Dealabs Points To Lords Of The Fallen For April
Sony’s monthly PS Plus reveal looks set to be scooped again. Dealabs, which has a strong track record with PlayStation Plus leaks, says Lords of the Fallen (the 2023 reboot from Hexworks, not the 2014 game) will headline April 2026’s PlayStation Plus Essential lineup.
According to the report, the Souls-like action RPG will be available to claim across all tiers — Essential, Extra, and Premium — starting 7 April, with the offer expiring on 5 May. That timing lines up with Sony’s usual first-Tuesday rollout for monthly games. Sony hasn’t announced the slate yet, but an official post typically follows soon after these leaks surface.
If this pans out, subscribers will get a high-profile, current-gen-only action RPG as part of their membership for the month. Just don’t confuse it with the earlier game that shares the same name. This leak specifically refers to the 2023 release developed by Hexworks and published by CI Games.
A Better Game Than At Launch
Lords of the Fallen didn’t land cleanly when it first arrived. Early reviews flagged uneven design and technical issues. Eurogamer called it out bluntly at the time: “Missing the elegance of FromSoftware, Lords of the Fallen is let down by Soulslike clichés and performance woes.”
Hexworks has since spent considerable time improving the experience. Post-launch updates addressed performance and stability, while broader tuning targeted difficulty spikes and quality-of-life concerns. The result is a steadier action RPG than the one that shipped, and it shows. The studio’s more confident footing was followed by a sequel announcement in 2024 from publisher CI Games, signaling longer-term plans for the series.
For anyone new to it, the 2023 Lords of the Fallen is built around punishing, stamina-based combat and deliberate exploration, with a twist: a dual-world system that layers a nightmarish underworld over the surface realm. You can shift perspectives to open new routes, solve traversal puzzles, or turn a tough fight in your favor. Co-op also factors in, letting a second player drop in to help with bosses or tricky zones.
It’s not FromSoftware, and it isn’t trying to be a one-to-one match. Instead, Hexworks leans on atmosphere, big boss encounters, and that two-layer map to keep the pace varied. The game looks and feels modern, built for PS5-class hardware, and it’s far more stable now than it was on day one.
What PS Plus Members Can Expect
Assuming Dealabs is on the money, all PS Plus members — Essential, Extra, and Premium — should be able to claim Lords of the Fallen from 7 April through 5 May. Once redeemed during that window, it remains in your library as long as your subscription stays active. That’s standard PlayStation Plus practice, but it bears repeating given the tight monthly window.
Lords of the Fallen would serve as April’s marquee addition, with the rest of the month’s Essential lineup to be confirmed by Sony. The pick makes sense: it’s a recognizable name that’s been meaningfully updated since launch, and it offers dozens of hours for players willing to learn its systems. Tough? Absolutely. Fair? More so now than it was in 2023.
For newcomers to Souls-likes, expect patient combat, careful stamina management, and punishing bosses that reward pattern recognition. Exploration is methodical, shortcuts are crucial, and each victory carries real weight. If you bounced off at launch because of performance or balance concerns, the current version is a different proposition — still demanding, but cleaner and more consistent.
Eyes On Sony’s Reveal
Sony typically confirms the next month’s PS Plus Essential games in the days leading up to release. With April around the corner, an official announcement shouldn’t be far off. If Lords of the Fallen is indeed the headliner, it’s a timely get for subscribers and a smart way to reintroduce the game to a broader audience ahead of the planned sequel.
Either way, keep an eye on the PlayStation Blog and your console’s PS Plus hub. If the claim window opens on 7 April as indicated, you’ll want to grab it before 5 May. And if Sony pairs it with a few crowd-pleasers in the rest of the lineup, April could shape up to be one of the stronger Essential months in recent memory.
