![]() Some of the enemies come sporting what seem unblockable, high damage attacks, and there are some cheap surprise ambushes built in. At the opening you’re hopelessly equipped and it takes time to find your way into the rhythm. ![]() Where Dark Souls can be opaque, sending beginners scurrying to forums and FAQs, Lords of the Fallen is a lot more welcoming, with optional tutorials and an approach that says ‘don’t worry if you make a poor choice now. You can further modify your character by opting for light, medium or heavy armour, or choosing different weapons, allowing you to quite radically switch how fast you strike and dodge, or how resistant you are to incoming attacks. Character creation restricts you to three classes and three schools of magic, giving you a choice of warrior, rogue and cleric archetypes you can customise with a choice of primarily offensive, defensive or diversionary spells. Lords of the Fallen even throws in a fairly powerful ranged weapon early on, which you can switch to when you’re under fire, or when you need to thin down enemy ranks before rushing into battle. Cleverly, the ghost that holds your XP when you die can be used as to heal if you stand in close proximity, which can be enough to help you survive a tough boss battle. Checkpoints are placed where you want them – at the opening of an area, or where you’re about to meet one of the game’s titular bosses – and it’s relatively easy to level up and build your attributes and magical abilities, even if it involves a bit of fight, die, repeat along the way. Enemies are revived and reset when you die, but not when you save, so there’s no penalty for what Dark Souls sees as excessive caution. Mechanically, it’s very solid – and even a little more forgiving than its inspiration. It’s a game that puts emphasis on carefully timed blocks and dodges, and on understanding the rhythm of light and heavy blows, not to mention how these differ from a shortsword to a greataxe. It’s a game where you’ll die quite a bit, and then face a scramble to retrieve your ghost and associated XP with the risk that you might die again and lost the lot. This is a game of making your way carefully around dark corridors and along crumbling battlements, tactically slicing and dicing your way through creepy knights and shambling monsters, hunting for loot and anxiously banking XP to level up. You might be collecting XP rather than Souls and trading it in at weird crimson floating checkpoints, but the basic mechanics of gameplay are practically identical. Nearly everything you know and love or hate about From Software’s gloomy masterpiece is here, from the weighty, almost physical approach to combat to the way the world and your enemies reset every time you die. Let’s not beat around the bush: Lords of the Fallen is at best a homage to Dark Souls, and at worst a cover version. ![]() Available on Xbox One, PS4 (reviewed), PC ![]()
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