Microsoft’s gaming subscription service Xbox Game Pass is home to many quality “Soulslike” releases — action RPGs similar to FromSoftware titles like Dark Souls and Elden Ring — with games like Lies of P, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, Mortal Shell, and Another Crab’s Treasure all absolutely worth checking out if you’re into the genre. My personal favorite of these, though, is the 2023 reboot of Lords of the Fallen, as it features excellent combat, thrilling boss fights, a remarkably well-made interconnected world, and a haunting dark fantasy aesthetic that I’m in love with. And now, it’s been made even better.
Major improvements to CI Games’ title have been made in its newly released Version 2.0 update, available now on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PS5. It brings a massive overhaul with tons of sizable changes and additional features. These include the following (with descriptions taken from official marketing):
- Free Friend’s Pass
- Invite any friend to play with you for free, across any platform
- Full shared co-op progression
- Both players now save all mainline progress and can revive each other
- Refined combat and movement
- Increased weapon responsiveness, improved lock-on, Grievous Strike (critical hit) prompts, and more
- Dedicated jump button
- Jump anytime, anywhere, for more intuitive platforming
- UI overhaul
- More streamlined, and easy to navigate
- Revamped tutorial
- Streamlined prompts for improved player onboarding
- Character creator update
- Improved facial options, skin textures, and body shapes
- Auto Vigor
- Vigor collection can now be automated
- Improved combat audio
- Feel every clash, parry, and block
- Lamp guidance
- Raise your Umbral Lamp and reveal the path to the next Vestige (“bonfire” checkpoints)
- Quality of Life updates
- Dynamic HUD, guidebook, faster Soulflay, enhanced evasions
Everything on the above list is substantial, but the decision to add a Split Fiction-style Friend’s Pass to Lords of the Fallen is particularly significant. For the unawares, a Friend’s Pass allows you to invite someone on your friends list to play multiplayer co-op with you for free, without them needing to own a copy of the game. This feature is very rare to see outside of Hazelight Studios’ co-op titles, so CI Games adding it here gives Lords of the Fallen a very unique appeal in the Soulslike market — especially since it works across different platforms.
Also noteworthy are changes to the game’s animations, with the developers focusing on making walking, running, and turning feel smoother to make precise positioning easier. Dodge rolls have been made “tighter,” too, and attack animations won’t move you forward as much as they did before, which should prevent overshooting your target and putting yourself into an awkward position.
Another tweak worth touching on is the new ability to use your Umbral Lamp to help you find the direction of the nearest new Vestige checkpoint you haven’t reached before. One criticism I (and others) had about Lords of the Fallen at release was that progression through some of its levels felt too confusing, but this feature should help in those cases.
It’s too early to say how sizable of an impact all of these additions will have on the overall experience, but what’s definitely clear is that everything new from the Version 2.0 patch changes Lords of the Fallen for the better. I’m looking forward to jumping in for another playthrough once I’ve got the free time to spare, especially since I was planning to do so anyway before the next Lords of the Fallen game launches in 2026 (unless a delay happens).
This also means there’s never been a better time to play Lords of the Fallen if you haven’t already. As I said before, it’s available through Xbox Game Pass Standard and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate on Xbox, but you can also get the $59.99 game permanently for only $20.99 on the console right now thanks to the ongoing sale accompanying this soft relaunch. On Steam, it’s also just $19.79 until May; if you’re on PC, though, I recommend spending just a few dollars more to get the Deluxe Edition for only $22.49 at CDKeys (it’s usually $69.99).
