Though last year’s Lords of the Fallen wasn’t perfect, the developer Hexworks massively improved the game via post-launch updates and content releases. And, in fact, it appears to have been successful enough to warrant a sequel, which is due to launch in 2026 according to new sources.
This information was spotted by Eurogamer in the publisher CI Games’ latest product roadmap document, which spells out some really good news for the studio in the short term. Broadly, CI Games is currently enjoying fairly solid financial positioning with a good idea of where it needs to go next. The focus appears to fall squarely on two of its intellectual properties: Lords of the Fallen and Sniper: Ghost Warrior, both of which are due to receive new entries over the next couple of years. Lords of the Fallen 2, for example, is due to launch in 2026, which is a faster turnover than one might expect.
Lords of the Fallen 2 is coming in 2026 with ‘elevated production values’
As per CI Games’ roadmap for the next couple of years, Lords of the Fallen 2 is going to adopt a wide variety of improvements, such as “elevated production values,” and a “more commercial” art style and narrative. Whether the latter is a good thing or not remains to be seen, as the over-designed edginess of the 2023 title made for what was, in my opinion, a surprisingly interesting and memorable experience in the end. The document also states that Lords of the Fallen 2 will include a full co-op multiplayer experience with shared progression, whereas the 2023 title didn’t allow for this.
While Hexworks is tied up in Lords of the Fallen 2 for the next couple of years, CI Games is looking at the situation from a broader point of view, aiming to leverage its other IPs along the way. More specifically, the document states that CI Games has two more flagship titles in development:
- Project SGW Evolved: a Sniper: Ghost Warrior title targeting a 2027 launch window.
- Project H: an entirely new action RPG that shares some amount of development architecture with the modern Lords of the Fallen games, aiming for a 2028 release.
While one might be a tad hard-pressed to think of Lords of the Fallen and Sniper: Ghost Warrior – Contracts 2 as full-blooded AAA games, I’m thrilled with the fact that CI Games is doing well enough to keep producing them. Lords of the Fallen, in particular, accounted for 72% of CI Games’ revenue in the first half of 2024. It moved over 1.3M copies by the end of 2023, too, so there’s some staying power to be accounted for here, for sure.
Published: Oct 7, 2024 09:15 am