What's worse is the game's performance. The developer has frequently updated the game during the review period to make significant improvements, and promises to continue up until public release, but I can't recommend Lords of the Fallen from what I've played. On PS5, the framerate frequently stutters, textures pop in, visual effects like weather are awkwardly blurry, enemy AI is wonkily unpredictable between runs, and there's a horrible film grain on by default to cover the cracks. Initially a bug meant I had to play without sound at all, though this was fixed. Later, a castle area had a frame rate so bad it was practically unplayable - I ignored enemies and ran through it as best I could to just reach the end. This has also since been fixed, by crudely locking a door to block off half the area. I'll leave the full analysis to Digital Foundry, but dying to bosses because stuttering caused mis-timed dodges is not the challenge I want or expect from a Soulslike game. It's a shame, because there are some occasionally beautiful vistas and gruesome designs all powered by Unreal Engine 5, but between the poor performance and unrelentingly dismal greys and browns, Lords of the Fallen is hardly a next-gen Soulslike.
I left the game reflecting on the state of the genre. As close as this might be to a new Dark Souls, FromSoft has continuously iterated on its own formula and - with the open world of Elden Ring in particular - shifted the goalposts. As the likes of Lords of the Fallen and (the superior) Lies of P prove, developers are getting closer to replicating the thrill of the Souls games, but nobody does it like FromSoft can. Why settle for a copy when you can experience the real thing?
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