“Bolder, Braver, Bloodier”: CI Games Showcases Lords of the Fallen 2 Combat in a 42 Minute Developer Deep Dive
CI Games is ramping up its 2026 release runway for Lords of the Fallen 2, the next entry in the franchise and effectively the third major release under the Lords of the Fallen banner, following the original 2014 title and the 2023 reboot. The studio last brought the sequel back into the spotlight during The Game Awards 2025 with a gameplay trailer, and now it is moving from marketing beats to product specifics with a long form combat focused developer deep dive.
In the new video, game director James Lowe frames the sequel’s combat direction with a clear positioning statement: it will be “bolder, braver, bloodier.” The deep dive is presented as part of CI Games’ Lifting the Veil series on the studio’s official YouTube channel, and it runs nearly 42 minutes, which signals a deliberate transparency play rather than a short hype clip.
The conversation includes Lowe alongside lead systems designer Daniel Regan, producer Alex Harkin, and creative strategist Ryan Hill, and the tone is largely a postmortem plus roadmap hybrid. The team directly acknowledges that the 2023 reboot launched with notable issues, then later received a major overhaul update called 2.0. With the sequel, CI Games is positioning itself to keep what worked, reduce friction that players pushed back on, and expand combat depth in ways that feel meaningful rather than cosmetic.
A key emphasis is that the sequel is doubling down on what many players responded to in the 2023 reboot, including dual wielding, faster movement, and higher maneuverability. The team also highlights a push for more animation variety, which is a practical combat feel upgrade since animation repetition is one of the fastest ways an action RPG can start to feel flat in long sessions. Beyond animation work, CI Games is also stressing broader weapon experimentation and a more fluid combat loop that allows players to move seamlessly between melee engagement and spell casting without feeling like they are switching into a separate mode.
That seamless swap philosophy is important because it speaks to how the studio wants players to express build identity moment to moment. Instead of treating magic as a backup plan or a dedicated archetype, CI Games appears to be pushing toward a hybrid friendly combat cadence where more players can mix tools and keep tempo. In modern action RPG terms, that is a strong retention lever because it supports experimentation, replays, and different approaches to the same encounter.
There is also a necessary naming clarification that CI Games is essentially inheriting from its own history. Lords of the Fallen 2 is the third game in the franchise, because the series began with Lords of the Fallen in 2014, then was rebooted with Lords of the Fallen in 2023, and now continues with a sequel. The original 2014 Steam listing is here: Lords of the Fallen 2014 on Steam. The 2.0 label many players remember refers to the large overhaul update for the 2023 reboot, not the upcoming sequel.
Zooming out, this deep dive reads like a studio attempting to execute a disciplined quality loop. CI Games is explicitly using player feedback, identifying where the 2023 reboot underdelivered, and then turning that into a combat pillar upgrade plan for 2026. If the final game delivers on responsiveness, animation clarity, and build flexibility, Lords of the Fallen 2 could land as the breakout entry CI Games has been chasing for over a decade.
Do you want Lords of the Fallen 2 to lean harder into speed and aggression like a modern hybrid action RPG, or would you rather it slow down for more deliberate, weighty Soulslike pacing?
