A new Lords of the Fallen gameplay video is here to take us on a brief tour of its beautiful but harrowing geography.
First thing's first, we're off to see a new boss. The Lords of the Fallen gameplay showcase goes big rather than going home, opening with a boss fight against the imposing Pieter right at the start. The duel is chock-full of riposte attacks, parries, dodges, and brutal visceral hits that seamlessly chain together both ranged and close-quarters abilities.
There's also Umbral, the land of the dead, and Axiom, the land of the living, to traverse. Dying in Lords of the Fallen mean you go from the land of the living to the land of the dead, so it's not immediately game over. Each realm offers in its own unique pathways, loot, enemies, and more throughout the action-RPG, so the two realms are much more than just a reskin of each other.
You can actually switch from the land of the living to the land of the dead at any time, but doing so will cost you one of your lives. From the new gameplay trailer, it looks like this will be pretty integral to exploration in Lords of the Fallen - if you're at the end of a pathway with seemingly nowhere else to go, you can use a mystical lamp to peer into the other realm and search for viable pathways there.
Then we're off to Pilgrim's Perch, a small series of huts and walkways built into the side of a stormy cliff. Pilgrim's Perch is doing a great Blighttown impression, albeit not underground. But the sheer verticality of the level design and the complexity of the entire layout brings to mind the more harrowing hours of the original Dark Souls.
There's also the flashy Soul Flare ability, which literally lets us rip out the soul of an enemy and temporarily bind them in place for some huge damage. Summoning an ally looks refreshingly easy in Lords of the Fallen as well - just select a random player or friend at a checkpoint Vestige, and they'll stick around for as long as you want them to.
Lords of the Fallen's reboot launches later this year on October 13 across PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. From this gameplay video, the latest entry in the Soulslike series looks to be equal parts horrific and gleefully entertaining.
You can read our Lords of the Fallen interview from just last month to learn more about what developer Hexworks is bringing the table.
