Formerly called “Project RPG” at City Interactive, Tomasz Gop’s (The Witcher) latest creation was finally unveiled a few weeks ago as a next-gen RPG titled, Lords of the Fallen. The game is being developed at an experienced German studio called Deck 13. Speaking about the game, Gop stressed the fact that the game would be challenging. So challenging in fact, that it will compete with Demon Souls/Dark Souls for the title of the most challenging action RPG.

The first story details were released last week by City Interactive which you can read below.

“Set in a richly created fantasy world where the Gods have failed mankind, players will take on the role of a human named Harkyn who sets out on a quest to stand against an apparently unstoppable supernatural force. Players travel across a world that is deeply dived by those that follow and others that resist the Fallen God. Along their journey they will be faced with a series of decisions that will alter both the world and their character thus dramatically impacting the storyline.”

“Who is Harkyn? The answer to this question will be discovered by each individual player as they step into the boots of the main character. Players will uncover and learn new secrets and abilities that will further shift the tide of battle in their favor. Hated and marked by society, Harkyn is the only one capable of ending the long battle of the Fallen God believers and those that have abandoned him long time ago. Our team is committed to creating a distinct character and a gameplay experience unique to every player, as well as a deep, secretive history that players will be rewarded for upon discovering.”

The game takes a heavy inspiration from Dark Souls, which in my book is a great thing. Since Lords of the Fallen is a hardcore RPG, things like stamina will affect your play, limiting how much you can swing your weapons and forcing the player to take a tactical stance rather than what you’d find in your typical hack and slash game. Players will develop Harkyn to fit their play style and have access to three unique skill trees. We don’t have any details yet on what these skills involve.

Enemies will be limited in number, but provide an ample challenge. Even a standard enemy from what we’ve heard will be a challenge. Combat is a bit faster in Lords of the Fallen and from a few other previewer’s notes, seems to be a bit more fluid than the combat found in Dark Souls. Rolling and dodging attacks is a must, and we assume that parrying features will be included, but we have no confirmation of that yet. According to Gop, a level with just 10 enemies in it could take around an hour to complete.

The game will be divided into chapters that offer some open exploration in each level, with each level holding a number of collectibles for players to find. Loot will play a role in Lords of the Fallen as players can find special weapons and other items that help them advance their character. Levels can be re-visited to find things you may have missed. The best example of a game that provides a similar feature is probably Snowblind’s Lord of the Rings: War in the North. While the game wasn’t a true open world, the map allowed you to visit any location you previously visited which always had secret areas to go find and so on.

Lords of the Fallen will release on the PC, Xbox One and PS4 platforms sometime in 2014. We’ll be doing what we can to hook ourselves up with an exclusive interview soon to learn more about the game. Stay tuned!