Lords of the Fallen's latest update brings big changes to the fun-but-flawed Soulslike RPG, including a highly-requested nerf to enemy density and the game's absurdly overdone sneak attacks.
As developer Hexworks outlined in a Steam post, the latest swing at "ongoing difficulty balancing" addresses a few areas. Firstly, enemy density across "the entire game" has been reduced by "up to 30% in some of the most challenging areas" for your first playthrough, with NG+ restoring the pre-nerf density. As an added focus, Hexworks says "we have removed some of the ‘sneakiest’ of foes that had a tendency to creep up behind you at the very worst of times."
"We have received significant player feedback on enemy density, which, combined with our internal telemetry, has been invaluable in our ongoing endeavor to better balance difficulty throughout Lords of the Fallen," Hexworks says.
Even describing these enemies as sneaky feels generous. Lords of the Fallen puts ambush-ready dudes around corners, or literally summons them right next to you out of thin air, so comically frequently that you just start to expect it, keeping your head on a swivel whenever you enter or leave a room. When you hit an ambush every few minutes, they aren't really ambushes anymore, so hopefully this update makes exploration less annoying while making the remaining ambushes feel more impactful.
In a similar vein, the update's also improved enemy leashing, or the behavioral tether that assigns AI to a specific area and keeps them from chasing after you for miles on end. Hexworks says "they would pursue you a little too enthusiastically from one area to another resulting in further increased mob density." Coupled with the blanket density nerf, "players now have more freedom in their exploration, and a better chance at overcoming mob encounters as per our original design."
The whole update is about making the game less annoying, which, honestly, is exactly what Lords of the Fallen needed. Enemies with ranged attacks will no longer be gold medal-winning snipers at long distances, for example, and all the ankle-biting beast-type enemies can now be insta-killed with a Grievous Strike after a stagger. As an added quality-of-life win, the "majority" of permanent Vestige checkpoints, previously unavailable in NG+ to emphasize the temporary Vestige Seedlings, have been restored "by popular demand." This ought to make it a lot more fun to run through the RPG multiple times.
It's not all nerfs, though. Normal enemies have been toned down, but several bosses have actually been buffed. "It appeared that the vast majority of our players actually wanted an increased degree of challenge when it came to the bosses," Hexworks says. To that end, HP, damage, and especially movesets and behaviors have been "fully overhauled" for the RPG's weaker bosses.
The cherry on top is a new questline which leans into the Way of the Bucket, inspired by a heavily memed bucket beloved by the community. Altogether, this sounds like the exact sort of update I wanted to see while I was grinding through Lords of the Fallen a few weeks ago, and it may even bring me back for another run.
Bear in mind, Lords of the Fallen previously gave Diablo 4 some competition for most-hated patch of 2023, so this is a welcome step in the right direction. Our Lords of the Fallen review calls it an inoffensive Soulslike that "rarely offends or goes too far wrong."
