His name is Harkyn. He exits conversation not with a goodbye, but with a gruff “I don’t care,” as if he can barely be bothered to embark on the quest at hand. Harkyn may not be delighted by the adventure he’s been thrust into, but I can claim no such apathy: Lords of the Fallen is a dark-fantasy pleasure, cut from the same cloth as Dark Souls, yet distinct enough to earn its own spotlight and, perhaps, to earn your affection as well. Harkyn himself is not easy to love, but ultimately, he doesn’t matter as much as the world he serves and the hammers he swings.

“World” might be too generous a word, actually: You spend most of your time in corridors and combat arenas, not gazing onto spacious landscapes. Lords of the Fallen’s dramatic citadel and hushed monastery are suffering from t…