Lord Of The Rings Meets Dark Souls In This Epic Dark Fantasy RPG

While Lord of the Rings is officially getting the open-world RPG set in Middle-Earth we’ve been waiting on for decades, it’s going to be a bit of a wait before Warhorse Studios gets it ready for launch. Fortunately, there are quite a few new projects in the works that we can look forward to in the interim, with a massive new expansion for The One Ring and Lord of the Rings Roleplaying officially announced earlier this month at Gen Con.

That said, if you’re looking for a new RPG experience that scratches that same itch as Lord of the Rings and also are a fan of From Software’s iconic Dark Souls franchise, there’s a brand-new dark fantasy experience on offer that gamers will not want to miss. It just released on July 29 and has already surpassed 1 million downloads, and has extensive plans for future content as well (via Steam).

Mistfall Hunter fighter standing before a barren tree

Mistfall Hunter is a newly released extraction-shooter-style ARPG with soulslike gameplay and a dark fantasy setting that fans of Lord of the Rings and Dark Souls will absolutely want to give a look. Developed by Bellring Games and Skystone Games, players choose from several distinct classes, each with their own weapons, abilities, and talent trees, venturing into dangerous PvPvE expeditions to take on monsters and avoiding death at the hands of other players.

Other players can ambush your party at any time in the extraction-focused gameplay loop, and you’ll need to survive to hold on to your valuable loot. Combat includes stamina-based melee encounters inspired by Soulslike games, while progression revolves around collecting stronger equipment, upgrading your build, and taking on increasingly difficult endgame content either solo or with a squad.

Bellring Games has also outlined an ambitious post-launch roadmap, with Season 1 introducing expanded tasks, the challenging “Mist Lord” difficulty for Einherjar mode, and the Soul Harvest seasonal activity, complete with its own exchange shop and exclusive rewards. Players can also expect the new Blackarrow Javelin weapon, the deceptive Golden Woodling enemy that disguises itself as treasure, the Ancestor Tree random event, an Underlord Speed Challenge, and a long-requested solo mode for Brandrgarde missions.

Looking further ahead, Season 2 will feature a new seasonal theme, an exclusive progression system, additional gameplay mechanics, and more content to be revealed over time, while the developers have also committed to ongoing optimization, balance improvements, and regular seasonal updates. On the whole, while Mistfall Hunter has faced mixed user reviews so far since launch, it’s still getting its sea legs at the moment and based on the various updates pushed out already, has a promising future ahead.