The Future of Souls – Lords of the Fallen vs Bloodborne

You may have faced the worst of Boletaria, you may have become one with the lores of Lordran, you must have travelled north on one rainy night and took down the whole of Drangleic, but it isn’t over yet for the Souls miasma. In fact, the two most anticipated games that fall right into my review wish list are Deck13/CI Games’ Lords of the Fallen and Hidetaka Miyazaki’s glorious return to the next gen in the form of FROM Software’s Bloodborne. And why shouldn’t they be, new RPGs/Survival IPs that crawl right out of the game changing mechanism of the Souls franchise, they are going to bring the sh*t down on the next gen with their dramatic new ways. The Souls series was always a hit amongst the critics and the core Souls fan base, and that’s probably the reason why the world is so hush about these two upcoming IPs. Lords of the Fallen doesn’t even have a preorder option available for Souls lovers in India (and the game’s due release in October 2014!)

Lords of the Fallen

There are numerous RPGs and action games based on the story of a demi god or mortal challenging the Gods, God of War being the ultimate example of this breed. Falling into that category of games, does Lords of the Fallen have everything to make it look, sound and feel right? And most importantly, how hard is it to tread on the footsteps of the great Souls series? By the looks of the Lords of the Fallen trailers, I’d say that the visual aspect has gone even higher than the one offered in the Souls series, with a certain Scandinavian twist to the overall theme. Blades are seen to cut sharper, bristles are dead drop gorgeous and the alleys and arenas seem to have drifted in the right direction.

I would always encourage new gamers to take the dip into the Souls series and experience the passion to survive no matter what; honestly there is no other that can beat the sensation of achievement that the Souls series deliver, in victory and defeat. Lords of the Fallen’s Challenge Trailer resonates the same philosophy that brands the Souls, “To Win, One Needs to Lose First”, Defeat is the teacher, in those last moments you actually understand what the level designers wanted you to do, what the enemy AI is hinting at constantly, and so when you return to the arena, you become near flawless.  The Challenge trailer shows the multiple ways you can engage in combat with the Champion (a level boss in Lords of the Fallen), there are claws, spiked clubs, bashing tower shields and of course arcane spells. The roll animation and parry looks almost borrowed from Dark Souls, along with a fine new back flip animation showcased towards the end of the gameplay trailer. Just like Dark Souls, one needs to infiltrate the area in order to reach the level boss in Lords of the Fallen, who is locked away with a few items lying right in front of the arena. The gameplay video leaked last week will probably explain the theatrics that make it a true Souls reincarnation.

There are tons of equipments ready to be used, sprawling across the levels in Lords of the Fallen, and there are endless ways to finish off an opponent. Some enemy AI uses the same spear/lance/halberd smash from Souls, while others are the brawlers’ kind, making it easily one of the closest kins to the Souls franchise. And did I forget mentioning that just like Dark Souls, Lords of the Fallen believes in using a spinoff of a classic song to bring the blood and gore alive, in this case Creedence Clearwater Revival.

The Bandai Namco charisma is sure to pass on from the Souls series to Lords of the Fallen, but my only concern is how fluid will the logistics of the story and levelling up be in the latter, because that is the mark that separates Souls from the rest of the crowd. It doesn’t aim to be an open-world game like the Souls, wherein every new area you unlock seems to drill you right, left and centre. Making it a closer lookalike of Castlevania: Lords of the Shadows, with action defining the core of the game. However, there are going to be tons of secrets, surprises and new ways to combat the environment. It is going to be one bloody chapter for my memory.

Bloodborne

From the sound of Project: Beast to a few GIFs being circulated all over the internet with the Demon’s Souls trailer theme playing in the distant, Bloodborne has come a long way. While most of the crew members reinvigorating Dark Souls II were new employees at FROM Software, it seems that Miyazaki saved the best of FROM for his upcoming disaster material – Bloodborne. While most Souls fans cursed Dark Souls II for being highly inconsistent in terms of its visual rendition and involving redone enemy combat patterns, Bloodborne only ensures that the rawness and punishing atmosphere of the original Souls series is back, in a brand new universe.

Miyazaki has decided to prompt the gamers to go for a more offensive combat strategy in Bloodborne, unlike in Souls where most gamers like to watch and defend with a huge Tower Shield. Thereby replacing the shield with a real shotgun this time, and the shotgun changes everything. From the time zone to the lore to the resemblance to FROM Software’s iconic Shadow Tower, everything changes with that single shot of dual barrel. Even though the E3 dropped huge hints about the kind of undead you’re about to face in Bloodborne, the closed gameplay video leaks however restored the majority of my faith. The same terrains from the iconic Souls franchises, that dash and that very hack and slash that defined Dark Souls, all retained and polished greatly for Bloodborne. Here’s what Shadow Tower did back in those days:

Apart from the shotgun, players are also introduced to the flexible scythe/hacker that the protagonist will use as his primary weapon through most of the playthrough. FROM combines the dead dogs from the Undead Burg to strange looking werewolves and Brightstone Cove peasants to mix up the world of Yharnam, the land of the cure. Where many a traveller like you would travel on a sunny day to find a cure for their curse/disease, but only of late you find yourself trapped in a far more worse curse. Bloodborne is still silent about the punishing/death scheme (an integral part of any Souls game), the respawning/progress save agenda (bonfires, etc.), and most importantly – PVP, rest assured this too won’t be your walk in the park. Let’s hope to see more of Bloodborne at Gamescom.

If you hate Tomb of the Giants from Dark Souls or No Man’s Wharf from Dark Souls 2 as much as I do, rest assured this Victorian town of darkness will be nothing but death, loads of unnatural deaths, for your first-hand experience in being a Bloodborne. Until then, Soothe your Soul/s.