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Lords of the Fallen on mobiles is 'brand new,' not a port
The Lords of the Fallen game coming to iOS and Android isn't a port of this year's console and PC game. In a statement provided to Joystiq, CI Games CEO Marek Tyminski confirmed the mobile game is instead a "brand new" experience. Tyminski also said the Lords of the Fallen sequel announced earlier this week is in development for PS4, Xbox One and PC. Tyminski's statement in full reads: "I can confirm that the statements made recently to the local Polish media at a press conference earlier this week in Warsaw, and mentioned on Facebook by Executive Producer Tomasz Gop, are true: a Lords of the Fallen sequel is currently in development for PC, PS4 and Xbox One. The reaction from fans to the news has been tremendous so far, and we're eager to take on the challenge of improving upon the solid experience that has been created with Lords of The Fallen. "I'd also like to offer some new information - we're currently working on a mobile game that takes place in the Lords of the Fallen universe, which we're aiming to launch on iOS and Android in 2015. It will not be a straight port of the game though, but rather a brand new Lords of the Fallen experience. More details on that are still to come."
Lords of the Fallen 'will be released' on iOS, Android [update]
Action-RPG Lords of the Fallen is bringing its dark, fantastical challenges to iOS and Android next year, CI Games announced. The publisher's wording in a tweet published last night would seem to indicate a port of the PS4, Xbox One and PC game, though that's not stated explicitly. We've reached out to CI Games for clarification. The news arrives hot on the heels of confirmation that a Lords of the Fallen sequel is in the early stages of development. Executive Producer Tomasz Gop revealed conceptual work on what he dubbed "Lords of the Fallen 2" has already begun. Update: CI Games says the Lords of the Fallen mobile game isn't a port of this years' console and PC action-RPG. More details here.
'Lords of the Fallen 2' in early stages of development
It looks like Bandai Namco's other brutally punishing action RPG, Lords of the Fallen, is getting a sequel. The news comes by way of developer CI Games executive producer Tomasz Gop, who confirmed on Facebook (and also to Eurogamer) that development on the sequel's "vision and concepts" has begun. Gop refers to the game simply as "Lords of the Fallen 2," though we fully expect a grim subtitle to be tacked on at some point. Lords of the Fallen 2: Dim Spirits, perhaps. Our own review of Lords of the Fallen praised the game's departures from the Dark Souls series, with which it shares a great deal, but ultimately found that "there comes a point at which it has no more tricks up its sleeve." [Image: Bandai Namco]
Countdown to 2015 Xbox sale starts: Dark Souls 2, Resident Evil, more
Microsoft kicked off its "Countdown to 2015" sale today on the Xbox Store, discounting a myriad of games with bigger price cuts for Xbox Live Gold members. This week's deals are good until December 22 and feature Lords of the Fallen at 40 percent off, Thief at 67 percent off, Wolfenstein: The New Order for half-price and The Evil Within at half-off as well for Xbox One, among a slew of other games. Microsoft also discounted The Crew/Assassin's Creed: Unity as well as The Crew/Far Cry 4 bundles by 25 percent for the week. Two Xbox One games are also on sale for today only: Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and its season pass are each 33 percent off and Lego: The Hobbit is 50 percent off. Among the many Xbox 360 games on sale this week, Dark Souls 2 is half-off, Tomb Raider is 67 percent off, Halo: Spartan Assault and Dance Central 3 are each 67 percent off and BioShock Infinite's price is slashed by 85 percent. A handful of games in the Resident Evil series are discounted this week as well, such as Resident Evil 5, Revelations and Code Veronica X by 67 percent each, Raccoon City by 75 percent and Resident Evil 6 by 50 percent. Lego: The Hobbit is also discounted by 67 percent on Xbox 360 for today only, and Lego Lord of the Rings is 75 percent off. The full list of this week's deals can be found after the break.
Joystiq Weekly: Free Radical's Haze, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Tony Hawk and more
Welcome to Joystiq Weekly, a "too long; didn't read" of each week's biggest stories, reviews and original content. Each category's top story is introduced with a reactionary gif, because moving pictures aren't just for The Daily Prophet. Yes okay, BlizzCon 2014 was full of announcements. A new team-based shooter called Overwatch, a Hearthstone expansion, Warcraft movie details, the next StarCraft 2 expansion ... Blizzard fans have plenty to look forward to. Thanks to an unexpected announcement however, Tony Hawk fans also have something to look forward to (or dread, depending on cynicism) in the form of a 2015 console game. Sure, the Skate series was a cool take on realistic tricks, but we wouldn't mind getting back to the outlandish challenges, yellow-text specials and SKATE letters of the original killer skateboarding series. If you've never enjoyed injury-supplementing planks of wood with wheels, there's still plenty of good stuff from this week. News of Grand Theft Auto 5's first person mode, reviews for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and Lords of the Fallen, a feature exploring the development of the unfortunate PS3-exclusive Haze, and more is all waiting for you after the break!
Metareview: Lords of the Fallen
It appears reviewers do not take the same masochistic pleasure from Lords of the Fallen as they did from similar games like Demon's Souls and Dark Souls. Critical reception to the game veered mostly toward the lower end of the acceptable spectrum, with reviews noting Lords of the Fallen was a little close to its source material and didn't move the self-flagellation genre forward. Our own review said that "when Lords of the Fallen stops providing the challenge, its other objective flaws are highlighted."
Lords of the Fallen heads to the library in winter DLC pack
The first expansion to Lords of the Fallen will arrive this winter, developer CI Games announced. Going by the name Ancient Labyrinth, the downloadable content will focus on puzzle-solving in a new location known as The Library, which includes the history of the hero Harkyn's world as well as a magical power-shifting Lord to battle. Without getting into specifics, CI Games also revealed that Ancient Labyrinth will feature new NPCs to interact with, side-quests to complete and gear to equip. Since its late October launch, Lords of the Fallen sold over 200,000 and shipped 700,000 copies to retailers, executive producer Tomasz Gop told Eurogamer. The developer also noted that it needed to ship half a million copies in order to break even on its 42m Polish zloty ($12.3 million) development costs. Our review of the Dark Souls-like game did find the game tedious after some time, though there was "definitely satisfaction to be had" with the game. [Image: CI Games]
Lords of the Fallen review: Fallin' in and out of love with you
PC, Xbox One, PS4 There is a brand of player that sees impossible odds, sees fiery, poisonous, roaring death from all directions, and greets it all with an insane grin – and then turns up the difficulty. For everyone else, there's Lords of the Fallen. This is not a necessarily an insult. There is no shame whatsoever in Lords of the Fallen being what many will immediately identify as a brazen riff on the special niche From Software has built for themselves with the Dark Souls series, especially when it's in the interest of a much more accessible game. Accessible is a good thing. Inferior, however, is not. There's plenty of both to be found here.
Lords of the Fallen dev addresses complaints about slow-moving characters
Lords of the Fallen, the Dark Souls-ian role-playing game from Deck 13 and City Interactive, has had trouble communicating what it's all about to potential players ahead of its release on October 28. Looking to better explain his game, Tomasz Gop of City Interactive released a video detailing the different ways Lords of the Fallen can be played. Following a number of YouTube videos and live streams of the game, Gop moved to address criticisms that characters move too slowly. "The first thing I wanted to talk about it movement speed," said Gop. "We don't believe the game is too slow or too fast for anybody because you can adjust quite easily the way that you move." He goes on to explain how weapon and armor choice significantly change the speed with which your chosen character can dodge and block attacks. Gop also reiterates that the game will take approximately 50 hours to complete, and that as with nearly all role-playing games characters change dramatically over that time. Joystiq's own time with Lords of the Fallen during preview sessions at E3 demonstrated how difficult it is to get a sense of the full range of character options with just a short time with the game. [Images: City Interactive]
Report: Lords of the Fallen PS4 is 1080p, Xbox One is 900p
The only difference between the Xbox One and PS4 versions of Lords of the Fallen is in the resolution: Xbox One is 900p, while PS4 is 1080p, City Interactive Executive Producer Tomasz Gop tells VideoGamer. "Probably the resolution [on Xbox One] is like 900p instead of 1080p on PlayStation 4," Gop says. "But apart from that there's nothing different, I would say." Lords of the Fallen is a dark fantasy RPG due out on Xbox One, PS4 and PC on October 28 in North America. Gop first compared Lords of the Fallen to Borderlands and Dark Souls, and he later told Joystiq that it was a complicated, strategy-inspired game. "You can imagine Lords of the Fallen as a game that has all the layers, all the complexity, all the mechanics, all the elements of very advanced tactical combat," Gop said. "But it's not being mindlessly punishing at the same time." [Image: City Interactive]
Pre-order Lords of the Fallen for bonus weapons, story DLC
Square Enix announced a "Day One Edition" for Lords of the Fallen, the third-person action RPG developed by Deck 13 Interactive and CI Games. The limited edition version grants pre-order buyers exclusive story DLC as well as extra weapons and the game's official soundtrack. Those pre-ordering the game through GameStop will receive a free upgrade to the Day One Edition while supplies last. While there's no clear indication that the special edition of the game is limited to GameStop customers, the game's official pre-order page sure makes it seem that way at the moment. The Lords of the Fallen limited edition includes the Monk's Decipher DLC and Demonic Weapons Pack. The latter features three items: The Margyr daggers, a Thehk hammer and the Ihir sword. The game was first shown off at Gamescom 2013 this past August and is scheduled to arrive on October 28 for PS4, Xbox One and PC courtesy of Bandai Namco. It can't seem to escape comparisons to From Software's Dark Souls series; at least that was a main takeaway from our time with the game at E3. [Image: Bandai Namco]
Lords of the Fallen challenges you to pick it up in October
Lords of the Fallen brings its dark fantasy action-RPG gameplay to North America on October 28, with Europe penciled in for October 31. No word yet on US prices, but in the UK it'll be priced £50 on PS4 and Xbox One, and £30 on PC. Lords of the Fallen pits you as Harkyn, a convict and a meaty slab of a man who has to step up when the army of a fallen god threatens his world. That unyielding world is matched by combat and gameplay systems designed to keep players on their toes, rather than going in with gung-ho recklessness. According to Executive Producer Tomasz Gop, the third-person action-RPG "has all the layers, all the complexity, all the mechanics, all the elements of very advanced tactical combat." For more on Lords of the Fallen, check out what Anthony thought of it at E3. [Image: Square Enix]
Creepy, armed adversaries lurk in Lords of the Fallen
Survival's a good incentive to fight Lord of the Fallen's opposition, but ridding the world of half-decayed, axe-wielding monsters? Yeah, you don't have to beg us to help out with that. Get a glimpse of what you'll slay in City Interactive's upcoming RPG on PS4, Xbox One and PC. [Image: Square-Enix]
Lords of the Fallen remains enigmatic just months from release
Lords of the Fallen, a methodical action RPG with more than a few similarities to a game whose name rhymes with Bark Voles (Snark Bowls?), was one of E3 2013's quietest contenders. Amidst the many sequels, reboots, and other familiar faces accompanying PS4 and Xbox One's debuts, it was one of the only games for those boxes at the show that was not only original but felt fully formed. There are more than enough medieval fantasy games out there, but even with its somber story about a world where men toppled their own god Fallen stood out. The guided demo through a crumbling castle and through its snowy courtyards, hosted by a clearly passionate executive producer Tomasz Gop, just sang. Here at E3 2014, Lords of the Fallen is fully playable on PlayStation 4, and while it felt fine to guide the demo's paladin through a gauntlet of vicious beasts, swinging a swift staff in steady combos, CI's game feels more unknowable now than it did last year.
Lords of the Fallen trailer gets knocked down, but it gets up again
The new Lords of the Fallen trailer is a bit Groundhog Day, except with Bill Murray as an unwavering knight rather than an arrogant weatherman, and instead of reliving some local festivities, he's stuck in an endless loop of grueling, bloody duels to the death. Yup, we'd so watch that movie. As for CI Games' action-RPG, that's cycling along to Xbox One, PS4 and PC sometime later this year. [Image: CI Games]
Finally, a Lords of the Fallen gameplay video
CI Games showed Lords of the Fallen gameplay to us at last year, but only behind closed doors, and it's kept things that way since. Up until now that is, because the Polish studio is finally ready to present the public with footage of its PS4, Xbox One and PC action-RPG. The video is narrated by Executive Producer Tomasz Gop, who you might recognize as the producer of CD Projekt's The Witcher 2. Gop goes into the dark fantasy backstory that Lords of the Fallen is built around, but focuses mainly on the aspect that caught our attention when we first saw the game: the combat. Gop explains how the duel-like fighting rewards players who employ careful, tactical physical attacks, but also makes room for "spectacular" magic spells when they're needed. "You can imagine Lords of the Fallen as a game that has all the layers, all the complexity, all the mechanics, all the elements of very advanced tactical combat," Gop told us when we saw the game last year, "but it's not being mindlessly punishing at the same time." Lords of the Fallen is still in pre-alpha, but it's nonetheless slated to hit later this year. For our thoughts on what we saw of it last year, check out our preview.
RPG Lords of the Fallen unsheathes new screens
A couple of screens provide a further glimpse of the kinds of fights CI Games (formerly City Interactive) hopes to bring to action-RPG Lords of the Fallen. Based on what we saw of it last year, the drama of its considered, mano a mano combat is worth keeping an eye on. "You can imagine Lords of the Fallen as a game that has all the layers, all the complexity, all the mechanics, all the elements of very advanced tactical combat," Executive Producer Tomasz Gop told Joystiq at last year's Gamescom, "but it's not being mindlessly punishing at the same time." Lords of the Fallen is coming to PS4, Xbox One, and PC later this year, but you can check out our Gamescom impressions in the meantime.
Next-gen RPG Lords of the Fallen wants to challenge, not mindlessly punish
The Witcher 3 isn't the only Polish next-gen RPG to keep an eye on. CI Games' Lords of the Fallen, coming to PS4, Xbox One, and PC, also looks to mix dark fantasy with sizable challenge, but through its own brand of tactical, thoughtful combat. It's become fashionable for developers to name-drop Dark Souls as emblematic of their own games' similar, tough-as-nails appeal, but this often lacks meaningful merit. Not so in Executive Producer Tomasz Gop's case. His Souls-drop, made when first announcing Lords of the Fallen, was absolutely visible when I saw the game in action. That's not to say it's a replica of the Souls games, something Gop is keen to stress, but I did recognize a familiar mano-a-mano challenge in its third-person RPG combat. I watched the game's hero, a grizzled slab of man called Harkyn, bide his time through slow one-on-one encounters, each one an ordeal. His first fight was against a demonic sub-boss Lord, his red eyes lurking beneath reams of armor, his arm all too happy to slam his huge molten sword into the ground, cracking tiles into streams of flame. Against the backdrop of a monastery's crumbling ruins, Harkyn strafed as he waited patiently for an opening. The Lord shuffled, looking to lunge forward and strike. The only thing missing was the Kirk and Spock battle music.
Sniper dev unveils debut trailer for next-gen RPG Lords of the Fallen
Polish-based developer City Interactive, which recently rose to greater prominence through its Sniper: Ghost Warrior series, revealed the first trailer for its next-gen project, Lords of the Fallen. The Xbox One, PS4, and PC game is spearheaded by former Witcher 2 producer Tomasz Gop, who left CD Projekt in 2011 to join CI. There he's looking to once more craft a deep, dark and challenging RPG. "Challenge is what defines Lords of the Fallen," Gop told Joystiq. "Players who are going to be taking time to cross that gap between doing random things at the beginning because they don't know the tactics, to being a fully-fledged, skillful Lords of the Fallen player at the end, is how we look at fun, entertainment and pleasure from playing Lords of the Fallen." As the trailer hints, there are elements of From Software's Souls games in Lords of the Fallen's combat; fights look to reward tactical players and punish those who go rushing in. However, Gop said the combat draws inspiration from a number of challenging, medieval-themed games, including older, more obscure games like Moonstone, Vagrant Story and Severance: Blade of Darkness. The game's wide array of inspirations includes Borderlands, which Gop drew parallels to when describing the class-based supernatural action skills - "We like to think of them as sort of a smart bomb." Unlike Borderlands, however, classes in Lords of the Fallen are not set in stone. Instead, skills are tied to weapons and gear, making classes a "very relative construct in Lords of the Fallen, the weapon actually representing some sort of profile or allegiance," as Gop put it. The player-definable approach to classes may again resemble the Souls games, but unlike From's RPGs there's a clearly defined character and story in Lords of the Fallen. The grizzly hero in the trailer is Harkyn, a man journeying a world that has seemingly forgotten the terrible 'Fallen God' it once fought against - but will remember soon enough. "We do want to tell the story and brag on the world that we have. We want to show it to the players," Gop said. Lords of the Fallen drops onto Xbox One, PS4 and PC sometime next year.
