Boo! Lords of the Fallen Coming On Halloween

I like Halloween. I like the spooky music, the spooky movies, the spooky costumes, the spooky canapés, the spooky cocktails, the spooky video games--all the spooky things. Not to mention the cheap fake blood. The first video game to draw a circle around October 31 with a red pen this year (or is it blood? is it your blood?) is Lords of the Fallen, declaring that's when it'll launch.

In the way that we lazy types will summarise games to clue readers in and show off our 'wit,' I'll say it looks like a nice third-person action game that's come as Dark Souls for Halloween.

It looks like a decent monster-mashing game, where surly men in shiny armour will need to carefully time attacks and dodges rather than button-mash, and has RPG-ish character-building bits. But that description also basically applies to Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance and loads of other games, so comparisons to Dark Souls from fans and press (us included) puzzle me.

What made Dark Souls shine for me was its loneliness, the baffling-then-delightful intricacies of building a character, the slow reveal of an interconnected world riddled with secrets and shortcuts, mysteries it was happy for me to be ignorant of, perseverance, and feelings of helplessness. I haven't played Lords of the Fallen yet, but with its cutscenes, chatter, mostly-linear levels (granted, they will have new things if revisted), and talk of making players feel powerful, I'm not seeing Dark Souls. I suppose it speaks to Dark Souls' impact that we immediately think of it when we're told a game is difficult and has swords.

Have a gander at this old video and see what you make of Lords of the Fallen. It does look fun: