Lords of the Fallen Preview - PAX Prime 2013

With the Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings, Tomasz Gop was able to produce a product that found a blend between the hardcore player, who loves to drown themselves in the difficulty of Dark Souls, and the Elder Scrolls nerd who spends time engaging strangers in conversation or picking up side quests. The Witcher 2 shoved the Witcher series into the limelight and put CD Projekt RED on the developer map. However, in June of 2011, Gop announced that he would be leaving CD Projekt RED, reemerging in early 2012 to reveal that he was working on a new RPG project for City Interactive. This project, Lords of the Fallen, was behind closed doors at PAX Prime, presented by Gop himself.

Sitting on a stool, controller in his hands, Gop tells us about the world he is going to show off. The producer talks about powerful deities who were defeated by mere mortals and draws our attention to the mountains in the games most prominent piece of artwork. “These mountains--they look like fingers,” He says, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “But many people would say, ‘you’re crazy, they’re just mountains’. Things have been forgotten that should not have been.”

This is where our protagonist, Harkyn, enters the picture. While the man’s past is a mystery that Gop is not willing to elaborate on, he draws attention to the man’s facial tattoos, something that is important to his past. Harkyn has journeyed to ancient ruins amidst the “finger-like” mountains, in order to dig into the history and unravel the secrets of the past.

While there is no way to customize the main character’s look, name, or gender, you can choose a class. Gop selected the cleric class for starters, however, this interpretation was less about holy magic and healing. Instead of old tomes and holy writ, Fallen’s version of a cleric wields a giant, two-handed warhammer. Armed with this weapon, Harkyn enters an abandoned monastery, accompanied by a mentor character, from whom he is quickly separated.

Harkyn continues into what looks like church and is confronted by an enemy, large and armored, sporting a battle axe. As the enemy swings its cumbersome, two-handed axe at Harkyn, Gop sets about dodging back and forth, showing us how gaining a tactical advantage and striking at the opportune moment can make an enemy of this size manageable. But before Harkyn can vanquish the massive mound of metal, the enemy lands a blow with its axe, slicing away a significant chunk of Harkyn’s health. It becomes clear that while some enemies may be slow, they will make up for their lack of speed with punishing damage.

In the next room we get our first look at a Lord. The game’s titular bosses are all different from one another, but this one has a very demon-esque look, armed with a claymore and protected by massive slabs of plated armor. The Lords are fought in stages, in this instance, after beating down the Lord’s health to a certain level he would discard a piece of his armor and change his attack pattern. There’s an old-school sense to these boss fights. They don’t feel particularly dynamic, but make the player hang back, study tactics, and then move in. The stages of the boss fight are clearly marked on the Lord’s health bar, so that players can measure their progress in the fight. “I hope that this can keep players coming back. If they know ‘oh, I almost got him’ they will want try again,” Gop says after he has slain the foe.

In between fights, Lords of the Fallen seems like you standard action-RPG. Skills are unlocked and Harkyn is upgraded in large chunks rather than depositing minute stats bumps into different categories. Gop also stresses the desire to allow players to choose their play style, something that seems very important to him. While Lords of the Fallen is bound to draw Dark Souls comparisons based on its dark fantasy setting and one-on-one combat scheme, this is where the two differ. While Dark Souls often leaves one opening for a player to strike, demanding that the player discover, then adapt to their enemy, Gop wants players to create their own openings.

To illustrate how the game can change depending upon strategy, Gop switches from the cleric class, and its two handed war hammer, to the rogue class. The difference is instantly noticeable as Harkyn’s armor has gone from heavy mail, with white robes, to dark leather armor. Harkyn’s war hammer has also been traded for a pair of knives.

Leveling up after his battle with the Lord, Gop was able to learn a spell to help him in combat. This spell allows Harkyn to create a decoy of himself, distracting enemies. This is particularly suited to rogue’s style of fighting as the decoy is used to lure enemies in, while Harkyn slips behind them and deals serious damage. The next enemy also shows how strategy can play a key part in the game. While previous enemies have been slow and plodding, this one is quick, matching Harkyn’s rouge-speed. Gop dodges around the enemy, the two combatants flipping around the room like dancers rather than fighters. Finally Gop is able to land a combination of strikes, showing that while the rogue can’t deal damage like other classes, it can string together attacks that get results.

Our demonstration concludes, but Gop is still willing to talk more. There’s an obvious excitement in his words, an eagerness to discuss his new project. Instead of asking for questions after finishing, he asks for feedback on the game. The project is exciting and beautiful, showing the future of next-gen in stunning fashion with an in-house game engine. There are obvious comparisons that are invited by the mechanics of Lords of the Fallen, but Gop stresses that rather than look at modern-day games, his team revisited beloved retro classics for inspiration. This makes sense given the nature of the boss battles and the mechanics-heavy combat, Lords of the Fallen is a game that relies far more on player intelligence than its RPG systems. Look for Lords of the Fallen in 2014 on all next-gen platforms and PC.