Lords of the Fallen Preview

The folks at Dealspwn have treated us to the latest hands-on preview of Lords of the Fallen, giving us a chance to brush up on our knowledge of City Interactive and Deck13's action RPG even further. A few paragraphs to whet your appetite:

Equipping a set of claws that makes central character Harkyn look like a medieval Wolverine allows for a sort of jump thrust that I'm pretty sure is pulled straight out of Brad Pitt's arsenal in Troy.

There seems to be a little more wiggle room in terms of setting up your character and doing things your own way, and that extends to the classes. You can choose between cleric, rogue or warrior at the start, but as far as I could tell, that only really affects your magical capabilities. There are bits and pieces of armour or weaponry labelled in a manner that might suggest class-specification, but these are simply suggestions. If you want your cleric romping about with an enormous axe and heavy armour, you absolutely can. And I do so love an RPG where I can mix and match.

Patience was a virtue in Dark Souls, and the same can be said of Lords of the Fallen. It's not advisable to go charging off into catacombs with a gleeful disregard for your own safety. Harkyn can handle himself, and taking on two or three low-level Infected at once is not too tricky as long as you block and parry and learn to riposte, or chuck out one of the smart-bomb-esque magical attacks to clear your way. Of course, occasionally, enemies might surprise you by jumping out of corridors and skewering you like a kebab. Leaving a small courtyard and heading back into the catacombs in the demo I played brought me face to face with a hulking brute of an adversary, who couldn't be seen from outside the darkened passage, but promptly came charging at me as soon as I left the sunlight behind. Thankfully, a swift retreat led me safely back to the courtyard, where I lured the monster over a few unstable planks and its fat butt caused it to crash through the wood and plummet into the well below.