Many have passed Lords of the Fallen off as a 'Dark Souls clone', and being the Souls series as about as accessible as the third year of a philosophy degree on Roland Barthes (had to use that knowledge somewhere) it doesn't make for a great many people giving this a chance. For those that like their games to actively swipe away any attempts at handholding and would rather work their way to completion in a very meaningful way, Lords is that quintessentially enjoyable Souls-ian experience, filtered through some great refinements that elevate your time with it into far more immediately enjoyable territory. This comes in the form of a number of improvements put in place when it comes to inventory management and quick-access in the field, a steady stream of new weapons and items, checkpoint placement and overall presentation that takes full advantage of next-gen graphical horsepower. Along with a world that's comprised of an interconnected set of areas (something sorely missing from Dark Souls II) there's also a gambling mechanic when it comes to banking your XP at each major checkpoint. Say you've just felled a boss and got a hefty stack of around 20,000 souls, if you hang onto them and push forward you'll accrue multipliers for every sequential enemy killed - but if you're then brought down you'll lose the lot and reset the multiplier. Do you bank your experience and level up or risk it all for even greater rewards? It's this mechanic alone that plays on every Dark Souls fan's explorative tendencies, and lets you play around with just how confident you are at reaching that next checkpoint in one piece.
