Summary
- Lords of the Fallen's Pumpkin Patch update brings a limited-time Halloween event and important improvements, showing developer Hexworks' active involvement in the community shortly after launch.
- The game's parallel world of Umbral introduces a risk vs reward dynamic, where players can reap more rewards the longer they survive, adding depth to the gameplay.
- The timely Halloween event and improved performance indicate that Hexworks is dedicated to enhancing the game experience for players.
Lords of the Fallen has announced a cleverly named Pumpkin Patch update, which will bring a limited-time Halloween event and other important improvements to the game. A sequel to the 2014 game of the same name, Lords of the Fallen released just two weeks ago to solid reception and joins the recent hit Lies of P as two of the better new non-FromSoftware Soulslikes of the past few years.
2023's Lords of the Fallen takes players on a challenging journey through a dangerous dark fantasy land called Mournstead. In an interesting twist on the Souls formula, upon death in Axiom, the game's default world, players wake up in its darker parallel world of Umbral, where there are more enemies who grow ever more hostile the longer players remain there. Umbral introduces an interesting risk vs reward dynamic for the player, as they're able to reap more rewards the longer they survive in Umbral.
Lords of the Fallen can certainly be considered a spooky game. As such, it's fitting that developer Hexworks has announced a limited-time Halloween event beginning on October 26 and ending on November 2. During this time players will find Mournstead decked out with Halloween decor, and players will be able to take part in a new quest to earn a creepy pumpkin mask. It's interesting that a freshly released AAA title is already hosting a seasonal event only two weeks after its launch. This type of timeline is more in-line with live service titles, of which Lords of the Fallen is not.
Lords of the Fallen's Halloween event comes to the game as part of the humorously titled Pumpkin Patch, which alters its New Game Plus mode to remove some vestiges, which act as the game's bonfire checkpoints, with each new tier of New Game Plus achieved. The Pumpkin Patch also decreases enemy density in certain spots, adds full crossplay to Lords of the Fallen across all platforms, and improves the game's performance, which was one of the game's biggest issues at launch. Additionally, Hexworks has beckoned players to submit a photo mode screenshot for a chance to have it displayed in New York City's Times Square for two weeks.
It's great to see that Hexworks is so active with its Lords of the Fallen community so soon after launch. From listening to fan feedback on New Game Plus and enemy density, adding a Halloween event weeks after launch, and hosting a fun Times Square billboard competition, it seems Hexworks is doing everything right and then some to improve the game experience for players despite its glaring performance issues, which are also being fixed. Time will tell if Hexworks has any DLC cooking up for Lords of the Fallen's future. If so, considering how quickly its Halloween event went live fans may not have to wait too long at all to find out.
Lords of the Fallen is available now on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.