In Lords of the Fallen, the player takes on the role of Harkyn, a not happy hero, tattooed all over, which makes him a great selling point in the video game. It all starts with the presentation of this hero via a cutscene where our man cuts the evil in the mass with great blows of a sharp blade. End of the cutscene and meeting the first NPC, a monk named Kaslo who will serve you the vast majority of the scenario via multiple choice dialogues. A system that could give the illusion that the player has an impact on the story, or at least on certain aspects of the narrative, if we did not realize after five minutes that our influence is limited to the order of the questions/answers in the dialogue. In short, after reviewing the list, we learn that Harkyn is in fact an ex-con, released on parole by the aforementioned monk in order to save the world. Yes, because an evil God has decided to come and put the area in your little universe by sending his henchmen there: the famous Lords. At this point in the narrative, we understand that the scenario will clearly not have the same scope as on Dark Souls, and that it only exists to satisfy the thirst of the most finicky gamers. The vast majority will leave aside the wacky, badly put together story, which is only vaguely understandable if you peel yourself reading all the scrolls that you pick up on the ground. Lords of the Fallen is a game where you type, but without asking questions.
WORLD OF TANKS
So what about the fights? Here, no doubt, we feel the influence of Dark Souls full nose, whether it is the attacks attributed to the triggers of the controller, the energy bar which encourages you to be economical in movements, or the famous kick to destabilize opponents. Concretely, you must choose at the start among 3 sets of equipment which will define the main characteristics of your character. With Harkyn being the only hero, the changes remain modest regardless of your choice. Basically, you can choose between thief (light but more agile), magician (ranged attacks) or big nag. Only then, no matter your choice, Harkyn will move with the lightness and grace of a Panzer. Choosing rogue gear with light armor improves movement speed a bit, at the cost of almost no protection. Even if it means controlling a tank, you might as well play like a tank, which must have been planned by the developers when you see the amount of heavy equipment available in the loot. Concretely, the combat system is taken from Dark Souls, but a bit more difficult since your hero generally has less life than the enemies, hits less hard, and moves slower. You will have understood, here the art of war is based on the study of the pattern of the enemies, in order to find an opening to place your blow. If the problem is easily corrected by leveling up in order to zigzag low-level enemies more easily, the clashes against the Lords do not have the same flavor. We indeed spend most of the time galloping, or hiding behind our shield while waiting for the window of opportunity to place a slap. Window which is often rare, and very short. If your shot is not placed perfectly in the half second of opportunity, you will have to say goodbye to a good part of your life bar. A requirement for perfect timing that tires quickly, while making the fights endless.
Only then, no matter your choice, Harkyn will move with the lightness and grace of a Panzer. Even if it means controlling a tank, you might as well play like a tank, which must have been planned by the developers when you see the amount of heavy equipment available in the loot.
The game still tries to stand out from its model with a few tricks like the fairly well thought out XP system. Indeed, Deck 13 surfs on your greed by offering a casino-style system to multiply your experience. Basically, the XP amassed during fights can be converted into skill points during save points in order to boost your character's abilities. But if you're confident, you can also choose to keep your XP points in your purse, which grants you tasty multipliers as you leave corpses behind. Only here, if you die, farewell calves, cows and pigs, you will have lost everything, or almost. The developers must have said to themselves that the player should not be too frustrated, already in bad shape by the soothing fights, by adding a ghost system. When you die, a ghostly nebula forms, and you will have a few moments to run from the last save point to recover the remains of your experience materialized in the form of ectoplasm. In addition to a glimmer of permissiveness to the gameplay, this feature is quite practical for farming the experience by zigzagging the same enemies with a vengeance. This may seem lazy, but this tactic has another advantage, that of being able to stay in the same geographical area.
THE GOOD BACKPACKER'S GUIDE!
Because Durant of the Fallen requires a hell of a sense of direction, since your character evolves in fairly basic environments. You will spend your time between the citadel and the world of demons, two places that are atrociously similar in offering only parades of corridors and arenas. And as Harkyn is a real tough guy, he decided to do without the card, a horrible artifice dedicated to casuals. Only then, after a while, we get lost, we go around in circles, and we plague on the speed of movement of the character which becomes downright boring. Moreover, it is not the sets that are all the same that can serve as a point of reference. The style is in the gothic heroic fantasy trend Blizzard Entertainment with oversized armor, gigantic flaming swords and a medieval environment. In short, nothing new, basic, very basic even like the soundtrack of the game which will leave no memories to anyone. Although the game is graphically clean, especially in its PC version, we can only regret a resigned artistic direction, where only your hero and a few Lords stand out with rather polished looks. The same fate has also been done to the side quests which are of no interest, and which the absence of a journal prevents from listing and following. We spend a lot of time finding items from these side quests without remembering their usefulness.
