Having hit a point in Cyberpunk 2077 where I'm high enough level and kitted out with such advanced Chrome that basically no fight is really a challenge anymore, and with what I imagine are a bunch of different bummer endings to choose from (I assume,) I found my attention wandering.
A couple months ago, Lords of the Fallen was one of the free PS+ games, and I decided to uninstall the absurdly enormous Diablo IV (it was over a hundred GB) to make room for it.
I've only played one non-FromSoft Souls-like game before, which was Lies of P, a game that, frankly, did an excellent job of evolving the formula and trying out new and interesting tones and stories.
Lords of the Fallen is a bit more in tune with the Dark Souls-like formula, giving us a medieval fantasy world where barely-explained elements are at play. Ages ago, the demon god Adyr was locked away, and the prison holding them is under threat. While the initial guardians of this were empowered by the benevolent (we assume) deity Orias, it turns out that in order to deal with the evil monsters assaulting the land, we need a "Dark Crusader," who walks outside of Orias' light.
The Dark Crusader carries an Umbral Lantern, which allows them to return from death, and that's our central justification for our character being able to respawn.
One of the core gameplay mechanics that sets the game apart is the Umbral, the realm of the dead that exists in parallel to the living world. When we die, or when we use the Umbral Lantern to go there, we actually transition into the Umbral. This gives us a sort of second chance at life (I believe there's a similar thing in Sekiro, the only FromSoft Souls-like I haven't played). While we can still fight enemies in the living world while in the Umbral, more monsters appear there. But there are also elements of the environment that are different in the Umbral. Bridges seemingly made of massive spinal columns will appear where there are just deadly gaps in the living world, and it seems the Umbral is devoid of water, so deep lakes suddenly become traversable depressions in the ground.
The Umbral is the most impressive thing about the game. Even when we are in the living land, we can shine our lantern into the Umbral Realm, which lets us, for example, pass through gates that are unobstructed - though funnily enough, if we happen to shine the lamp where an Umbral-only monster is, it can attack us.
The Umbral's dual role is where some of the frustration in the gameplay comes from: sometimes you'll need to shift into the Umbral in order to progress through an area, but doing so will also mean you can't get your second chance at life. Leaving the Umbral requires you to either rest at one of the checkpoints (which are flavored as reliquaries of various heroes) or to find certain nodes that allow you out, but which can only be used once until you reset things by dying or resting (the thing that, like most Souls-likes, also respawns enemies).
Combat works similarly to your standard Dark Souls, but like Lies of P, they incorporate a parry mechanic. You can block with a weapon or shield, and this will cause some of your health to become Withered - if you hit the enemy back, you can regain that withered HP. If you perfectly time your block, you won't get withered and you will wear down their stamina. Enough perfect blocks and you will stagger them to get the chance for a critical hit. (So, quite a bit like Lies of P).
Playing on the standard difficulty, the game's opening is pretty forgiving, though I've faced a few challenging areas. Right now, my biggest challenge is just navigating a labyrinthine swamp where enemies use various poison abilities - multiple times, I've found myself looping back around to the checkpoint and not sure where I'm supposed to go to proceed.
In terms of stats, there's the usual Strength and Agility, and Endurance and Vitality give you more Stamina and HP, respectively. For magic stats, there's Radiance and Inferno, with the former allowing you to cast more classical "holy" magic and the latter giving you more kind of warlocky fire magic. There is, however, a third option, which is Umbral magic, which seems to scale with both Radiance and Inferno, kind of like Pyromancy in Dark Souls III (or Death Magic and Golden Order Fundamentalism in Elden Ring).
In terms of story, I'm naturally skeptical about any perceived benevolent authorities. Indeed, after beating the second boss that got a cutscene (I've had three seemingly minor bosses) I was able to get a flashback where someone (I'm given to understand Orias) said something like "Come to Orias, grant me your flesh so I may retain my divinity," which sure seems to suggest that this Orias figure ain't the benign figure that people claim them to be.
So far, it looks like the game is a bit more linear than the likes of Dark Souls or Bloodborne, with regions leading into one another. Our first major boss leads us into our hub where NPCs gather, including, actually, the first major boss, who says she was resurrected by Orias' grace and acts as our healing item upgrader.
The game is pretty cool, but I hit a point going through that swamp area (the Forsaken Fen) where I just started to feel kind of trapped and frustrated and so told myself to take the rest of the day off from it.
I'm also playing this about as blind as I can - normally with this genre of game in particular I try to be a real completionist even on my first playthrough, but I'm just sort of letting it wash over me. I haven't yet tried out any spellcasting, though my plan is to do a mix of Strength and Radiance as my key stats (I just haven't found a weapon that scales with both yet).
