With the release of Lords of the Fallen (yes, they removed the “The” for the reboot) later this year, one of the first non-FromSoftware Souls games arrives for the Dark Souls Legacy, and we were lucky to see it. a preview and conversation with Hexworks Creative Director Cezar Virtosu at GDC 2023 in San Francisco. There’s a lot going on with Lords of the Fallen, and one of the biggest game changers in the RPG genre is coming to the bonfires.
“I think it’s time to discuss a big breakthrough we’re making: the ability to create your own bonfires,” says Virtosu. That’s right, these security models from Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Elden Ring will be placeable. But before you start worrying, Virtosu knows this is controversial, so it won’t be easy to do.
“You might be wondering, ‘Are you going to add a manual save to an extreme game?’ We are, but creating this anchor requires three to five Umbral Seeds. We always adjust the number exactly, but it’s expensive.”
You get Umbral Seeds by exploring Umbral, the most dangerous version of the overworld you die to, which you can explore in your lifetime with a lantern that transforms the area it illuminates into its umbral counterpart, and is placed directly above from the base game, and kills those marked, but a drop is not guaranteed. Virtosu tells – Game News that these placeable bonfires are an “investment of time, luck, and drop rate,” and not something to be placed lightly.
Placeable bonfires in Lords of the Fallen can only be put out one at a time, so if you already have one in the world and you drop another one, the first one will be crushed. “We are currently in the process of determining whether or not our bonfires can be destroyed,” adds Virtosu. “Because currently, our donated bonfires are rare.”
We don’t have a release date for Lords of the Fallen yet, so Hexworks is still fine-tuning exactly how the anchor/bonfire mechanic works, but Virtosu tells us exactly why you can place bonfires , and that won’t change: “We give you enough tools to ease the challenge, but it’s all about mastery, is this a good place to rest?”
If you’re interested in this Lords of the Fallen mechanic, Virtosu also told – Game News how it’ll be taken to the next level in New Game Plus, where you can only use self-placed bonfires.
“In New Game Plus, there are no bonfires, only craftable fires,” says Virtosu confidently. “The interconnectedness of the world will shine because you can walk everywhere and rely on your own bonfire to progress. That’s the pure vision of the game.”
Virtosu adds that Hexworks reduced this mechanic in the first game to help players master the mechanics of the Lords of the Fallen world, to really test them next time. You will still keep all of your stats, items and characters in New Game Plus and of course the game will also be more challenging.
Lords of the Fallen will be released on PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store later this year.
If you want more, we’ve got a list of the best fantasy games available on PC right now, and it’s currently unclear if Lords of the Fallen will eventually join them.