Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty Ultimate Review

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty Review

Prepare to explore the world of "Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty," an exciting new game created through the collaboration of Team Ninja and KOEI, a well-known publisher of games based on the Three Kingdoms era of Chinese history, notably Dynasty Warriors.

The game is set in a mythical version of ancient China and puts players in the role of a martial arts master who aims to restore balance to a world that has been torn apart by war and corruption. With its breathtaking visuals, captivating storyline, and engaging combat system, "Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty" is sure to be a thrilling adventure for fans of action games and martial arts films alike. This review will examine the game's strengths and weaknesses in order to determine whether it lives up to its hype.

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Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty Combat Review

Team Ninja has a history of creating challenging games, like Ninja Gaiden and Nioh. Wo Long combines elements of both games, but its combat is a simplified version of From Software's Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. The focus of the combat is on deflecting attacks and breaking your opponent's stance. It's streamlined because deflecting powerful unblockable attacks only requires pressing one button at the right time. There are no sweeping or grabbing attacks that require different techniques to counter and avoid, so it lacks complexity. The timing window to deflect is relatively wide, and the attacks are indicated as Critical Blows, making it easy to misdirect them. The challenge is in recognizing which attack is coming and timing the deflection so you're not too early or too late. You can block regular physical attacks and dodge out of danger, but mastering the deflect mechanic is the best way to succeed. Parrying an incoming blow and seeing sparks fly as steel collides is a satisfying experience.

In Wo Long, you don't have a traditional stamina system to limit your actions. Instead, you have a Spirit gauge that increases or decreases depending on what you do. Striking enemies and deflecting their attacks helps to build up this gauge, which you can then use to increase the power of your offense. However, dodging, mistiming deflections, performing weapon-specific special moves, and casting Wizardry Spells can all decrease your Spirit, as can taking damage from enemy attacks. If your Spirit is negative and you get hit, your gauge will drop to the lower limit and you will become defenseless for a short period of time. This creates a balancing act where you need to build up enough positive Spirit to use your abilities to the fullest without becoming defenseless.

Each enemy you fight also has a Spirit gauge, so fights often focus on lowering the enemy's defenses rather than just dealing damage to their health bar. You can lower the enemy's Spirit by attacking them, but using special moves and deflections--especially parrying Critical Blows--will significantly decrease it. Once their Spirit gauge hits the lower limit, they'll be stunned, giving you a chance to unleash a devastating Fatal Strike that can take a big chunk of their health. The variety of enemy types you'll face makes this challenging, especially when facing multiple opponents at the same time, but Wo Long's learning curve isn't too steep. Once you get the hang of it, combat becomes a thrilling back-and-forth built around stylish deflections and quick bursts of over-the-top violence. Team Ninja has also implemented a number of other elements to help you ease into the game.

You have a double jump that makes you more mobile, similar to Ryu Hayabusa's exploits in Ninja Gaiden. The level design takes this into account by adding a lot of verticality, encouraging you to jump onto rooftops and guard towers to see the battlefield from up high. From there, you can perform a lunging strike to deal significant damage to an unaware enemy, while stealth attacks serve a similar purpose when you're on the ground. Both techniques allow you to take out several enemies before they can strike back, so you don't always have to face them head-on. This encourages you to pay attention to your surroundings, as there's usually a way to catch unsuspecting assailants off guard if you look hard enough.

Wo Long softens the experience compared to other Souls-likes in more subtle ways too. Battle Flags, which are the game's equivalent of bonfires, replenish all of your health and healing items the first time you find them without requiring you to rest. This means you can get topped back up and keep going without respawning all of the enemies you just killed, making exploration more inviting. When you die, you only lose half of the experience points you've accumulated up to that point. You can still earn them all back by killing the enemy that defeated you, but only losing half instead of the full amount prevents it from feeling like you're starting back at square one every time you die. These two examples might not sound like much, but they have a noticeable impact on Wo Long's difficulty by scaling back some of the genre's more frustrating aspects.

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Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty Companions Review

However, Wo Long makes the game less challenging by including almost constant AI companions. This game takes the Three Kingdoms era of Chinese history and puts a dark fantasy twist on it, incorporating Chinese mythology and fantasy elements. Similar to Nioh, which drew on historical Japanese settings and relevant mythology, Wo Long lets you fight alongside legendary warriors such as Cao Cao and Liu Bei, and you'll have one or two NPC fighters with you depending on where they fit in the story. If you want to go it alone, you can dismiss these companions, or summon up to two allies if you start a level alone.

The AI companions don't deal much damage, and they often get stuck on scenery. They're useful for keeping enemies occupied and preventing you from being overwhelmed by groups of foes. You can also replace these NPCs with friends if you prefer to play the whole game in co-op mode. The game's difficulty increases to compensate for the added help. Alternatively, you can summon random players to assist you in taking down a tricky boss or section. There are plenty of options available for those seeking assistance.

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty Levels Review

Wo Long's levels are not as expansive as those found in the Nioh series, but they are still distinct with optional sub-battles that unlock throughout the campaign. These sub-battles take you back to previously visited locations where you will clear a few rooms, face waves of enemies, or take on a boss. Completing sub-battles rewards you with loot and XP, making them worth doing.

The branching paths in Wo Long usually lead to dead ends with higher-level enemies and more loot, rather than featuring detours that circle back on themselves. It's a little disappointing that the game doesn't regularly tap into the sense of relief and wonderment you get from looping paths, but Team Ninja has opted for a different approach to exploration that feels fresh.

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Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty Morale System Review

In Wo Long, you and your opponents have a Morale Rank that shows your strength in battle. Defeating enemies raises this rank, but it goes up faster if you beat an enemy with a higher Morale Rank than your own. You spend XP to level up stats like health and damage in Wo Long's traditional progression system, but your Morale Rank tells you how strong you are compared to the enemies you'll face on each level. At the start of each stage, the Morale Rank resets to zero, so you'll usually encounter lower-level enemies. But sometimes, you'll find challenging foes with much higher Morale Ranks. You can still beat them, but it's dangerous, as one mistake could kill you. Whether to take the risk depends on whether you want to significantly boost your Morale Rank.

When you die, your Morale Rank drops, but it won't go below your Fortitude Rank. You increase this separate but related ranking by raising Battle Flags and Marking Flags. Battle Flags are checkpoints, while Marking Flags are scattered around each level - some are hidden, while others are guarded by tough enemies. Raising your Fortitude Rank encourages you to explore every corner of each level and to challenge tougher enemies. Playing it safe is not glorious, and taking risks early pays off later when you're as strong as or stronger than your enemies.

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty Spells Review

As your Morale Rank increases, you will be able to use more Wizardry Spells. These spells are mystical techniques that require Spirit to be consumed. These spells are divided into five elemental categories: Earth, Water, Wood, Fire, and Metal. Some spells are easy to understand, such as those that allow you to create fireballs, icicles, and exploding rock pillars. Others are not so obvious; for example, wood spells are based on lightning, while metal sorcery focuses on poisonous toxins. You can equip up to four spells at a time, which may feel somewhat restrictive, but they add an extra layer of depth to combat. The spells are not limited to offensive abilities; some allow you to fortify your defenses by coating yourself in rocks or restore lost health by dealing damage to enemies. Additionally, there is a rock-paper-scissors mechanic at play, where wood overcomes earth, earth overcomes water, and so on. However, I did not really notice this in my own experience. You can deflect elemental attacks with your weapon, so I was never compelled to counter a magic-using enemy with spells of my own.

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty Loots Review

The loot in Wo Long is less generous compared to Nioh and especially Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin. Enemies do not drop gear every time they are defeated, so loot drops feel more spread out and earned. Every item you pick up, whether it's a weapon or a piece of armor, has a star rating attached to it that's essentially a rough gauge of its quality. Baseline stats like damage and defense are not overly affected by these ratings. Instead, the rarer the loot, the more special effects it has, which add passive bonuses to modify certain stats. You can upgrade the main properties of your gear using various materials by visiting a blacksmith. Once I attained a full set of four-star gear, I saw little reason to change unless I wanted to try out a new weapon type. The rest of the loot was quickly scavenged for more materials or sold for money, so there's still a moment between each level where you'll typically rummage through all of the loot you want to get rid of.

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty Weapons Review

Wo Long offers a wide variety of weapons, including straight sabers, dual blades, polearms, and great wooden hammers. Although each type shares the same basic move set, each weapon feels unique due to its individual Martial Arts. These powerful melee attacks consume a portion of the Spirit gauge with each use. Some Martial Arts focus on damaging a single enemy multiple times, while others are more effective against groups or closing the distance on an opponent. They add an exciting new layer to Wo Long's combat, encouraging players to experiment with different weapons.

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty Difficulty Review

One of the hardest initial bosses in video game history is found in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty. The Yellow Turbans' Zhang Liang confronts you in a dynamic two-phase combat to the death, quickly testing your mastery of Wo Long's mechanics. It's a tough skill test that seems like a threshold for the remainder of the game and a brazen declaration of Team Ninja's intentions. Yet this first battle turns out to be little more than an imbalanced anomaly, offering a significantly tougher test than the bosses that come after it.

This rapid increase in complexity will be a barrier to entrance for many players, stopping their progress just 10 minutes into the game. Wo Long's strong beginning is unfortunate, not least since this first task doesn't represent how the remainder of the game will progress. In reality, Team Ninja has created one of the more approachable Souls-likes in what is a notoriously difficult genre, with the exception of this initial boss.

It will take you around 15 hours into Wo Long's campaign to come across another boss battle with a difficulty level comparable to Zhang Liang. Most of the bosses in between are rather easy to defeat; you can often take them out in under a minute on your first try. You'll still enjoy eliminating each and every one of them, but because it's so simple to do so, it lessens their appeal and supports the idea that the initial boss is at odds with the remainder of the game. With prior bouts allowing you to seek assistance from either AI or human partners, the duel with Zhang Liang raises hopes that are never fulfilled.

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty Technical Issues Review

Regrettably, there are a few technical problems with the game as well. On a Computer, lag and stuttering are both common annoyances, and poor optimization means that changing the settings doesn't do anything to fix the issues. Timing deflections weren't affected by this, and I never came across a circumstance where it hindered my ability to kill adversaries, but it's disheartening that another PC product is starting in such a shambles. It should be noted that someone else who was playing the game on a PS5 didn't have the same problems, indicating that these flaws are probably exclusive to PC.

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty Final Thoughts

Wo Long's demo carrying your save over to the full game and including the first two levels is a bonus for those who would otherwise be turned off. That provides you the chance to take on the first boss for yourself and see if it's as difficult to play as I anticipate many gamers will find it to be. The next game is an exciting yet manageable addition to the Souls-like genre if you can overcome Zhang Liang. Even while Wo Long always has a whiff of familiarity, its parry-based combat is usually excellent, and Team Ninja has made a lot of wise improvements to keep Wo Long feeling fresh. Wo Long checks most of the necessary boxes for a fast-paced action RPG built on entertaining combat, despite its flaws.

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