Lords of the Fallen “does not, and will never” use anti-piracy tech Denuvo, devs promise
Unlike Street Fighter 6, Lies of P and, uh, Lords of the Fallen
The makers of fresh Soulslike Lords Of The Fallen have taken a strong position against the use of digital rights management software Denuvo, promising players that the game will never dabble with the controversial anti-piracy tech.
“We are pleased to confirm that Lords of the Fallen does not, and will never feature Denuvo,” the game’s official Twitter account wrote as clarification in response to a fan’s question over its listing as a game using Denuvo on YouTube channel Gameranx.
Denuvo is typically used by developers as a defence against attempts to pirate games, as well as offering an anti-cheat solution for multiplayer games. Despite the company’s efforts to prove otherwise, the controversial tech has often been accused of hindering performance, as well as attracting flak for the increased difficulty of preserving games locked behind tight DRM.
The stance from Lords of the Fallen developers Hexworks is a notable change from the original Lords of the Fallen - also called Lords of the Fallen, but now often awkwardly amended with a (2014) after it - which did use Denuvo DRM.
It also puts Lords of the Fallen (2023) at odds with other major releases this year, with the likes of Street Fighter 6 confirming the presence of Denuvo just days before release and fellow recent Soulslike Lies of P also opting to announce its use of the tech mere days before its launch.
In contrast, Payday 3 devs Starbreeze dropped Denuvo from the co-op heist shooter less than a week before its release.
The move will potentially add to a change in fortunes for Lords of the Fallen’s reception among players, after the grimdark adventure was initially met with Mostly Negative reviews on Steam as the result of numerous technical issues - a number of which have been targeted in the game’s most recent patch, as well as a dedicated guide from its creators about remedying common problems.
Even with technical issues aside, Lords of the Fallen has somewhat divided critical opinion over whether its Soulslike formula is quite fresh and polished enough. Writing our Lords of Fallen review, our own Ed found that “there are flashes of a grand adventure to cleanse a kingdom of rot. But there are just too many little annoyances that prevent the journey and its umbral counterpart from ascending into Soulslike royalty.”