Suddenly it got easy, even without further XP farming. But from the moment I beat him, Lords of the Fallen became a different game. The rush of finally cutting him down was great. After five or six failed attempts, I levelled up my strength and health and bought him to his knees. This was all in an attempt to beat The Worshipper, the third boss in the game and a complete bastard. What Lords adds is the ability to kill enemies, die, kill them again, pick up your lost XP and build up a big multiplier in the process, doubling your rewards and levelling up. Get back to it during your next life and youвЂ™ll earn it back. Like Dark Souls, when you die in Lords of the Fallen your amassed XP is lost and suspended in a misty white light where you bit the dust. The loot system is great and I stumbled across a build that suited ranged magic followed by big, brute force attacks and I made the most of the XP system to level up my inked up hero. It also felt unresponsive and imprecise, like playing Dark Souls underwater while stoned. It wouldnвЂ™t have been so bad if it wasnвЂ™t for some of the enemies, which even when dodged or blocked provided only the briefest of attack opportunities.

My character, Harkyn, was slow and cumbersome and the long wind up of his attacks took an age, even as a middle-weight Cleric. I found Lords of the FallenвЂ™s opening couple of hours fustrating. Yet the game swings and misses far too often. The combat can be fun, the hulking great big bosses can be hugely intimidating, the XP system embellishes upon the Souls standard in a potentially clever way, and the meaty character models, clanking sound effects and moody score all have their moments. City InteractiveвЂ™s action RPG may live in the shadow of the Souls series, but it makes interesting use of at least some of the ideas it borrows. Lords of the Fallen has a bunch of things going for it.

We wonвЂ™t be publishing a formal review and hereвЂ™s why. IвЂ™d have liked to have finished the game, I really would. After about 25 hours of swinging and rolling my way through the catacombs and citadels of Lords of the Fallen, IвЂ™m calling it a day.

Lords of the fallen champion gate