Lifting the Veil 6: Forging a Richer, Wilder, and More Immersive World
The Lords of the Fallen team delves into worldbuilding, design philosophy, and the evolving identities of our dual realms: Axiom and Umbral.
In the latest episode of Lifting the Veil, the developers explore how the world of Axiom has transformed both narratively and technically as we craft a darker, richer, and more varied realm for players to explore.
A World Aged by Time and Corrupted by Umbral
Axiom is not just older, but worn, dated, and scarred. Over a thousand years have passed since the events of Lords of the Fallen, and Umbral’s presence has seeped into everything, mutating each region in different ways.
In the previous game, Umbral had a consistent identity; here its corruption shifts with every biome, becoming stranger and more unhinged the deeper one goes.
Beyond Mournstead: Widening the Tapestry of Axiom
While Mournstead was only a small fragment of the world, Lords of the Fallen II broadens the scope. Axiom now spans four distinct biomes, from sky-scorched deserts to overgrown jungles, each with its own cultures, architecture, factions, and enemies.
This variety is not just for spectacle; it is essential to creating a world that feels alive, lived in, and shaped by its past. Over the centuries some factions have united, others have splintered, and their environments reflect those histories. Every region becomes a form of visual storytelling, revealing a thousand years as civilizations rise, collapse, and return in new forms.
Cohesion Through the Lens of Dark Fantasy
The dark fantasy identity of Axiom, along with the ever-present influence of Umbral, forms the common thread that binds all these biomes together. Unlike high fantasy, which often reaches toward grand, aspirational worlds, dark fantasy begins with the assumption that the great ages have already peaked, fallen apart, and been pieced back together. Axiom is a realm of the living among the remnants of its own repeated tragedies. That cycle of destruction shapes every part of the game's tone, history, and environmental design.
Two Worlds, Seamlessly Rendered. No Loading Screens
One of the wildest technical feats accomplished by Lords of the Fallen II is the seamless world structure. Not only is the world map fully connected without loading screens, but two worlds, Axiom and Umbral, are always being rendered simultaneously.
Beauty in the Darkness
A dark fantasy world does not need to be unrelentingly dark, as Javi, Head of Art, explains: ‘If everything is black, then nothing is black’; The team is deliberately weaving pockets of beauty, moments of peace, and flashes of hope and wonder into the brutality and decay. These moments offer emotional relief from the oppressive universe of Lords of the Fallen, while adding narrative depth by revealing what the world once was or what it might still become.
These small sanctuaries help players endure the psychological weight of a Soulslike experience, but they are never truly safe. You should not trust them. Never trust them. In Lords of the Fallen II, danger is always waiting just beyond the light.
A Multicultural Team Shaping a Multicultural World
Another powerful element behind Axiom’s authenticity is the diverse background of the developers. With team members located right across the globe, they’ve sourced inspiration from a multitude of cultural backgrounds, each with their own diverse architecture, myths… and even innate fears, creating a world that feels grounded in reality despite its horrors.
As they put it, horror becomes more believable when it has truth woven into it.
Lore as the Unseen Backbone
Thorngard and the surrounding regions are not just locations. They are layered histories shaped by centuries of conflict, belief, decay, and rebirth, and those histories inform every corner of the game. Cutscenes and dialogue play their role, but the heart of the experience is environmental storytelling. The world itself carries the narrative. If players can look around and understand the rise and ruin of Axiom, then we have done our job.
A Darker, Wilder, More Human Axiom
The upcoming chapter of Lords brings a more mature world, aged by time, twisted by Umbral, enriched by culture, and shaped by a studio unafraid to evolve.
What emerges is a world that’s not only horrifying, but beautiful; dead, but alive… and despite its abhorrent monstrosities, begs to be explored.
In the next Lifting the Veil, we’ll continue uncovering how this vision comes together - piece by corrupted piece - with an episode dedicated to the foes of Lords of the Fallen II.