The Art Of Lords of the Fallen

“How do you make an already tortured world more tortured?”

This was the question raised by Alexandre Chaudret, Artistic Director, as I spoke with him about the inspirations that inspired him during the development of Lords of the Fallen. A title developed by Hexworks, a young studio created for the occasion by its publisher CI Games. A reboot-sequel – or “requel” as Alexandre likes to say – that aims to make people forget the relative failure of the first Lords of the Fallen released in 2014, one of the very first Souls-Like to see the light of day.

That was ten years ago and when Alexandre Chaudret joined the ranks of Hexworks in the early stages of development, it was to give a new dimension to the Dark Fantasy style, while respecting the codes of its artistic direction. As he confided to me, it’s hard not to consider everything that’s already been done in the genre, and even more so when we’re talking about the flagship Dark Souls, Bloodborne and Elden Ring. No matter how hard he tries to ignore it, From Software’s aura and influence will always weigh heavily on the artist’s shoulders.

Nevertheless, as I hope you’ll see in this article, Lords of the Fallen has managed to make the most of this heritage while forging its own identity. Not least thanks to the many talented artists working at Hexworks, whom we’re going to try to honor today. An artistic direction that has won unanimous acclaim – which you’ll agree is rare in the video game world – and won the hearts of gamers. As you’re well aware of Point’n Think’s love of the artistic dimension of the videogame medium, it was only natural that the editorial team should turn its attention to this subject.

In Light We Walk.

This article is based in part on two interviews with Alexandre Chaudret. One for Point’n Think, the other on the editor’s Youtube channel. The aim is to enhance the analytical content with a number of quotations. We also invite you to take a look at the interview already online on our site, to complete your knowledge of the game.
Point’n Think editorial team

“Opening our Dark Fantasy world to Cosmic Horror“

Lords of the Fallen is a game based on a simple but devilishly effective mechanic: the dual world. On one side, the kingdom of Axiom; on the other, its negative side, the world of Umbral. This is not a new feature in video games: Dishonored 2, for example, already explored this dynamic in its “A Crack in the Slab” level, which allowed us to alternate between two eras. Not forgetting Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, which allowed us to travel between the material and spectral planes. It was soon decided that Axiom would be the backdrop for a tortured Dark Fantasy, and that Umbral would be the Underworld. A problem then arose: since the world of Axiom was already tortured, how could the world of Umbral be made even more so?

“Either we made Axiom less tormented so that Umbral could be more tormented, or we started from the premise that Axiom was already tormented, so we needed to be even more tormented in Umbral. Obviously, this was the solution we turned to.“

Alexandre Chaudret and his team soon realized that Umbral would be the perfect mean to open up their Dark Fantasy world to what is known as Cosmic Horror. And when we start talking about Cosmic Horror, inspirations abound. Howard Phillips Lovecraft and his Cthulhu mythos, of course: the idea that cosmic entities observe us from another plane of existence and control our destiny.

As you explore the world of Umbral with the aid of your lamp – which allows you either to catch a glimpse of it, or to enter it completely – you feel these gazes resting on you, constantly oppressing you. Morbid, more or less gigantic eyes dot the walls, scrutinizing your progress. It’s hard not to think of Bloodborne, the best adaptation of the Cthulhu mythos in recent years, without ever saying the name.

Bloodborne's Lunar Presence — *Bloodborne’s Lunar Presence*

The strength of Lovecraft’s diegesis is that it is almost entirely suggestive, reinforcing the power of the horror that can only be imagined. As you travel through the Umbral, in the distance, you can see gigantic titans frozen in time, overlooked by the giant scrutinizing eye of Putrid Mother. What are they? What happened to them? We’ll never know, and that’s the beauty of this universe. All we need to know about this world is that it was here long before the Kingdom of Axiom, and that its people, the Nohuta, have disappeared.

“Suggesting the unreal and human emotions that become a waking nightmare”

The name Hans Ruedi Giger is then obviously mentioned. Although he is best known as the creator of Ridley Scott’s Alien, this is only a small part of his work. Giger is an icon of surreal fantasy and the originator of biomechanics. The universe he has created over the years is dark and tortured, with flesh rubbing shoulders with metal, the organic mingling with the metallic, and man becoming one with machine. All tinged with obscene, morbid sexuality. Giger’s work has been interpreted in the cinema, but the video game is not to be outdone. Scorn, released in October 2022, is certainly his finest adaptation, giving substance to this universe imbued with sexuality, where flesh and machine merge. I can only recommend the excellent The Art Of Scorn by my colleague Julien, which you can easily find on the site.

When you explore Umbral in Lords of the Fallen, you feel this dynamic all around you – everything is visceral, with structures to be activated that resemble rib cages ripped from their owners. Funnily enough, the bridges are easy enough to make. Scorn explored themes close to birth and childbirth, which we feel in the Kingdom of Umbral. Baby cries can be heard in the distance, the Vestigial Seeds that offer us rest take the form of fetuses, the place where you find the Putrid Mother is called the Mother’s Lull. Consciously or unconsciously, forged by their inspirations, these works find each other. By the way, didn’t Bloodborne also deal with the impossibility of the Great Old Ones reproducing?

The links between Giger’s work and that of Lovecraft are just as easy to establish, and for good reason: in 1977, Giger produced a collection of paintings entitled Giger’s Necronomicon in homage to the American writer. What they have in common is a strong sexual dominance, a morbid fascination with the organic and with marine animals, fish and snakes. What is it about these works that so fascinates us? Is it the fact that they disturb us, that they depict landscapes of the unconscious and send us back to our own repressed desires? Or is it simply the fact that obscenity and savagery are represented in an aesthetic, unhealthy and unspeakable way?

“The Lamp of Umbral is a keyhole into this second world and changes the paradigm of exploration”

These are questions that also arise when we think of the work of Zdzisław Beksiński, a photographer and painter with a tragic history. A personal history that has shaped his work, just like the totalitarianisms suffered by his country. The Umbral in Lords of the Fallen oozes Beksiński from every pore: deformed faces, torn flesh and bony figures with broken bodies. A restricted chromatic palette that acts on us like a suffocating fog, fanning the part of us fascinated by horror, death and nightmares.

But Beksiński doesn’t paint scenes detached from reality: on the contrary, he speaks of our world, of the suffering that man engenders or undergoes. Just like the Umbral, which is not a world apart, but is inspired by the suffering of the real world. If you go through the Umbral in a Poisoned Marsh, you’ll find on the other side a putrefied world, full of worms and rot. If you do so in a mausoleum, you’ll see the ghostly silhouettes of those who lie there, echoing the Fallen of Death Stranding. We feel the suffering of Beksiński’s characters as they seem already dead, as if trapped in an impalpable maze from which they tirelessly seek the exit. An exit leading to a new nightmare.

“These horrific visions were transposed into what would become Umbral”

Surprisingly, the point of convergence for Alexandre Chaudret and his teams was not one of these three great names, but that of a French artist. Olivier de Sagazan is a sculptor, painter and visual artist who has been working for over thirty years, notably in public performances. You may already know his daughter, Zaho de Sagazan, who is beginning to make a name for herself on the French music scene. During these filmed performances, the artist covers himself in clay, paint and accessories, enabling him to embody deformed, tortured creatures. Olivier de Sagazan’s work is not really a work to be told, but rather a work to be discovered.

In his best-known representations, Transfiguration and Hybridation, I could see certain similarities with the Hollow Crow, a major boss in Lords of the Fallen. But it’s obviously on all the creatures of the Umbral that his influence is most felt: deformed faces, winged creatures with slender limbs and sharp teeth, it’s all there. Umbral is a museum, a tribute to the work of Olivier de Sagazan, to creatures that seem to want to extract themselves from their own bodies.

Umbral creature in Lords of the Fallen — *Umbral creature*

“I took out my manga library and all my Berserk”

When it comes to Axiom, the world of the living, the artists at Hexworks are venturing into well-trodden Dark Fantasy territory. The Fantasy genre as a whole is rooted in Arthurian legends and Norse mythology, but it was especially popularized by Tolkien and the Dungeons & Dragons saga, among others. As I write this article, the name of The Elric Cycle by Michael Moorcock is slipped into my ear, in which we follow the adventures of Elric, an albino evolving in a set of parallel universes. The latter already has its origins in the Sword and Sorcery clichés initiated by Robert E. Howard and his Conan the Conqueror.

But what particularly caught my attention were the themes explored in The Elric Cycle, notably that of Law and Chaos. Law represents order, justice and conformity, while Chaos symbolizes disorder, anarchy and magic. In the middle, Cosmic Libra maintains the balance between these two tendencies. This is similar to Lords of the Fallen in many ways: the Law can be likened to the Holy Sentinels, Chaos to the Rhogars and Cosmic Libra to Putrid Mother and her Umbral. These three factions give rise to the three forms of magic present in the game.

From the more classic Sword and Sorcery aspect, there’s everything to do with your equipment. Swords, daggers, espadons, spears, maces, shields – finely crafted armor to suit every style. You’ll come across fortresses, castles, abbeys, draconic creatures, knightly orders and religious orders. Anyone who has had any contact with the heroic fantasy of recent years will be well on their way.

Kentaro Miura’s Berserk manga adds a tortured, visceral edge to Lords of the Fallen, giving it a Dark Fantasy feel. Alexandre also mentions mangas such as Bestiarius and Claymore. We’re not talking about the same viscerality as Umbral here, but something much bloodier. This time, horror isn’t suggested or hidden, it’s shown in all its forms. The Flesh Congregator, a boss you meet relatively early on in the adventure, perfectly embraces this idea. Basically, he’s a simple man, a pilgrim, who, repulsed by the religious institution in place – the Holy Sentinels – has chosen, at death’s door, to devour the bodies of his fellow pilgrims in order to transform himself into this hideous creature. Just the sort of story you’d expect to find in a chapter of Berserk.

Another moment comes to mind, when towards the very end of the game you cross paths with the Tower of Penitence. This is a place where the most important prisoners of the Holy Sentinels are locked up, where they are subjected to the worst abuse and torture. With every step you take in this Tower, you feel the violence that reigns here, amplified by the endless screams you hear in the distance, almost like a descent into Hell. When you arrive before the owner of the premises, Tancred, Master of Castigations, you find a man himself tortured from within by his twin brother Reinhold, who haunts his mind.

What do these two stories have in common? Religion. Or should I say, a misuse of religion, an absolutely central theme in Berserk. In this sense, it also reminds me of the Blasphemous license, which also explores this theme of a rogue religion, in which we follow the adventure of the Penitent, in an atmosphere tinged with the Spanish Inquisition. Here again, I recommend the excellent work of Julien at S!CK, who studied the influence of Goya on the world of Blasphemous.

The world of Lords of the Fallen is also deeply religious, with three major currents clashing: the followers of Radiance and their god Orius, those of the Umbral who worship Putrid Mother, and the faithful of Adyr who practice pyromancy. But it’s the Orian religion that predominates, and the one we’re interested in here, represented by the corrupt order of the Holy Sentinels.

Orism is a religious branch based on light, but also blood, in its most extreme practices. These practices derive from the fact that Orius cut off his own head to give birth to the Moon, planets and stars. In fact, the Holy Sentinels have gradually drifted towards totalitarianism, placing ever greater emphasis on the importance of blood. This radicalism is felt body and soul as you explore the environments of Lords of the Fallen: you come across statues with religious symbols dripping blood from their eyes, naked men flagellating themselves, pilgrims carrying large wooden crucifixes on their backs. The symbol of the bell is also omnipresent in the area known as the “Pilgrims’ Nest”: a very strong religious symbol, the percussion of the bell’s clapper reminding the preacher that he had to strike himself to correct himself. The yoke supporting the instrument evokes the cross of Christ, while the rope attached to it symbolizes the right understanding of Scripture. The Radiance faithful have taken this concept so far that they’ve developed a ritual called Sacred Resonance, which consists of enduring the resonance of a bell threaded over the practitioner’s head.

“I am the number 1 product of Dragon Ball and Knights of the Zodiac”

When Alexandre Chaudret mentions Knights of the Zodiac, two female characters from Lords of the Fallen immediately spring to mind: Pieta and Judge Cleric. Pieta is the product of an immaculate conception, the fruit of Orius’ light, and as such possesses healing powers. The name Pieta can be seen as an obvious reference to Michelangelo’s work, but in my opinion its origins lie more in Norihiro Yagi’s manga Claymore, with its half-human, half-demon warriors. Pieta is the name of a place mentioned in the manga, so we’re inclined to believe it. As for Judge Clerc, whose real name is Iselle, she too is blessed by the light of Orius and, as an immortal, has been managing the Holy Sentinels with a masterly hand for centuries. But this is a universe of dualities, and like Axiom and Umbral, Pieta and Judge Clerc both hide darker sides.

Pieta is infected by a parasite of the Putrid Mother, capable of transforming her into a creature of the Umbral, straight out of a performance by Olivier de Sagazan or a nightmare by Beksiński. As for Judge Cleric, she has long since sunk into the corruption of the God Adyr and transformed herself into a pyromancer witch. What’s fascinating about this universe in so many ways is that the Umbral is not just a gimmick; coherence has been pushed to the limit, and every character has a bright side as well as a darker one.

“The Marais? People who live there love poison and decapitation”.

The Moribund Swamp is one of my favorite areas of Lords of the Fallen. Precisely because it’s not there just to be a poisonous swamp and pay tribute to Hidetaka Miyazaki. It also comes to tell us a story, that of a people from the Umbral called the Adoring Pariahs. Little is known about this people, except that at regular intervals, they elect a protector from among themselves, the Angel of Nothingness. The Pariah Adorators of the Umbral then disappeared, in a breath, in the same silence they inspired in their lifetime. This enabled the Shujas Warriors, another enslaved people, to free themselves from their chains.

The Shuja Warriors, who have all the makings of an indigenous people, have a fascination for poison and, above all, decapitation. The reason? It becomes clear when we come face to face with the Boss who protects the area: the Hushed Saint, a headless horseman, whose earthbound powers and the staff he carries make him look almost druidic. By Alexandre Chaudret’s own admission, the inspiration came from Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow. Released in 1999 and inspired by Washington Irving’s short story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, it features a headless horseman played by the fantastic Christopher Walken. But I can’t help seeing in it a nod to Death on his trusty steed painted by Beksiński. For the rest of the area’s general ambience, we can turn to The Blair Witch Project, a 1999 film by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sànchez.

This is an opportunity to point out – in addition to the previous paragraph on religion – that Beksiński also painted numerous Christ-like figures in the midst of crucifixion, and biblical episodes such as the Tower of Babel. Representations of death, higher entities, all manner of monsters that seem to have come straight out of Lovecraft’s Necronomicon, and may have inspired Hexworks artists. I’m always fascinated to see how the nightmarish visions of all these great artists end up coming together: Giger, Lovecraft, Miura, Beksiński, as if the ethereal world, that of the unconscious, were a gigantic canvas that these geniuses depict for us.

“Fire Punch inspired some of the Rhogars characters”

We’ve mentioned the Umbral and the Radiance, but we haven’t yet taken the time to talk about the third branch that forms the liturgical universe of Lords of the Fallen: the Demon-God Adyr and the Rhogars, created to hunt humans. This people, already present in 2014’s Lords of the Fallen, are part of a fairly classic demonic movement, with imposing creatures, often stripped naked, with horned helmets and serpentine tails. We could clearly cite the DOOM saga for their general appearance, but Alexandre tells me that some of the Rhogars characters are mostly inspired by Tatsuki Fujimoto’s Fire Punch manga.

As for their equipment, there are nods to Giger’s work, with axes and shields made from human flesh and bones, certainly evoking the Swiss artist’s biomechanical character. Everything about Rhogars evokes the diabolical figure, not least the areas they control: the first, a village eternally ablaze, echoes the village drowned in flames in Fire Punch, flames that can’t be extinguished until they’ve completely consumed their targets. The second, a castle supervised by Rhogar, looks more like a revisit of the Pandemonium imagined by poet John Milton and brought to life by John Martin in 1841. But by the same artist, we could just as easily cite The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in 1852 or The End of the World in 1853.

At the bottom of this castle sits the figure of Adyr, like a horned devil watching over the throne of a fallen king. Yet when we come to meet Adyr in his original form, we discover a majestic, androgynous creature, far from the image we might have of the Devil. The idea here was surely to suggest that Rhogars are adorned with a demonic style, but are ultimately not so far removed from humans in their appearance. And that’s the whole point, since among the Rhogar’s ranks we also find human devotees, affected by Adyr’s corruption and whose torn flesh and dripping entrails can sometimes be glimpsed.

Adyr devotees have a morbid fascination with the Hand symbol, representative of the gigantic Hand of Adyr enthroned on the mountain. The Hand is an artistically powerful symbol, whether in terms of the divine figure or a notion of justice. Kentaro Miura, for example, uses it as a figurehead in his manga Berserk, since the “God Hand” represents the five entities that govern his world.

“Fulfilling players’ fantasies“

What’s exciting about Lords Of The Fallen is that its inspirations draw as much from Dark Fantasy and Cosmic Horror that could be described as “niche” (Giger, Beksiński, Miura) as from much more common, classic pop-culture influences. For example, it’s hard not to see “Fief of the Chill Curse” as a nod to George R.R. Martin’s Winterfell in Games of Thrones. It tells the story of a warlord named Yorke who, devastated by the death of his niece Lucy, attempts to resurrect her in a macabre ritual. The result? Lucy is transformed into a ghost trapped in the Umbral, while Yorke takes the form of the Hollow Crow, watching over his niece for eternity, and blanketing the region in icy cold. We encounter the undead, warriors with ice-infused axes, witches who can petrify you with cold, who could just as easily be mistaken for the White Walkers on their way to Westeros.

This story is only the first level of reading, and in the background, we learn more about the past of the place. This was originally the homeland of the Udirangr, a people of fierce warriors who worshipped the figure of the wolf and hunted giants known as J’deyls. This brings us into the realm of Norse mythology, which is obviously inseparable from George Martin’s work. The king of the Udirangr was a tyrant who led them to their ruin, which explains why today the Kinrangr have taken their place, led by Yorke and his close guard, the Blackfeather Rangers. They worship the figure of the raven, so you can see the irony for Yorke and his transformation.

Throughout the adventure, the aura of another pop-culture work will hover over you, that of Attack on Titan, Hajime Isayama’s manga and perhaps the most popular work of recent years. It’s hard not to think of it when you come face-to-face with the Repudiated Progeny in the Flaming Village, or Reinhold “the Immured”. Everything about the way they move brings back memories of Isayama-sama’s Titans, those broken bodies adorned with a distinctive face and carnivorous smile. Deformed bodies and titans that can be found in a large part of Beksiński’s work, still chasing us like an old demon.

“Imagine it’s the James Bond of the Inquisition”.

If there’s one inspiration for Lords Of The Fallen that made me smile, it’s Bob Kane’s Batman. Let me tell you about Isaac the Dark Crusader, a central character in the game, particularly from a marketing point of view. A symbol of Hexworks’ communication around the game and featured in all trailers, here’s what Alexandre has to say about him:

“The Dark Crusader, Isaac, had to condense most of the elements of our game into a single design: Dark Fantasy, representation of the Umbral, a story. Saul Gascon (Game Director) said to me, “Imagine it’s the James Bond of the Inquisition”. I had flashes of comic-book moments with anti-heroes: The Punisher and Batman.”

The fact is, you only have to look at the Dark Crusader for a few seconds to understand what Alexandre is talking about: those characteristic spikes on the head that make up the Dark Knight’s helmet, the long cape, the shoulder pads similar to a Punisher’s holsters. The aim is not to reproduce Batman here, since the Dark Crusader is totally unique, but to try and resonate with those who will sense these strong references. Reducing the figure of Batman to the role of a Religious Crusader may seem totally anachronistic, but it’s a stroke of genius on the part of the French art director. After all, the Dark Knight’s origins lie in the Middle Ages. From his earliest iterations, Batman has been surrounded by gothic symbols: he lives in a castle, stands on gargoyles and, logically enough, ends up taking on the role of the perfect Crusader Knight: the white Western man who stands up against the villains from elsewhere. If you think these considerations are old-fashioned, think again: all you have to do is go back to Christopher Nolan’s recent trilogy, to discover a Batman fighting Ras Al Ghul and a League of Assassins straight out of medieval Islam.

All Alexandre Chaudret and his teams have done is return the Dark Knight to his purest essence, that of the Crusader Knight. Of course, Batman is much more than that: he also symbolizes the fight against crime, the class struggle, he has evolved throughout history and will continue to evolve along with the society around him. But that’s not all.

If Batman is in the game, his antagonist, the Joker, must also be in it, so the character of the Lightreaper takes on this role. The Rhogar offspring of the God Adyr, despised by his master, he’s embarked on a never-ending quest to hunt down immortal Lampbearers like Isaac the Dark Crusader, in the image of the Joker and his eternal battle against the Dark Knight. His bloody, carnivorous smile is a design inspired by Batman Metal, where the Batman and the Joker become one. Although the Lightreaper wasn’t originally supposed to have a voice, he finally makes himself heard with a voice that hisses between the teeth of a crippled machoîre, characteristic of the Joker.

The Lightreaper in Lords of the Fallen — *The Lightreaper*

Lords of the Fallen isn’t just a game to me any more. It undoubtedly was, but from the moment I decided to delve deeply into its game design, its story and its genesis, it became something else entirely. It’s a tribute, a love letter to Giger, Lovecraft, Olivier de Sagazan, Beksiński, Kentaro Miura, Tolkien and so many others. I hope I’ve succeeded in taking you into the world of the Hexworks artists, to whom I dedicate these last words

“Your heroes may be Bruce Wayne and Eren Jäger, you are mine.”