The Adherence of Lords of the Fallen to Dark Souls Mechanics and its Limitations

Lords of the Fallen (LotF) took heavy inspiration from the Souls series, particularly Dark Souls, in its gameplay systems. However, its direct adherence to DS’s outdated jumping mechanic presents issues. This article explores how LoF emulates DS, the problems with its platforming, and performance concerns.

Highlights

• LoF draws from DS but its jump control hinders exploring its intricate worlds
• The game requires mastering cumbersome jump controls for many platforming sections vital to progress
• Choppy visuals and performance issues compound frustration from finicky controls, leading to accidental deaths
• Its respawn mechanic can result in permanently lost progress due to impossible platforming challenges

LoF’s Influence on Dark Souls

• LoF traces much of its DNA to FromSoftware through overtly channeling DS, including combat, art direction, tone, and world design. While aiming to match DS’s quality is admirable, directly adopting its dated jumping posed issues given LoF’s extensive platforming.

Abundant Platforming Exacerbates Jumping Woes

• Unlike DS where jumping wasn’t often needed, LoF features many platforming areas crucial to progression. This spotlighted flaws in replicating DS’s convoluted jump control, hindering navigating its intricate levels. A dedicated jump button would have aided these challenging sections

Persistent Performance Issues Compound Frustration

• On top of an outdated jump mechanic, LoF still suffered occasional stuttering and framerate dips at launch. This choppy presentation paired with an imprecise jump led to unintentional deaths. Its resurrection also could spawn players somewhere platforming was implausible, wasting progress.

Concluding Thoughts

• While lords of the fallen Items succeeded in many ways in emulating DS’s acclaimed formula, some elements were better left in the past. Its extensive platforming highlighted the shortcomings of copying DS1’s jumping. Still, LoF showed promise that with refining like jumping and loading, future Souls-likes from this studio could improve on an already solid foundation.