Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty Review: Sekiro, Dark Souls, and the Chinese Myth

Perhaps the most meaningful at Wo Long: The Fallen Dynasty is that it took me about three hours to bring down its first boss, a towering figure of a commander named Zhang Liang. During a litany of my futile attempts, he kept rocking me with a gigantic mace, wiping out nearly a third of my health each time it bled my face. In a matter of seconds the fight was over, a dull red covering the delicate aspect of my shattered, defeated body, and the Chinese phrase for “crushing defeat” emblazoned on the screen. It quickly became clear that what I was doing was not only wrong, but hopelessly inelegant: dashing headfirst into battle with a frail sword, hacking stupidly in the hope that something I was doing would leave a mark.

Where to go has no patience for incompetence – a refrain you’re probably expecting if you’re familiar with it nioh or Nioh 2, Team Ninja’s soul-crushingly brutal games set in feudal Japan — and an unwillingness to tolerate carelessness. Take my fight with Zhang Liang, which could only be won when I finally internalized his attacks and movements, which were spaced out at quick, irregular intervals: a leap into the air and his club slamming to the ground; several fierce blows of the same weapon, twirling like a weightless twig; and unblockable critical attacks that quickly drained my health. In order to achieve victory, I need to be familiar with and able to perform the game’s most important maneuvers—quick counterattacks, dodges, and casting spells Exactly at the right moment – before my enemy gets the upper hand. I should understand the rhythm and flow of this seemingly impossible battle. And just when I think I’m done, I should brace myself for an even more difficult second phase.

This is the kind of demanding, almost arduous practice that you need to sustain in order to overcome the tough encounters Where to go. You’ll traverse a fantastic Chinese landscape and spend your time collecting loot. Recruitment of companions in the form of military generals and mythical allies; and unlocking Dark Souls style checkpoints and shortcuts, bloodborneand very directly Axe: Shadows die twice. As in nioh and its sequel, Team Ninja, demonstrates a deep understanding of what defines the “soulslike” genre and applies those insights with an expert hand in its most ambitious project yet.

Image: Team Ninja/Koei ​​​​​​Tecmo

Maybe even more impressive Where to go, at least in the chapters I’ve completed so far (I’ve spent about 14 hours with the game), the meticulous, borderline reverent approach to its narrative source material. As a fantastic retelling of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms Saga – one of the most famous Homeric epics in Chinese literature – Where to go begins in a smoldering village at the heart of a vicious war known as the Yellow Turban Rebellion. As a nameless hero with mysterious powers, you are thrown into the middle of the action. You’ll explore deserted foothills, crumbling palaces, and grassy plains and lakes nestled between towering mountain peaks—like a pilgrimage through the pastoral and war-torn scenes of medieval China.

Where to go avoids the awkward clumsiness typical of games inspired by Chinese literature, in which random oriental-style motifs are inserted as a symbol of otherness. They can finish off foes with a mix of supernatural powers and physics-defying swashbuckling stunts, along with companions who talk about righting wrongdoing with their steel, swearing eternal allegiance, and forging lifelong pacts. Mythical creatures – such as the Zhu Yan, a monster extracted from the pages of Chinese texts on mythical beasts, Classics of mountains and seas – occur frequently. This is the tale of the Three Kingdoms reimagined as wuxia, a Chinese genre featuring swordsmen bound by a chivalric code; Where to go borrows generously and effectively from this lexicon.

Where to goThe backstory of can be rich and extensive, but so can its elaborate system of combat rules. Combat primarily focuses on your rotating weapon loadout, be it a combination of sword and colossal halberd or ax and sleek spear, as you loot new armor and items and aggressively carve your way through your enemies’ beefy bodies.

Image: Team Ninja/Koei ​​​​​​Tecmo

Nevertheless, there is a fine line to walk here; Carelessness can mean lacerations and serious wounds, and even lowly foot soldiers can send you to an untimely death. On the other hand, Where to go rewards consecutive wins with a feature called Morale Rank, which temporarily increases with each enemy you slaughter. That said the game takes as much as it gives. Your enemies also have their own morale ranks, which increase every time they kill you, be it an imposing boss or a lowly peon. Along with the stats on your gear loadouts, your morale rank – relative to that of your enemy – directly affects how much damage you deal and receive. At the same time, there is also a way to regain your lost morale: by seeking revenge on the same enemy that killed you. It’s an inventive twist on the Soulslike formula, as it indicates how challenging a given match is likely to be from afar – without requiring you to die multiple unnecessary deaths by throwing yourself headfirst into random encounters.

There are also experience points in the form of what the game calls “real qi”. (This is a bit of an odd translation choice, by the way; a similar Chinese phrase, “essential qi,” is commonly used in wuxia tales and has roots in traditional Chinese medicine.) Qi can be used to improve your character’s stats and according to certain Upgrade intervals unlock points distributed across five elements: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. These further affect your hero’s passive stats, from Strength to Vitality, but also grant new active abilities and magical powers. The game’s spells, based around these five elements, can be used mainly to boost your melee attacks and inflict status effects on your enemies – for example, one creates an earthquake in the area of ​​effect, while another creates a poisonous puddle in its location of effect. However, these mostly feel like flourishes, at least for the first few chapters; At this point, melee combat is still the core of the game.

Image: Team Ninja/Koei ​​​​​​Tecmo

When a single mechanic is the whole point Where to go‘s intense fight, it’s the deflect move. In fact, so many of the game’s encounters depend on that one balletic move that wins can feel almost unattainable if you just don’t have the timing right. As in An axeguard and dodge attacks Where to go provides only a temporary respite, giving you a few precious seconds to heal, cast a spell, and better understand the tide of battle. Block a barrage of attacks and your defenses will be shattered, leaving you staggering and wide open to more incoming punches. Deflect a little too soon or too late and your health bar will quickly convey the error.

But time your distraction just right and Where to go gives you ample space and time to retaliate, and even allows you to unleash a powerful “mortal blow”.

Image: Team Ninja/Koei ​​​​​​Tecmo

The parry maneuver is a microcosm for Where to go‘s ethos of high risk and high reward. This is a game that aims equally at immersing you in the breathtaking flow state of an extended duel and throwing you into a detailed and dangerous mythical world set around the Three Kingdoms saga. Publisher Koei Tecmo’s extensive portfolio of Three Kingdoms games – from the strategy wargames Romance of the Three Kingdoms to the Dynasty Warriors series – is perhaps why Team Ninja has been given the space, its world and mechanics alike to refine.

Survive the disasters Where to go requires almost obsessive hours of practice. But what comes after is the exhilaration of being able to deftly execute hordes of enemies and demons alike with just a knee-jerk twitch of your well-trained limbs. With its sophisticated combat system and an equally impressive setting Where to go is a journey worth embarking on – even if it means devoting three more hours to your next boss fight.

Wo Long: The Fallen Dynasty will be released on March 3rd on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One and Xbox Series X. The game was verified on PC using a pre-release download code provided by Koei Tecmo. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not affect editorial content, although Vox Media may earn commissions on products purchased through affiliate links. You can find For more information on Polygon’s Ethics Policy, click here.