Hexworks' striking (but rather unfriendly) soulslike Lords of the Fallen is unsurprisingly getting the sequel treatment. The spooky, masochistic ARPG made a pretty big impression, despite the performance issues, while its neat Umbral mechanic—which lets you shift between worlds—helped it avoid being consigned to the middling Dark Souls knock-off pile. Though I still can't get over the fact that it has exactly the same name as its 2014 predecessor, despite not being a remake.
Lords of the Fallen 2, which is technically Lords of the Fallen 3, is simply referred to as "Project 3" in the agreement between publisher CI Games and Epic Games, the latter of which now has exclusive rights to distribute the PC version. A trademark application from earlier in the year, however, suggests that its actual title will be Death of the Fallen, which I think we can all agree is better than Lords of the Fallen 2 (But Really 3).
The agreement doesn't describe the game at all, naturally, but does give us one titbit of information: it's expected out in 2026. CI Games also remains the IP holder and retains the rights to distribute the game on other platforms: specifically Xbox Series S/X and PS5. Sorry, Switch fans.
CI Games handled PC distribution for 2023's Lords of the Fallen, and it launched on Steam and the Epic Games Store simultaneously. This might not be the case this time. I say "might" only because CI Games and Epic are still working out a "detailed publishing agreement". That said, it seems highly unlikely that Epic would release a game on Steam at the same time as it appears on the Epic Games Store, given that exclusives (and free games) are the main reason people use the platform.
Lords of the Fallen hit a very respectable million sales only 10 days after launch, but it's not clear how many of those sales were on Steam. Its peak concurrent player count of 43,000 and 21,000 user reviews suggests it did pretty well, however, so intentionally limiting PC sales to the Epic Games Store does seem like a bit of a risk.
Every announcement of an Epic exclusive is accompanied by prospective players announcing that they'll wait for the Steam release, and while its userbase has been growing, Epic is yet to make the store profitable—of course, that might also be down to the smaller cut it takes from the developers and publishers it works with (12% compared to Valve's 30%) and the mountain of freebies it offers.
As of 2021, only one game in Epic's first wave of exclusives had turned a profit, and while more people are using the platform now, how many of them are buying new releases instead of picking up free games or just playing Fortnite, Rocket League and Genshin Impact? Alan Wake 2, for instance, is yet to turn a profit, despite being one of 2023's best games. That said, it's also Remedy's fastest-selling game and it also launched on consoles, so its lack of profitability so far can't just be attributed to the store.
One can assume CI Games is hoping the big chunk of cash the deal nets will more than balance out any shortfall stemming from a delayed Steam launch. More often than not, a game's migration from Epic exclusivity to Steam and other platforms ends up being a soft relaunch anyway, reigniting interest and reminding people that the game exists. Though it will mean that, for those of you who want to wait for a Steam release, the release date is going to be more like 2027. It's a long wait.
