Oh my goodness! PlayStation has selected 2026 as the date for the PS5 release of Lords of the Fallen II, a title from the dark and fantasy genre which might not be so bad after all. Really, 2026? That’s a really, really long time. We still have another complete presidential election cycle in front of us. Still, they were nice enough to release a new trailer for gameplay, which certainly gave us a hint of what to expect. The type of hardcore, dark fantasy action that makes you want to smash your controller against the wall, but in a good way.
For the ones that only want the summary: Lords of the Fallen II, which is the sequel to the soulslike action-RPG of 2023, will be playable on PlayStation 5 in 2026. An upcoming trailer features the game’s huge fighting and its shadowy and tiny realm. The audience’s response is an assortment of excitement, bewilderment about the name, and concern regarding the game’s performance since the bloodiest excursion’s bumpy launch.
So, let’s talk about the trailer. Imagine it as a panorama where gloomy lights shine, giant monsters roar, and a protagonist presents himself looking like he had a hard time in life. The combat really gives, as one user expressed it, ‘weighty’ feel. You can feel the mass in every blow of the sword that is being shown in the recordings. It’s the classic soulslike execution of evading, blocking, and retaliating turned upside down and enveloped in an extraordinary rich and detailed dark fantasy wrapper. The world design sees it moving out gradually from the constraints of the first game and coming to be more vertical, opening up interlinked areas which in turn should make exploration either completely enjoyable or a total nightmare, depending on your viewpoint.
But, as usual, the real news is hiding under the pile of comments that are about to come. The tweet from PlayStation announcing the news has heated up the discussion in the community and it is a real mix of views.
Let us start with the hype group. Gamers like ‘Glitchy 🪄’ are totally on board, bringing attention to the battle’s weight and the question of the universe’s extension. ‘Ethan’ gave it the title of his ‘most anticipated’ game. ‘Terry Dang’ proclaims it ‘might be the one to keep me awake for a year,’ which is a feeling many of us share. ‘Gas87’ gives the original a big thumbs-up, calling it ‘the best soulslike outside of Bloodborne and Sekiro,’ which is debatable in certain circles, but it certainly indicates a lot of affection for the series.
After the hype squad, comes the confounded crew. A ton of replies, from ‘Dirtbaggery Book Reviews’ to ‘Maestro,’ ask the same question ‘Wait, what? I thought this was released already?’ And I must admit, I understand. The naming is a little tricky. The game that was launched in 2023 was also called Lords of the Fallen. It was a reboot-sequel kind of thing. Thus this is Lords of the Fallen II, which is technically the third game if you include the first one from 2014. As ‘States’ pointed out, it’s the ‘3rd game in series but is 2nd game in lords version lol.’ Just writing that makes my head spin. The developers tried to downplay the situation a bit and the official account ‘LORDS OF THE FALLEN,’ simply said, ‘Only sinners welcome,’ which was quite cool.
However, a very real and very valid concern: performance, which did not let the excitement overshadow it. The 2023 Lords of the Fallen was…problematic at the time of its release. There were a lot of issues with framerate, visuals, etc. So, it is only natural that comments like ‘smorg’s’ – ‘Hopefully this one doesn’t run like trash like the first’ – and ‘MrXb0X360’s’ sarcastic ‘At 11-17 fps just like the first game’ are getting more common. One user, ‘Tea_shades,’ even asked the developers if they would be using the new upscaling tech to avoid the ‘breakup’ that happened with the last game. It’s the elephant in the room, and Hexworks (the developers) will have to do their best to convince us that they have learned from their mistakes.
Another category of players easily gives up on this genre. ‘Sven’ is ‘so tired of soulslikes,’ and ‘goldenboy85’ wrote a long rant about being sick and tired of dragon-fighting games, even calling the trend ‘OLD/TIRED.’ In contrast, ‘Newf Nukem’ and ‘Tito’ are already pushing for an easy ‘story mode’ difficulty—a subject that is always a hot topic in these communities. The game will also be available on Xbox.
