is unsurprisingly getting the sequel treatment. The spooky, masochistic ARPG made a pretty big impression, despite the performance issues, while its neat Umbral mechanic—which lets you shift between worlds—helped it avoid being consigned to the middling Dark Souls knock-off pile. Though I still can't get over the fact that it has exactly the same name as its 2014 predecessor, despite not being a remake.
The agreement doesn't describe the game at all, naturally, but does give us one titbit of information: it's expected out in 2026. CI Games also remains the IP holder and retains the rights to distribute the game on other platforms: specifically Xbox Series S/X and PS5. Sorry, Switch fans. Lords of the Fallen hit a very respectable million sales only 10 days after launch, but it's not clear how many of those sales were on Steam. Its peak concurrent player count of 43,000 and 21,000 user reviews suggests it did pretty well, however, so intentionally limiting PC sales to the Epic Games Store does seem like a bit of a risk.
One can assume CI Games is hoping the big chunk of cash the deal nets will more than balance out any shortfall stemming from a delayed Steam launch. More often than not, a game's migration from Epic exclusivity to Steam and other platforms ends up being a soft relaunch anyway, reigniting interest and reminding people that the game exists. Though it will mean that, for those of you who want to wait for a Steam release, the release date is going to be more like 2027. It's a long wait.