The Lords of the Fallen bosses don't have to be confronted alone

The Lords of the Fallen is quickly approaching its release date, but the teams at CI Games and Hexworks aren't done giving players a glimpse of what they can expect. After showing the early portion of the game to members of the press around the world, CI Games brought the game to PAX West to show off another aspect of the game: the bosses. Shacknews went to this year's convention in Seattle and stopped by to visit CI Games, where we took on a new boss. On top of that, we didn't face her alone.

We've previously looked at The Lords of the Fallen back in the summer, as well as at this year's Game Developers Conference. It's been established that players will look to take on the forces of the demon god Adyr with the air of their Lantern that takes them between the realms of the living and the dead. Adyr's forces are plentiful and that includes a new boss we faced named Pieta, She of Blessed Renewal.

This battle happens several hours into the game, as players are greeted with a war-torn warrior covered head-to-toe in blood. At first, she looks to be on the verge of death, but the blood begins to coagulate into a suit of armor. The battle then begins and players' dodge rolling is put to the test almost immediately. Pieta wields a sword of light, one capable of striking quickly and also extending to a far range. Blocking will stagger players and leave them open to other attacks, so rolling out of the way is the best course of action. Even with healing items and dodge rolling, though, it didn't take long for my character to fall... and fall... and fall again.

Upon going back for another round against Pieta, I noticed a faint presence near the entry to the boss battle. It asked if I wanted help from the Iron Wayfarer. The Iron Wayfarer is a character that frequently guides players over the course of the game from the tutorials and beyond. I expected another tutorial, this one a guide on how to beat Pieta, but after agreeing to take his assistance, it turned out that he was going to fight alongside me.

The Iron Wayfarer is a grizzled warrior, but he serves a valuable function in boss fights. He's a decoy. Immediately upon starting the boss fight, he's seen going toe-to-toe with Pieta, totally drawing her attention. That offered enough of an opening to begin chipping away at her and effectively turning this into a 2v1 fight. It should definitely be treated as such. Just because the Iron Wayfarer is an effective decoy doesn't mean he'll carry the fight for you. In fact, lazier players who try and let him face Pieta alone will be shocked when the Iron Wayfarer dies in short order.

Even with the Iron Wayfarer's help, I was ultimately unable to defeat Pieta. Her second phase will see her glide across the screen accompanied by multiple light swords. Later, she'll rain those swords down on the player and while it's possible to dodge them, she'll keep the pressure coming with her main blade. Like the best Souls-type game, nothing about this fight indicates that it's impossible, but players will have to earn this victory by exercising strategy, learn their foe's movements, and through some dumb luck.

Prepare to do battle when The Lords of the Fallen releases on Friday, October 13. It will release on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.

This preview is based on a PC demo played on-site at PAX West 2023 and may not be representative of the final product.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?