A lot of studios have tried to jury-rig their own-brand Dark Souls. I'm happy to report that, after four hours with Lords of the Fallen's 2023 reboot, Hexwork's new take doesn't try to reinvent the wheel. Instead, its devs are building a custom ride using a tried-and-true frame, with a big hunk of weird Umbral nitrous strapped to its engine.
Lords of the Fallen has a troubled past. Its namesake, a 2014 attempt at the soulslike genre, was viewed by some gamers to be a hollow imitation of the real thing—one of the first outsiders to take a stab at cashing in on the surprise successes of Demon Souls and Dark Souls.
