Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. You are now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful Want to add more newsletters? Every Friday Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them. Every Thursday GTA 6 O'clock Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts. Every Friday Knowledge From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon. Every Thursday The Setup Every Wednesday Switch 2 Spotlight Every Saturday The Watchlist Once a month SFX Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month! In a developer update that feels more like a podcast at 42 minutes, Lords of the Fallen 2 developer CI Games likens the evolution of the sequel to the Batman: Arkham games and how the series found its groove with combat. These comments are from game director James Lowe, who says the team has discussed this sort of Batman-like arc internally. "Take a series like Batman: Arkham," he begins. "Arkham Asylum had a set of its combat abilities, and it got its core down, still had a ways to go. Arkham City then started to progress it and really refine the formula, not losing the essence of it, what that combat was in the last one. Then Arkham Knight, it all came together and it felt perfect. It felt like a journey, and we're on that same journey." Lords of the Fallen 2 looks exactly like the bigger, bloodier Soulslike that fans of the series have come to expect "Soulslikes thrive on challenge": Lords of the Fallen 2 devs let you dismember enemies to sweeten every tough victory Accused of copying FromSoftware's homework, Lords of the Fallen 2 boss says Elden Ring Nightreign lookalike is from 2024 With Lords of the Fallen 2, the sequel to a fun-but-flawed reboot of one of the original FromSoftware imitators, Lowe says "we want players to be able to start smashing their sword around really starting to feel, 'OK, I've got power behind this.'" The essences carried forward in this case include weapon and class distinctions, which, Lowe says, Lords of the Fallen 2 will reinforce with "classes that we haven't even seen in the genre" of Soulslikes. "That then sets us up for more and more and more," he continues. "The more games that we put out, the more players really engage with this and really mess around with the DNA of our combat, the better it will always be." Creative strategist Ryan Hill points to dual wielding as one area of evolution and distinction in combat. "You play FromSoftware games and I'm scared stiff to lose my shield," he says, but Lords of the Fallen 2 is deliberately more aggressive and promotes, as Lowe puts it, that sort of "player confidence" in your offense. And so, Hill finds, "a few hours in I realize I'm not using my shield. I'm dashing more, I'm attacking more. It didn't feel easier, but it felt different." But equally, Lowe adds, "you might throw too many [attacks] and then your stamina depletes and you're going to get punished for it." Dual wielding in Lords of the Fallen 2 is embellished with unique move sets that don't simply mirror attacks between hands, instead "giving this kind of flamboyant edge, which is a super cool dopamine hit," Lowe explains. This was another key point for CI Games this time around, as even the devs admit "it's fair to say that players felt there wasn't enough variety between some weapon classes" in the previous game. (Hello, it's me, I'm players.) Here again, the devs promise greater individuality and flare, which is largely what I'd hoped to see from Lords of the Fallen 2. The first game (that is, the reboot) felt like it wanted a sequel to really strut its stuff, so after a surprising volume of patches, it's encouraging to hear the devs pushing in these directions. Accused of copying FromSoftware's homework, Lords of the Fallen 2 boss says its Elden Ring Nightreign doppelganger is from 2024: "Visual overlap can occur in medieval fantasy."