Warning: The following article on how Lords of the Fallen’s mobs are frustrating rather than challenging contains spoilers for the game.
At around the halfway point of Lords of the Fallen, I realized I was skipping about 80% of the game. That’s an odd realization to make, considering that I was still hunting down and defeating every optional boss between the stage-setting main boss battles. Yet those were the ONLY parts of the game I was engaging with. I ignored or sprinted through every corridor, maze, forest path, dungeon etc. without so much as glancing at all the care placed into bringing what is quite a vibrant (if grungy) world to life. While it’s common practice for Soulslike players to sprint through areas they’ve already explored, avoiding any and all enemies in their path, I was doing that with NEW locations. Effectively ignoring every foe in my path and dashing straight to the next Vestige, it dawned on me that while I enjoyed many aspects of Lords of the Fallen, I LOATHED every space between the boss fights for one simple reason: Mobs.
Lords of the Fallen fundamentally misunderstands difficulty, which is a grand statement to make, especially when it’s trying to play ball with titans of the genre like Dark Souls and the recently-released but instant classic Lies of P. In the world of Lords of the Fallen, challenge simply means “More enemies.” Not more “unique” enemies, mind you. Not fun reworks of established enemies to keep you on your toes and subvert expectations. No, just droves upon droves of lesser foes that do nothing but get in the way and gank you to such an extent that the games feel like a match of DOTA 2 at times.
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The reason I opted to skip playing through the bulk of Lords of the Fallen and chose to avoid nearly all exploration is that, frankly, I couldn’t be arsed. The game INSISTS on throwing dozens upon dozens of enemies at you at once which, honestly, would be fine did it not reek of a design philosophy that equates tedium to challenge. Dark Souls II does something similar but the difference is that the combat system of FromSoftware’s games is tight enough that it allows for brawls against small groups. Notice I said “small” groups. I think the most you’ll ever have gunning for you is, what, five swordsmen and an archer? While running through one particularly frozen fortress of Lords of the Fallen, I counted nearly 12 enemies assaulting me at once, not counting the two invisible archers pelting arrows in my direction. Solaire would never.
Now, if the combat system was built to allow for engagements with so many foes, that wouldn’t be an issue. Bring on Lords of the Fallen Devil May Cry! The problem is that it’s simply not good enough (or just not designed) to allow players to engage in musou-esque encounters. Attacks don’t have enough weight, movement feels too floaty, and more often than not, if there are six zombie-things standing in front of you, you’ll only be able to hit three at a time. If you hold up your shield to block, don’t bother. Getting hit by multiple foes at once is just an instant game over since they can bounce you around like a stunlocked volleyball. Sure, the fault’s on me for getting hit. But like, can you give me a chance to just breathe, game?
I understand that this might just sound like a rant from someone who got frustrated playing a very hard game. “Go back to Viva Piñata, you coward!” some undesirable dreg no doubt shouts upon their throne of unearned superiority. Having said that, I think it’s easy to provide evidence that Lords of the Fallen doesn’t understand standard enemy encounters, and funnily enough, it’s evidenced by how it treats some of the boss fights.
To Be a Boss or a Mob
More than a few times throughout your travels in Axiom and Umbra, you’ll likely come across a boss fight that feels… out of place. Not that it’s too easy but too… simple, if that makes sense? I first encountered this during the confrontation with the Infernal Enchantress. She’s got a health bar like a boss but something about her presentation, the move set felt… common. The fact that she employed the gimmick of a forced transition into Umbra to eliminate her glowing balls of invulnerability felt like an attempt to artificially stitch on a layer of challenge to an otherwise ordinary monster.
Lo and behold, about 30 minutes after defeating the Infernal Enchantress, I stumbled upon her again. Just… hanging out in the street, no invincibility, just chilling (burning?) with the average-joe zombies shambling about Calrath. Nothing instantly kills a feeling of satisfaction and enthusiasm like Lords of the Fallen effectively saying, “Hey, remember that boss fight you struggled with for ages? Yeah, do it again but this time there’ll be six mobs glued to your bum and you won’t get a cool reward for your effort.” Or, you know, I could just run past and pretend I never saw, evoking some life skills that everyone living in a small town has no doubt mastered. I don’t know what sounds less fun, engaging with a “Gotcha!” encounter that leaves me feeling frustrated or just pretending she’s not there, effectively not engaging at all.
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It was at this point that I began to predict which boss encounters were “real” and which served as, for want of a better word, filler. The Skinstealer? Yeah, you’ll fit him again 10 minutes after his boss fight. Kinrangr Guardian? Get ready for two of him at a time just a couple of minutes after defeating the original in an encounter that feels so cheap due to another invulnerability mechanic and the inclusion of three of the most aggressive mobs in the entire game. I almost put the controller down for good. It speaks to a lack of confidence, I think. It feels like Lords of the Fallen thinks it’s not good enough to play in the big leagues so it tries its best to fit in with the crowd only to fall flat on its face.
It reminds me of when I was in school and spinning tops were all the rage. We used to carry around string in our pockets to let those bad boys rip. Cheap little plastic knobs of joy, they were great because everyone could afford them. For a while, it felt like the most harmless kind of popularity. Until one kid rocked up with a Beyblade and proclaimed himself to be part of the crowd. Like, technically you do have a spinning top but there’s so much extraneous junk strapped onto it that it just feels like you’re trying too hard. Mistaking an aesthetic, a concept, for substance. Substituting personality and growth for a quick fix to get your foot in the door but never going so far as to open it yourself.
What this all gets back to, I think, is how the Soulslike genre is often too focused on difficulty above all else. I think FromSoftware’s games get away with being so punishing because so much thought has gone into every encounter; from Ornstein and Smough to a meek Hollowed Archer, every enemy, its placement in the world, and its interaction with the player feels so intentional and meticulously planned that death never feels unfair. Actually, scratch that. Unfair is the wrong word. Cheap, that’s better.
Lords of the Fallen, in an effort to capture the essence of Dark Souls, glances over precision and instead manufactures challenge with cheap encounters that don’t feel earned. Dying to a horde of 12 enemies because the lock-on system is too finicky and the combat mechanics too floaty isn’t unfair per se. It just feels like the game couldn’t think of a smarter way to press the player. At best, it feels like unconfident game design, and at worst, it’s a lazy replacement for meaningful difficulty and subsequent satisfaction that entails.
This rant isn’t to say that Lords of the Fallen isn’t an unsalvagably bad game. In fact, I think there are parts that are genuinely fantastic. I love the use of two planes of existence and the ability to seamlessly peer into another dimension is so cool that I hope a sequel leans more into that. The weapon variety is gigantic and the level of build customization is one of the more robust offerings in the genre. There’s a lot to love for players who both adore Soulikes and have never been exposed all that much to them.
It’s just a shame that Lords of the Fallen supplants difficulty with cheap and manufactured trials that undermine the rest of the experience. I would LOVE to see the spaces between Vestiges, it feels like some level designs probably spent ages crafting those routs, but do I feel like wasting hours of time dealing with the most repetitive, one-note enemies? No thanks. Speedrun strats for me, I guess.
