The 2023 version of Lords of the Fallen has brought a lot of new additions compared to the original title, and one of them is the introduction of the Umbral realm. This alternate dimension between life and death is both a blessing and a curse for your main character, and we’ve got everything you need to know about Umbral in Lords of the Fallen.
Umbral in Lords of the Fallen Explained
Umbral is a parallel world belonging to the dead that exists in conjunction with the living world, named Axiom. The protagonist can freely enter the Umbral realm thanks to the mysterious Umbral lamp, and this lets them interact with different objects and beings that they wouldn’t normally be able to see, let alone touch.
This translates to gameplay in a more in-depth way than expected. You can willingly enter Umbral anytime you want with your lamp, but you cannot exit it as easily. Exploring the Umbral realm leads you to discover many hidden secrets and treasures. And of course, this is often required to progress through the game. Bridges and hidden passages are usually only visible through Umbral.
Umbral repaints the whole area with nightmarish visuals coming straight out of horror books, and terrific creatures will start attacking you alongside the usual monsters. These creatures won’t stop spawning as long as you’re in Umbral, and they’ll get stronger the more you stay in their realm. Rewards are usually worth your trouble, but you still need to be careful while in here.
You get withered while in Umbral, represented by your health bar turning grey (as if you’ve blocked an attack). You need to strike enemies to properly replenish to red. Being directly struck means you’ll lose all of that health. Fortunately, there’s no time limit to grey health. You can only leave Umbral by activating an Effigy or interacting with a Vestige (checkpoints). Effigies are scattered around the map and are rare to find, so Vestiges are usually your ticket out of those.
And since this is the realm of the dead, this is where you get thrown into whenever you die. When your health reaches zero, you’re forcibly sent to Umbral mode instead of dying instantly. This acts as a second chance, but falling in Umbral means you’re actually dead now and you’re thrown back to your previous checkpoint.
True to Soulslike games, you’ll also lose your Vigor, so you have to retrieve it by defeating the enemy that struck you down. You can do it either in Umbral or Axiom, it doesn’t matter, but you’ll lose it permanently if you die (twice) again.
Umbral is also available during Boss fights, but extra enemies won’t spawn in those. Don’t think those fights will be easy, though, as they’re still incredibly difficult to overcome in order to balance the stakes. Umbral might actually make your life harder than it should at times, although having a second chance always feels nice. And if that’s not enough, you can always try Multiplayer too.
