a very basic technical level). Some are saying that "Oh, it's too effin' boring to pick up the lamp and slowly walk through the environment" and I can sort of get it you're not into that kind of thing gameplay wise and feel like it slows the action too much, but I like it a lot. First - it looks cool, second - it makes you do something other than just kill dozens of enemies and third - there's environmental puzzles in the game as well, simple enough, but at no point I was bored solving them.
The Umbral world itself looks like a very disturbing take on Giger's work but with a religious take and the environments filled with ash-like stuff, well, at least it looks that way. You can interact with the Umbral world while being in the real one, but it is limited to going through things which are not the Umbral world and vice versa. So for example, you can't go through the gate in the real world, but there's no gate in the Umbral so you can go through it in the real world while holding the lamp, same goes with some bottomless pits etc. But you can't look into the real world while being in the Umbral world, cuz it was designed in the way that you need to be in one or the other to progress or find something, otherwise it'll complicate things too much for no reason. I mean, it's so simple in concept but amazing at the same time.
Why is it amazing? Well, for one, weren't you bored af in almost every souls game (starting with Demon's Souls) while hitting every effin' wall on each map and location to try and find some hidden passages etc.? It's effin' stupid and LOTF 2023 fixed that completely - all you need to do is pick up the lamp and look for it, while also finding ways to go to someplace you can't go to otherwise and it's not always the main path. Moreover, there's also a really cool mechanic involving Umbral enemies which can grab and pull you into the Umbral world while you're searching for the way forward or secrets in the real world, so it's more than just world switching mechanic and it adds to the atmosphere, to the sense of dread and danger, cuz you never know when they'll grab and pull you into the Umbral world. So that's one thing I really like and love about this game cuz not only is it something different and cool, but it is also being used in gameplay and how you're exploring the world while also offering a risk reward system.
The second one is actually the real world in the game called Axione, which is in this really cool gothic-like medieval setting with very, VERY strong religious themes, motifs and symbolism, similar to what you can see in Blasphemous games. I just love the architecture of it, the level of detail, the sheer density of everything, the amazing dark atmosphere of it, animated environments and sounds. They effin' nailed everything perfectly here and I just love being in this world and exploring it, even though it's not a very good place to be in (let alone live). The sense of scale is also second to none, especially when you get out of the main hub for the first time and see just what and how much is under your feet, how far you can see in the distance and this enormous wall of the castle in front of you with bells hanging and ringing in the distance, various stuff floating around in the wind, the sheer amount of stuff you need to traverse and navigate bellow... It's breathtaking.
The third thing they nailed is fashion. There's really great armor and weapons designs here which I really like and especially the dark crusader armor set and weapons, hot damn. I mean, the original game had really cool armor sets, but this one is just on the whole other level of dark awesomeness, similar to Berserk and Blasphemous at the same time. I'm not that far into the game yet but already seen some great shit I can wear and use as weapons. UI design is also great, along with items art etc. The fourth thing is of course visuals and just how amazing the game looks on a pure technical level. I'll go as far as to say that this is the second best looking game in the genre on a technical level after Demon's Souls Remake. While at times it looks a bit flat and okay (mostly when there's a lot of wooden planks around, almost nothing else and it's... well, just boring visually and bad), there's a lot of locations and places in the early game which are amazing showcases of what UE5 can do and no other game in the genre has except Demon's Souls Remake on the PS5. The stone and ground work, the level of detail, the sheer amount of objects, geometry complexity is all next-gen and for sure was worth switching to UE5, even if it caused a shit ton of tech and performance issues in the process which are mostly fixed now? I mean, during the time I've played I haven't seen a single crash to the desktop except one time and I wasn't even in the game and just launched it. I think just one look at these 8K resized screens I made will be enough to see just how amazing this game looks:
First of all, it's not the usual thing when... you know how it happens, the devs aimed too high, decided to do lots of shit, be ambitious af and in the procce... No, that's not what happened here. The world changing thing sounds ambitious, but it's actually not, at least not in the bad way and in the way you may think. So, I already explained what Umbral is, how world switching works and what they did with all this in terms of gameplay and mechanics, this is the good part, the bad part is that they decided to make everything else in it complete shit! They've filled the world with endlessly spawning enemies, one unkillable one to which you can't do shit (even at the end of the game it looks like) and put it all on a effin' timer! But that's not all. Not only there's the fact that the enemies are respawning literally all the time you're in the Umbral, but they're also getting stronger the longer you are in there and they can wipe your ass in numbers even after they've issued a patch to reduce the amount of enemies.
Why it the fuckin fuck?! There's literally no reason for all this at all and especially when it comes to the reaper you can't kill. I can't for the life of me explain why they decided to do this shit in such a bad way and while doing so, killing all the good the world switching mechanic and Umbral world as a whole did for this game and for the souls-like genre when it comes to 3D games. Fucking why, HexWorks? Because there's an experience multiplier in the Umbral? Well, if that's the case, then let me inform you that it adds nothing to the game. The fact that enemies can pull you into the Umbral from Axione is more than enough to make you feel uneasy and couscous while using the lamp, while the sense of dread, the mood and the atmosphere adds to that even more. So why the fuck? It takes a while before the reaper starts to hunt you for sure, but it changes nothing, he just has no place in the world and so do the endlessly spawning enemies. But okay, I can sort of get and accept the fact that enemies are respawning endlessly, fine, I mean, if you're good, you can deal with it while also getting a lot of souls, so it can be another risk reward mechanic, but even this argument falls apart after hitting timer / reaper wall like a train.
Honestly, who the fuck thought that it was a good idea and design decision? So basically, they're not allowing you to explore the Umbral world (one of the best parts of the game) at your own pace, look for secrets, items etc, cuz you're always on a effin' timer and forced to look for a way out as soon as possible cuz otherwise you'll die either cuz of reaper, the sheer number of enemies, stupid enemy placements, cheap enemies hits, fucking snipers everywhere or bad level design with narrow corridors, very tiny passageways around bottomless pits etc. You can deal with the last few problems just like you could and did in the Souls games, but there's no timers, endlessly spawning and unkillable enemies there ffs! So yeah, that's "great". But does it end here? Fuck no, unfortuately.
As I've said, the original game had very clunky combat and it wasn't great or even good, it was servisable at best and terrible at worst. Now, combat in the reboot... how should I say it, hmm,.. it's definitely better than what the original had, but at the same time it's way too floaty, jelly-like and it feels like you're moving at slow motion or in some kind of jelly bobble all the time. Moreover, every time you do something, be it hitting enemies with the sword (I'll get to that shortly) you always move forward, so you can't just stand and swing your weapon, just forget about it. But here's an interesting thing - I NEVER fell to the bottomless pit cuz of this and I honestly don't know how I managed to do it even though I had plenty of close calls. Maybe there's some hidden magic under the hood in play here or maybe I'm just that good at avoiding bottomless pits in this game, I can't effin' tell ya.
And now let's talk about the shit fuckin' show which is broken af and barely working auto lock-on system. It's just... not... working.... at all! Believe me when I say that you'll be CONSTANTLY losing targets, fighting with and hitting the air cuz auto lock-on 90% of the time just turns off and also likes to lock on enemies it likes and not on those you want, so you're constantly fighting with this broken pos shit. Add to that the fact that you're always moving forward during attacks, the fact that there's plenty of very narrow places where you also need to fight with the camera and there's plenty of annoying snipers.... It just turns into a frustration fest very fast when there's a lot of enemies on the screen. But as if that's not enough to make you happy...
Wouldn't it be cool to also pick up the souls you've lost during the last fight and which are lying on the ground, waiting and calling for you to pick them up with a smile on your face? Or.. you know, get them back by... say... well, Idk, just hitting an enemy that killed you once? How nice, convenient and cozy, right!? Ri... WRONG! You, miserable fuck! What is it to you and where do you think you are, in kindergarten!? So yeah, guess what, some enemies like to pick up your lost souls and they WILL NOT give them back to you until you kill them. And wouldn't you know it, of course it is the most annoying af or damage sponge enemies in the game, which are magnetized to you and you can't get away from them that far once they'll start attacking you. So, have fun with that as well, you poor bastard.
Fuck, Agent, so much fuckin' text and it is still not all?! I'm afraid not, my dude.
So, it is encouraged that you use the deflection mechanic in the game and the timing window is actually good... most of the time, but here's the thing - the damage you do with your counter attacks is SHIT! So why even use this mechanic? Also, forget about one hit kill backstabs from souls games as well, here you first need to stagger enemies and only then finishing moves can be performed. There's also a Spartan kick which looks and feels GREAT and you can actually use it a lot and throw lots of enemies to bottomless pits or from high points on the map, it works almost like in Dark Messiah game, except there's no spikes on the walls and stuff like that could help you kill enemies faster. Btw, why the fuck there isn't any HexWorks (?), it is so obvious and would be so cool to have that option in the game as well, but nope, here comes a missed apportunity that could've helped to differentiate the game from other souls-likes and From games. What is also buffeling to see is the fact that the game is designed in a way to let you kill enemies in a predetermined number of hits. So let's say you can kill one enemy in 4 hits at the start of the game, then you start to go further to new locations, upgrade your weapon a bit... and it'll be the same 4 effin' hits and there's almost always 1 tiny effin HP left before the 4th and final blow. What the fuck is this and who's goddamn "brilliant" idea it was?
Anyway, there's still a lot I can say but when it comes down to it, the game is filled with all sorts of annoying af, stupid and downright idiotic design decision that no one else but HexWorks actually made during development and in their 3D Souls-likes or From for that matter in their games. So why the fuck, HexWorks?! Why did you smeared with shit all this cool and dare I say it, innovative stuff and ideas for a game in this genre which are actually done right (if not exceptional in some places)?! I honestly would like to punch in the face all responsible for this shit, with no ill intent though, I just hate what they did with some parts of the game by making all of these design decisions, which are objectively wrong, bad, shit and made the game worse for no good reason whatsoever. And the worst part about it is that to fix all this shit, they need to redesign how the whole game works, which they obviously are not going to do.
That's it... I'm d... oh, shi...
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