Hey, so you’re likely here due to the headline, and I can assure you that this wasn’t some clickbait to get you here. After 177 hours of Lords of the Fallen, the coop in Lords of the Fallen (2023) is easily the game’s worst issue, and perhaps the developer, Hexworks, should have left it out. From the host disconnects, lack of collision detection, and other issues, Lords of the Fallen’s co-op is easily some of the worst I’ve played in quite a while.
Now, I’m not complaining for the sake of complaining, as I’m genuinely frustrated with how things have been treated. Lords of the Fallen is the latest Soulslike with co-op, and I genuinely love co-op in these sorts of games. For the past ten years, I’ve guided and helped players get through levels and bosses in games such as Demon’s Souls, all of the Dark Souls, Elden Ring (with the Seamless Co-op mod) Remnant from the Ashes, and, more recently, Remnant 2. When it was mentioned that LotF would also have co-op, I was happy because I could do that all over again. Except, Lords of the Fallen’s co-op mode, for lack of any tact, really sucks ass. It feels rushed, and it could have used a bit more time to bake; seeing the game in this shape frustrates me.
If I get summoned, things are different. Weapon collision is a joke, as I can smack an enemy and wait a split second to see my attack register on it. Other times, I’d watch my character stand still or do this spaz out like it was having a seizure. During one session, when I was summoned, my character was stuck in place, unable to do anything, and had to leave that game. I was left waiting another two hours before I was summoned again… and was promptly greeted by the “Disconnected from Host: Connection Lost. At that point, I promptly turned off the game.
Seeing the Disconnected from Host: Connection Lost error is enough from attempting to play co-op. It’s a tease as if the game session is about to connect, and you think that you might get lucky, only for it to drop the connection. This happens almost every time I try to get a co-op session going. Frustration is the word I’d use. Well, it’s the proper word, anyway.
Thankfully, I didn’t need anyone’s help during my first playthrough of the game, and again, seeing how progression isn’t shared, there is little reason for players to jump into someone’s world. Not unless they’re like me and they want to help out other players. But c’mon, Hexworks; that’s the issue. Well, outside of the shitty netcode. If players don’t see any benefit for partaking in any co-op, why do you think they will? People are, for the most part, out for themselves in these games. If they don’t see any reason to help another player, they won’t. Well, at least we have the Pilfered Coins, right? I’m being sarcastic, but more on that in a bit.
But what makes things worse is that when this continues to happen, players will stop trying to summon other players. No, I’m not kidding, and I’ve already asked a few people about this. This answer can summon it up pretty damned well.
If players can’t summon actual people, they’ll depend on the NPC players and do the job with them instead. Well, that doesn’t bode well for those Deralium Chucks (there will be more on that later).
The sad part is that I’m not alone in my frustrations. Most of the Lords of the Fallen community feel the same way, and that’s not a good thing. Every day, there are posts in the subreddit dedicated to the game on how the coop mode is terrible and how co-op is a joke. As it stands, no one is confident that Hexworks can provide a working co-op mode.
But to make things worse, Hexworks had the notion of locking the Deralium Chucks (where here!), the material you need to upgrade a weapon or magic catalyst to its highest level, behind the co-op mode. While you find a few of them during progression, if you earn 300 150 Pilfered Coins (co-op currency), you can also purchase it from the co-op shrine, Shrine of Orius. Sounds easy. Read on.
You can only earn during a Pilfered Coins successful non-crossplay co-op session when a boss is defeated. Mini-bosses don’t count. If you can’t get into a co-op session, you won’t be able to earn them. If the co-op session is laggy, or worse, chances are you won’t beat a boss. Hell, you may not even get to the boss. It’s a mess. I hope Hexworks takes in all the frustration players have been tossing their way and changes the Deralium Chunks to being purchased by Vigor instead.
And while I’m here, and while I initially wasn’t going to, I may as well, right? Let’s talk about the shitshow that is the PVP. Did you know that there’s no level cap for the PVP, like there is in Fromsoftware’s Dark Souls, Demon’s Souls, or Elden Ring games? Low-level players have been able to invade high-level players and getting stomped, while high-level players have been able to invade low-level players and obliterate them. It’s a massive mistake, and due to the game having issues with duping, some players are level 200 and beyond. I was reading up in the Lords of the Fallen subreddit, and people were saying they were in the thousands due to duping and had no problem beating people who were severely underleved.
[wpvideo qQYksMHp]I can even acknowledge times I was invaded; it wasn’t much of a challenge for the invader. All they did was spam Radiant spells while I was being swarmed by enemies, and it was over. Another time, I was hit by the Blessed Reflection spell, and I was one-shotted. Mind you, balancing is one thing, but being unable to dodge or being matched up against someone who you shouldn’t be is another story.
Sure, I’ve done nothing but complain about co-op and PVP, but it’s not because I hate the game. With over 177 hours in the game, that should tell you something else. Who plays a game for that long if they don’t like it? I enjoy the single-player aspect. I loved (most) of the boss fights, and I rated the game highly. I even enjoy the co-op when it works. What I hate is the performance issues, but I can’t stand the state of co-op and PVP; I hope Hexworks turns this all around.
But until then, I’ll be playing the game in offline mode, which unfortunately blocks me from being able to get Deralium Chucks, which means I can’t level up my favorite weapons or catalyst. Hexworks really needs to get this entire co-op situation fixed, or no one will bother with it, killing it before it hits stride. I do believe that the game can have just as a healthy co-op community as any of Fromsoftware’s games, but until then, what’s the word I’m looking for? Oh, right! FRUSTRATION!
