Battle against the darkness in an epic adventure across a shattered kingdom.

One world. Two realms.

No mercy.

Realm by realm, nation after nation, the Umbral darkness consumed all in Her path. Now, centuries later, only one Kingdom remains; a sacred land, shrouded by an ancient force. Or so it was…

Stolen by the Gods themselves, mankind is left forsaken, defenceless against the darkness. Unless this force is restored, the shadow of death will devour all. But how do you kill… an immortal?

A hero must rise, for a God to fall.

CI Games debuted a brand-new episode of their ongoing development series ‘Lifting the Veil,’ detailing a major overhaul to Lords of the Fallen II’s combat system.

Incorporating player feedback from Lords of the Fallen (2023) and the studio’s community-oriented development process, the team – led in conversation by Ryan Hill, Chief Creative Officer - discuss a wealth of upgrades and new abilities, including almost 30 fully distinct weapon movesets (up from 15 in the original game). Each weapon class includes unique maneuvers - including repositioning strikes, infinite combo chains, and area-of-affect assaults - to provide players with significantly greater tactical expression.

CI Games has substantially expanded the depth and diversity of all combat systems - melee, magic and ranged - for the upcoming sequel, with a far greater focus on hybrid builds, all in service of encouraging players to not only experiment in their approach to combat, but delight in doing so.

“We want players to feel like a Swiss Army sword, ready to draw from an arsenal of combat options at any moment,” said Ryan Hill, Chief Creative Officer. “From Quickfire projectiles to mid-combo weapon swapping, players will be spoilt for choice when it comes to ripping their foes limb from limb. And there's plenty more yet to reveal...” 

Accompanying Ryan in the episode is Lead Combat Designer, Mike Vermeulen, alongside two members of the Launch Creative Team (LCT) team: Popular soulslike and RPGcontent creator, Travis “Pastorgainz” Hughlett, and Chandler Huddleston. Recruited directly from the Souls community - with the caveat of having at least 1000 hours experience in soulslikes - LCT members are fully integrated into the game's development, working closely with devs on a daily basis to review and refine everything from combat and exploration to narrative and character progression. 

Titled ‘Steel & Sorcery’, episode 11 of ‘Lifting the Veil’ is a showcase of the many improvements being made to the game thanks in part to additional development time as it continues towards its Q1 2027 global release. It delivers the most extensive reveal of new gameplay details to date, with all-new footage demonstrating the expanded arsenal of weapons, more expressive and aggressive combat, and sweeping improvements to both magic and ranged playstyles.

Highlights from the new episode of ‘Lifting the Veil’ include:

• Mid-Combo Weapon Switching: Start off with dual dagger strikes and close with a scythe swing. Players can not only transition from one-hand to two-hand stance on the fly, but can now also swap effortlessly between two different melee loadouts, mid-combo with no interruption to combat flow.

• New Combat Abilities: Melee players have more strategic options than ever, with significantly more distinct weapon classes, increased identity between one-hand and two-hand movesets, new counterstrike attacks, and a wealth of boss weapons with unique signature attacks. 

• Quickfire Ability:Players can now equip two quickfire abilities per melee loadout, allowing combatants to instantly draw upon magic, ranged projectiles and buffs in the heat of battle without needing to switch stances. Launch a javelin mid combo, or re-buff your weapon in the blink of an eye.

• Dedicated Magic and Ranged Stances:Each discipline now has its own dedicated stance providing the same level of mobility as the default melee stance.

• Instant Spellcasting: Thanks to intuitive button remapping while in ranged stances, spellcasters can equip up to four spells at once with one catalyst, ready to seamlessly swap to another four spells with a second catalyst, all instantly castable and with chargeable variants. Players can also replenish mana using the Sanguinarix without resorting to consumables this time around, and can also draw from seven diverse schools of magic.  

• Fully Viable Ranged Builds:Ranged weapons now include an infinite base ammo, while more powerful variants can be refilled at certain points throughout the game world, making ranged builds more viable than ever for complete playthroughs.

• Quality-of-life Improvements: An immense suite of smaller improvements paint a brighter (and bloodier) picture for combat, including the ability to recover weapon upgrades at a small cost to encourage weapon experimentation at the later levels.

Key Features:

• Explore a Broken World: Journey across a vast, war-torn kingdom crumbling from within, as the realms of living and dead begin to bleed into one. From moonlit citadels to time-ravaged temples, tread carefully, for each step forward may well be your last.
• Master Tactical Combat: Engage in intense, soulslike battles where every strike counts thanks to a fast, fluid and aggressive combat system. Whether steel or sorcery, melee or ranged, experiment with countless builds to overcome each unique enemy encounter before delivering an arena-drenching execution.
• Battle Monstrous Bosses: Confront colossal abominations forged in a world without hope and void of mercy. Each distinct showdown will prove a brutal test of skill, grit, and unyielding will. Though aid is at hand, should you seek it…
• Harness the Umbra: As bearer of the Umbral lamp, you have the ability to pass between the realms of the living and the dead, each with its own pathways, treasures, and of course, nightmarish creatures. But even greater, darker powers await you on this journey…

Lords Of The Fallen II is set to arrive on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC (Steam / Epic Games Store) in Q1 2027.