Lords of the Fallen II: Introducing the Bosses Revealed in the First Ever Gameplay Trailer


Summary

  • Lords of the Fallen II revealed its first gameplay trailer at The Game Awards 2025.
  • Find out more about three new bosses included in the trailer in our article.
  • The final major patch for Lords of the Fallen (2023) is also now live, bringing major updates – including a new Veteran Mode.

The next chapter in this dark fantasy saga is gathering strength. Revealed today at The Game Awards, we unveiled the first ever gameplay trailer for Lords of the Fallen II, the long-awaited new soulslike RPG, arriving in 2026.

The trailer offers a first glimpse at three colossal bosses, a host of new foes, refined combat, and story-driven moments that pull players deeper into the battle-scarred land of Axiom. Cinematic glimpses of torment are woven with brutal combat, giving a glimpse of the merciless journey ahead, in a world sharpened by suffering, shaped by ruin, and ready to strike back.

Bosses are a huge part of Lords of the Fallen II so, once you’ve watched the trailer, join us as we break down the Heartroot Warden, Koydreth, and Lingao, the Souring Storm, as well as some of the smaller enemies you’ll meet in between.

Strange New Foes

The trailer opens with the Dark Crusader stepping toward a four-armed horror with a hollowed head and a chest glowing with an eternal flame. This creature is the Ashen Skin Stealer, a new Rhogar foe born for dueling. These inhuman hunters carve and collect human skin as treasured trophies, though none know where this grotesque ritual began. They fight with single minded ferocity and take pleasure in the slaughter of their enemies.

Moments later, a knight in horned armour hurls himself across the arena with crushing force. This is a Heartroot Warden, the first of the three bosses revealed. His attacks are relentless and heavy, driven by a chain-wrapped great sword that punishes hesitation. Only the most honoured Trelisi warriors were chosen for the sacred rite that twisted them into these undying guardians, their bodies fused within enchanted armour and stripped of humanity.

Through trickery and evasion, a winged figure slips through a rune etched mirror. This is Koydreth, once the respected leader of the Crescent Host. He is the second boss introduced. Cursed for a sin so grave it reshaped him in body and spirit, he now rules the skies with a monstrous elegance. He moves like a predator, both majestic and savage.

The Dark Crusader then stands before a vast draconic head. Lightning splits the air as its jaws descend. This is Lingao, the Souring Storm, the third and final boss revealed. Lingao commands the fury of the skies, wielding wind and lightning with terrifying speed. His massive frame sweeps across the battlefield, attacking from every direction.

Elsewhere we witness the player fire a crossbow bolt into a frenzied attacker. This is the Man of Letters, once a scholar, now a feral shell consumed by Umbral corruption. They charge with no thought for survival, driven only by blind hostility.

Then emerges the Hysteric, wearing a wicked grin and carrying twin axes in elongated arms. Wild, erratic, and constantly shifting their style, they keep players guessing with every strike.

These foes are only the beginning. Each is bound to the histories, cultures, and tragedies that have shaped Axiom. With Lords of the Fallen II, the team at CI Games has pushed enemy design further than ever before.

Lords of the Fallen: New Veteran Mode

Today, Lords of the Fallen also receives its final major update, Version 2.5. This patch introduces extensive behavior upgrades to bosses, mini bosses, and enemies throughout Mournstead across both Normal and the new Veteran Mode. Veteran Mode heightens the challenge further, granting bosses new attack patterns, swifter transitions, and far more unpredictable assault chains. Several boss weapons have also been reforged with new signature animations.

Coming Next Year

Launching in 2026, Lords of the Fallen II aims to deliver a darker, more demanding experience than anything we’ve made before. With evolved combat, fearsome new bosses, and a world swallowed by ruin, the sequel promises to test the resolve of every player.

For Xbox fans, this marks a powerful evolution of the franchise. Greater threats, deadlier encounters, and more strategic combat await those willing to brave the horrors rising within Axiom.

Lords of the Fallen II

CI Games

Realm by realm, nation after nation, the Umbral darkness consumed all in Her path. Now, over 1,000 years later, only one Kingdom remains; a sacred land, shrouded by an ancient force. Or so it was…

Stolen by the Gods themselves, mankind is left forsaken, defenceless against the darkness. Unless this force is restored, the shadow of death will devour all. But how do you kill… an immortal?

A hero must rise, for a God to fall.

Explore a Broken World
Journey across a vast, war-torn kingdom crumbling from within, as the realms of living and dead begin to bleed into one. From moonlit citadels to time-ravaged temples, tread carefully, for each step forward may well be your last.

Master Tactical Combat
Engage in intense, soulslike battles where every strike counts thanks to a fast, fluid and aggressive combat system. Whether steel or sorcery, melee or ranged, experiment with countless builds to overcome each unique enemy encounter before delivering an arena-drenching execution.

Battle Monstrous Bosses
Confront colossal abominations forged in a world without hope and void of mercy. Each distinct showdown will prove a brutal test of skill, grit, and unyielding will. Though aid is at hand, should you seek it…

Harness the Umbral
As bearer of the Umbral lamp, you have the ability to pass between the realms of the living and the dead, each with its own pathways, treasures, and of course, nightmarish creatures. But even greater, darker powers await you on this journey…

The 2024 Game Awards’ biggest Game of the Year snubs and surprises


The Game Awards aren’t known for much in the way of shock and surprise, and so it proved with the 2024 nominees — a fairly well-rounded list in which most of the year’s best-reviewed and best-loved games got some love.

The Game Awards’ voting jury snubbed BioWare’s latest game in a series of key categories where it would have been expected to compete. It secured just one nomination, for Innovation in Accessibility, which is decided by a specialist jury.

Granted, the reception to The Veilguard has been mixed — and with its Metacritic rating settling at 82, a nomination for Game of the Year seemed beyond its reach (even though that is one point higher than Black Myth: Wukong, which did make the cut).

More tellingly, though, The Veilguard did not score nominations for Best Narrative or Best Performance, two areas where BioWare games tend to excel, and which are less review-dependent. It also missed out in Best Role-Playing Game. This was an exceptionally strong category this year: Three of the five nominees (Metaphor: ReFantazio, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, and Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree) also secured nominations for Game of the Year, and the other two (Dragon’s Dogma 2 and Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth) are unconventionally excellent. Even so, failing to join this company is surely not the result that BioWare or publisher EA wanted after a decade of development.

Were there any other snubs? Perhaps a few minor ones. It was a surprise not to see the much-loved EA Sports College Football 25 score a nomination in the Sports/Racing Game category, although this might be down to the broad international makeup of the jury. The Sim/Strategy Game category is missing two games with passionate fan bases and high review scores — Satisfactory and Tactical Breach Wizards — either of which might have taken the slot of the Age of Mythology remake, for example. But this was a strong category this year. Personally, I would have loved to see The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom nominated for its fabulous music.

As ever, the intensely competitive indie categories cannot please everyone. But with 15 games nominated across Independent Game, Debut Indie Game, and Games for Impact, you have to dig down to some pretty deep cuts like Arco or 1000xResist before you find something to get upset about.

Other surprises? I don’t think anybody saw four nominations coming for Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2, a game that has all but disappeared from the discourse since its release in May. Four nominations — including Game of the Year — for DLC, in the form of Shadow of the Erdtree, is without precedent. Black Myth: Wukong breaking through in Game of the Year despite its comparatively weak critical reputation is definitely noteworthy, as are the five nominations for one-man-band card game Balatro.

In the end, though, there’s not much in this set of nominees to ruffle any feathers — outside of BioWare’s offices, that is.