Lords of the Fallen 2 is still in development, but now a new studio is involved

When it released in 2014, Lords of the Fallen was among the first third-person action games to directly ape the Dark Souls series: it had challenging combat, miserly checkpointing, and plenty of stamina bar watching. Now, after a period of uncertainty, CI Games has confirmed a sequel to the game is still happening, only it's now in development by a New York-based studio called Defiant (no, not the same studio who made Hand of Fate 2). 

CI Games made the announcement today, but didn't mention when the sequel would launch, nor any other pertinent details, though it will release for both consoles and PC. Defiant is a new studio with no previous titles to its name, though it does reportedly boast talent who have worked with Just Cause creators Avalanche Studios.

"We talked to a number of globally respected studios that had shown a strong interest in making the next LotF, and received several solid pitches," CI Games CEO Marek Tymiński said in a statement. "We finally decided to move forward with Defiant because we were impressed with their game concept, production expertise, and the pedigree of their developers."

The first Lords of the Fallen game was also a joint production: between CI Games and Deck13. The latter went on to release The Surge in 2017, a sci-fi spin on the Souls formula which had a few neat ideas of its own. 

As for CI Games, Lords of the Fallen 2 was announced almost immediately after the first released in 2014. A former developer on the series, Tomasz Gop, said last year that the game hadn't yet left the "concept/vision" stage. According to Gop, CI Games' ambitions for the sequel had been heavily downsized following the disappointing Sniper Ghost Warrior 3. Whether that remains the case now that the game is in the hands of Defiant Studios, isn't clear.