Remi Segal
Staff Writer
Gameplay fluidness, strong difficulty,and exceptional art design; these are all brilliant guidelines for a medieval-styled action RPG, and these ideal designs are exactly what the developers of “Lords of the Fallen” conquered beautifully.
When creating a game, developers must ask themselves what type of game they want to make. Making a well built game requires a lot of important factors to be perfectly executed.
Action RPGs are an arduous type of video game for developers to make, as there are many factors that contribute to the development. One factor, for instance, is the inspiration that is required for making the game. This is undeniably the most important factor. If the developers don’t have fun making the game, then the consumers won’t have fun playing the game; the logic is so simple. With “Lords of the Fallen,” it is easy to see the developers had a lot of fun making the game.
Another factor that plays a major role in the development of the game is the fluidness that the game presents. An example of this being executed perfectly would be in the game “Dark Souls,” where the player has full control of every situation, and nothing in-game is unbalanced. “Lords of the Fallen” is modeled quite heavily after the gameplay designs of “Dark Souls,” and with that being said, makes for a very fluid gameplay.
A third colossal feat that games must possess is the ability to give the consumer the freedom to make decisions on their own. A few games that achieve this utterly well are the “Witcher” series of games, the “Knights of the Old Republic” series of games, and the “Elder Scrolls” series of games. All of these games give the player the ability to make logical decisions based on their own intuition. In “Lords of The Fallen,” the developers chose to give the player the ability to craft their own path based on the player’s own preference. Some games that fail to properly capture this image is the whole “Call of Duty” franchise, as these games lay the path out before the player, for the player to follow it.
A fourth crucial feat that fantastic action RPGs must have is difficulty. Slaying an easy boss for giggles doesn’t bring near the same feeling of accomplishment that conquering over an insanely difficult boss that has the player practically tearing his hair out over brings.
A final feat, and an absolutely important one for an action RPG, is the art direction that the developers choose to create. Great art design enhances the play and feel of the game from the player’s perspective. For example, walking through a dark and cryptic hallway while looking like Billy Badass brings a much stronger feeling of captivation and enjoyment than walking through a fruity hallway while looking like Shrek.
“Lords of the Fallen” is rated M and available for $49.99.
Leave a Reply