Two elements of Lords of the Fallen do creep out from behind the banality though and shine in their own light. The leveling system takes its cue from the combo system used in combat to create a driving purpose to keep racking up kills without stopping. Every kill you achieve without exiting the game or spending your gathered experience slowly increases a modifier to help push you further through the levels. It is something of a shame that any stats you increase have very little in the way of visible impact on your adventure. Still, it is a nice touch.

Next up is the crafting system which can only be loosely described as such. Killing enemies and exploring the depths sometimes offers up a selection of stones. Now these can be used to open special doors and chests right off the bat. A little further into proceedings, though, they can be used with a blacksmith to create runes. Runes are slotted into your armor and weapons to convey small benefits upon them like increased resistance to magical damage but their best use is with weapons. Poison runes in particular, cause enemies to take damage over time in addition to your attacks.

It isn’t a system which lifts Lords of the Fallen very far, rather it’s simply a nice addition which is quite well designed. An important use for these too is in increasing your carry weight, something which will allow you to wear heavier armor and move with greater speed. Unlike other games of this ilk, Lords of the Fallen imbues you with the feeling that Harkyn is a very heavy character (unless he is wearing incredibly light equipment). This does change as you pump more stats and runes into raising that carry limit but considering how long it takes to do this, it rarely feels worthwhile.

Lords of the Fallen on the whole just seems to lack a certain something on many levels. It has the impressive visual display but doesn’t have the variety to stop this becoming monotonous. It brings something new and interesting to action rpg combat without revitalizing the mundane world around it.  It has an idea for a great story and then lets it fall into nothing more than pointless drivel to accompany your journey.

Drawing comparisons between Lords of the Fallen and the Souls series is going to happen a lot. It happened while playing the game. It feels like someone took Fable 2 and drizzled it with elements of Dark Souls but not the aspects that give those games their spark. I never thought I would see a day where a game could dare to provide the same level of direction as a Souls game and be such an infuriating experience because of it.

We all want to go off and explore game worlds without boundaries, but Lords of the Fallenputs barrier after barrier in your way with absolutely no resounding advice to give. Having said that, when you do finally reach your goal a smile does cross your face. Whether it’s one of accomplishment or relief scientists are still deciding (but its probably relief).

Think of it as a very adventurous cat. When it’s around and playing with you there is nothing more lovely and wonderful in this world. For 90% of the time though, Mittens wanders off outside and you never see him again. You start to wonder if he cares about you. That questioning of whether your wandering cat actually cares about you is perfectly replicated in this game. It doesn’t seem to care about you having fun with it, expecting you to make it fun yourself.

Lords of the Fallen is a strange beast of a game. There are moments of unequaled bliss and joy throughout the game. It’s a shame that these moments are so readily hidden behind towering walls of monotony and infuriating area design. In all of my time with the game I felt there was something missing which Lords of the Fallen was just waiting to give and make the whole experience worth it. Having finished my first play through and being a fair way through my second, I’m still waiting.

I worry that I’ll be waiting forever.