Unleashing the Ultimate Challenge: Lords of the Fallen Takes Difficulty to New Heights

Highlights

Patch v.1.1.191 for Lords of the Fallen aims to address performance issues and make the game harder for players by introducing boss changes.

Hexworks has been consistently releasing patches to rectify performance concerns and actively engaging with players on social media platforms such as Reddit and Twitter. The patch encompasses enhanced difficulty for two bosses, adjustments to weaken certain enemies, as well as updates pertaining to visual corrections and audio enhancements.

Hexworks has recently launched patch v.1.1.191 for Lords of the Fallen, addressing performance issues on all platforms. In addition, the update includes boss changes that are intended to make the game more challenging for players. Lords of the Fallen is a reboot of the 2014 game with the same title and is one of the newest additions to the Soulslike genre, alongside the recently released Lies of P.

Soulslike games are renowned for their demanding difficulty level, requiring players to meticulously strategize their next move as they progress through each level. These games encourage players to construct specific character builds and to carefully observe enemy positioning and attack patterns. Despite the tense nature of these experiences, players often feel a great sense of accomplishment upon finally overcoming a particularly formidable boss, such as Malenia from Eldin Ring, who proved to be a significant obstacle for some players.

With the release of patch v.1.1.191, Hexworks has made specific changes to enhance the challenge of two bosses in Lords of the Fallen. The first boss, known as the Spurned Progeny, can be found in Upper Calrath during the mid-game section. Regardless of the player's actions, this formidable boss will repeatedly execute a series of combo attacks. Additionally, a trio of secret bosses located in an arena within the Umbral Realm has also undergone adjustments. As stated in the patch notes, these bosses now pose a greater threat as they can no longer be trapped within a specific area of the arena and are now more mobile, making them more formidable adversaries.

Beyond the boss enhancements, this update has also introduced reductions in the strength of various enemies throughout the game. Specifically, the damage output of Scarlet Shadows and the overall group of "walking corpse" enemies has been reduced. Furthermore, Charred Spirits, a specific type of "walking corpse," has experienced an additional decrease in its effectiveness. It should be noted that the Frame Generation feature has been temporarily disabled in this patch, although a subsequent update has reinstated its functionality.

Hexworks has been consistently releasing frequent patches since the game's launch, aiming to address various issues, particularly the game's performance. According to the general consensus on social media platforms, such as Reddit and Twitter, although the game offers a good story and deep lore, it should have been delayed to resolve performance issues. In the Reddit thread v.1.1.191, numerous Xbox players reported encountering problems like stuttering, missing textures, and pop-ins. Xbox appears to be the most severely affected platform, rendering the game unplayable for some, resulting in refund requests.

However, Hexworks remains determined to improve the game and has actively engaged with players on Twitter and Reddit to identify and resolve these issues. Only time will reveal if Lords of the Fallen truly meets the expectations of players longing for a Dark Souls 4.

Lords of the Fallen v.1.1.191 Patch Notes

All Platforms:

Balancing:

Bringers of Stillness and Scarlet Shadows have had the damage output of their two gap-closing attacks reduced to not be so punishing when attacking from their own shadow.

Charred Spirits in the lower city have had their damage output reduced from 80 to 64 to balance their aggressive nature as the most formidable type of "walking corpse".

All "walking corpses" now deal less damage with their charged attacks, going from 1.18 to 0.8, as their animations were not accurately portraying the level of danger posed by the strikes. Their anticipation has also been slightly adjusted for enhanced clarity.

The hitbox for skein working forces has been improved, as we noticed it was spawning a few frames too early.

Barrage of echoes (an eyeball umbral spell) now has an added failsafe to ensure that they always explode upon hitting any environmental element.

Adjusted the trajectory of certain projectiles to prevent the player's unintended hit-reaction in an undesirable direction. Solely aesthetic.

Ruiner's fire shield attack and jump knockdown attack have been slightly weakened in terms of damage. However, his standard damage has been slightly enhanced, ranging from 81 to 95. The objective is to maintain a sense of fear among players while reducing instances of instant defeat in later game regions.

Bosses:

The Spurned Progeny has received a small tweak to make sure he never interrupts one of his combos, regardless of the player's actions.

The secret bosses now have an enhanced arena specifically designed to improve their movement and efficiency. Additionally, they have gained the knowledge and ability to exit the space when in shadow form. As a result, these adversaries have become more formidable and pose a greater threat.

The IDs for the tincts on the Pieta chest armor were lost during optimization. This issue has been fixed, allowing tincts to be applied correctly.

Resolved an issue with the incorrectly animated nanite mesh on the 3D Gallery background, which was causing white dot artefacts.

Performance:

Barrage of echoes eyeballs explosion had a lingering VFX that could be kept active for longer than intended, which hindered performance if abused.

Photo Mode:

Photo Mode had a small black line on the right-bottom corner. This line is now gone.

Audio:

Umbral stigmas now have a nicer sound for their activation and deactivation.

PVP:

We've deactivated the ability to parry other players' kicks to allow an additional option when you find a very good "parrier".

PC:

We've worked diligently to fix some of the issues that unfortunately have affected some of our players.

Rest assured, our dedication to allowing as many individuals as possible to fully engage in our game world is what fuels our enthusiasm. Thanks to the data received through our "Sentry" bug database from players who clicked "send" on the crash report pop-up, we have identified four primary issues:

1. **Outdated Drivers.** Lords of the Fallen utilizes UE5, a cutting-edge technology that requires the latest GPU drivers. We have noticed that a majority of crashes occur due to outdated drivers. To address this, starting immediately, the game will automatically check for installed drivers upon launch and prompt an update if they are not up to date. Users will be redirected to the respective GPU providers, Nvidia or AMD, for the necessary updates.

Frame Generation Stability:

In our pursuit of offering players the latest technologies, we have acknowledged that Frame Generation can lead to crashes in specific situations. To address this issue, we have made the decision to temporarily disable Frame Generation until our collaboration with NVIDIA allows us to provide more stable drivers. By taking this action, we aim to prevent the crashes that some players are encountering with their newly acquired 40 series GPUs.

Unidentified GPU crashes:

We have made progress in addressing an engine error that could result in game crashes for certain 30 and 40 series GPUs, even with auto-set graphics. Thanks to a prompt patch provided by EPIC, we have implemented additional fail-safes to prevent these crashes, leading to a resolution of most of these incidents. Additionally, we have noticed that some players are enabling settings that their systems may not be capable of handling, particularly in terms of VRAM. If you are experiencing instability, low frame rates, or even crashes (especially with DX12), we recommend clicking on "AUTO-SET" within the Graphics Settings. This should likely resolve any issues you are encountering.

Crash after the first cinematic

We have discovered an issue with the engine code in Sentry that affects the calculation of Pipeline State Objects (PSOs). This issue causes crashes when shaders are being compiled after the initial cinematic in the game.

EPIC has promptly provided a solution which has been integrated into the game, resolving the majority of cases.

However, if the issue persists, we have a workaround that allows you to access the game. Please be aware that this workaround may result in minor delays when entering new areas of the game. To deactivate PSOs calculation, please follow these steps:

a. Right click on the game in your Library

b. Click on Properties

c. In the General tab, add "-nopsos" in the Launch Options text box.

If you are still experiencing issues, please refer to our Performance Troubleshooting Steps.

PS5:

No platform specific changes.

XBOX:

We've fixed the issue with the loading of low LODs for the Xbox Series X.

Steam Deck:

Steamdeck now has a virtual keyboard.

In Light we Walk.

Lords of the Fallen is now available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.