By Leif Johnson
Forty-five minutes passed in Lords of the Fallen before I died for the first time. That's a bit of a surprise for a game that makes no secret of its heavy debts lớn the ultra-punishing Dark Souls series, but the combat I experienced on the way lớn that first death revealed a game that's just as concerned with letting us have fun without the pain. At times it sacrifices too much at the altar of combat accessibility, but it usually makes up for it with a tempting risk-reward system that caters khổng lồ multiple play styles, and through the arcadey pleasures of hacking và slashing for loot.
Bạn đang xem: Lord of the fallen đánh giá
Lords of the Fallen’s formulaic story follows Harkyn, a gruff criminal who's pulled from behind bars khổng lồ save the world from interdimensional monsters called the Rhogar. We’re never told the nature of his crimes, however, & Lords repeatedly introduces other characters with only a modicum of characterization. Even the big bad guy behind it all gets only around three minutes of screen time. When the plot tries for a shocking twist near the over of its roughly 17-hour story, it's hard khổng lồ care about anyone involved.The story wants lớn be something greater, but never quite attains it. It peppers its cutscenes with choices such as whether to lớn chop a monk's infected arm off or leave it to fester, but sbaoveangiang.comificance feels minimal aside from alterations lớn the final scene after the last quái thú falls over. Far more interesting are the audio snippets of lore waiting in scrolls scattered about the world of Keystone, which help Harkyn's world come to life in a way it never manages with the main cast of characters in play.
It's generally a good looking world, although aside from the welcome lengthy jaunt into the Rhogar homeworld, it’s composed of the usual crumbling castles & snowy peaks. (I lượt thích to think that it would have been more interesting had the Rhogar world featured something else besides, well, more crumbling castles và snowy peak.) All in all, I was more fascinated by the look of the gear than the landscape; the bulky, comic book kiến thiết of characters and weaponry is less "prepare to lớn die" and more “let’s kick some ass.”
As it turns out, that attitude doesn’t undermine the joys of combat. Blocking attacks and rolling out of harm's way is essential in Lords of the Fallen, at least for the first few hours. Harkyn also encounters some fascinating creatures along the way, such as vaguely Cthulhu-type figures who breathe fire or giant spiders who spew venom. They're certainly not pushovers, but neither are they even close in difficulty to lớn the monsters Dark Souls fans are used to. In fact, on the mandatory first playthrough before the New game Plus is enabled, encounters seem balanced for people who were scared away from Dark Souls’ unrelenting emphasis on hardcore play.
Lords of the Fallen concerns itself more with arcade-quality fun, và it complements this focus with a Diablo-style loot system that drops ever-better weapons & gear from both chests and enemies. The weapons themselves are fun khổng lồ use, whether it's a customizable magic gauntlet for ranged combat or impressive-looking weapons lượt thích scythes & staves. It rewards you at almost every turn, whether it's with chests crammed with entire gear sets or with the hidden challenge portals that pop up after you defeat a boss, allowing you to fight off three waves of enemies for the promise of a chest crammed with loot.Getting into the sword-swing of things reveals a fun hack-and-slash combat experience that feels closer khổng lồ the beat-em-up style of Darksiders than Dark Souls' high-stakes deuling. You can charge up attacks for more force, for instance, and you can minimize the energy needed lớn swing Harkyn's hefty weapons through carefully timed combos. You're locked into one of three sets of four spells for warrior, rogue, or cleric playstyles for the first playthrough, but I did feel I had a fair amount of freedom to lớn play Harkyn as I chose. The biggest issue is that the class skills are wildly overpowered when fully upgraded.I played as a Warrior, & early on I picked up a Rage spell that boosted my damage và briefly removed the need for energy/stamina requirements, thus trivializing fights that previously forced me lớn conserve my energy for shield blocks. Yet another spell sends the ghost of a warrior rushing toward a foe, staggering them & allowing me khổng lồ score hits against even heavily shielded enemies. Yet the greatest of these is Quake, which summons a massive spirit who smites my enemy with a mighty thud of the hammer. Maxxed out and complemented with high magic, it makes even the toughest bosses a joke. Once you've completed the game with one class's spells, you can unlock one of the two additional ones or New Game+. In my case, having beat the game as a Warrior, I'm fleshing out the Rogue spell tree for my second playthrough. By the time I have all three unlocked at once for the third playthrough, Harkyn should be ready to lớn take over as the world's god.
At the same time, Lords of the Fallen tries to increase its challenge in indirect ways. Just lượt thích Dark Souls, it makes you return to the scene of your death lớn recover lost XP, for instance, but it ups the ante by attaching a timer to lớn the XP pile. Take too long to lớn fight your way back, and it disappears forever. Glowing gems that serve as checkpoints và potion-filling stations allow you to lớn play it safe by storing XP in them for use with either magic or attributes, or you can be more ambitious and baoveangiang.comore them lớn build up an XP multiplier that increases with each kill. It even discourages grinding by not triggering enemy respawns after you reach a checkpoint; they only pop up again after you die. This risk-reward system is the great idea behind Lords of the Fallen.It's a good system, particularly since there's no way khổng lồ adjust the difficulty, so it's sad to lớn watch Lords of The Fallen make it irrelevant in the second half of the campabaoveangiang.com by allowing you to lớn reach quasi-godhood with little effort. The class spells had already minimized most of the challenge, but looted runes that bestow stats such as extra attack power nguồn or defense make humiliating enemies even simpler once you slot it into your gear. & that's not the end of it. If you're willing lớn bet some of your XP at the resident rune crafter, you have a good chance of receiving an even more powerful version.
This balance issue carries over to lớn the bosses. Lords of the Fallen boasts a couple of battles that forced me lớn think out strategies for victory, but I managed to kill four other bosses on the first try by simply wailing on them with a big sword và my warrior's Quake spell while blocking và swigging a potion when needed. That's not lớn say it wasn't fun, but dying at the hands of a trùm cuối on the first try became a mere annoyance rather than the first step in a rewarding learning experience. Halfway through the campabaoveangiang.com, I absolutely expected lớn win every fight as long as I played within my comfort zone, and that's a problem.Heavy armor pushes this drive toward absolute power khổng lồ absurd lengths. In time, my Harkyn seemed lớn laugh off heavy blows even without the extra help from spells. The challenges vì grow consistently tougher & more satisfying once you complete a playthrough & venture into New trò chơi Plus territory, but it's a shame you have to wait.
Lords of the Fallen delivers entertaining hack-and-slash combat centered on combos và spells, but its risk-based reward system seems slightly out of place in a world where its nhân vật so easily achieves great power & defense & makes risk obsolete. It achieves its goal of creating a more accessible Dark Souls-style experience, but unfortunately it goes a step or two too far.Note: Lords of the Fallen is also available on Xbox One & PlayStation 4.