Wo Long: Fallen Dynastyis the latest game from Team Ninja, the developer of theNinja GaidenandNiohfranchises. Set in the Han Dynasty during the Three Kingdoms period of Ancient China, this third-person action-RPG Soulslike promises to be a challenging and rewarding experience that builds on the success of the critically-acclaimedNiohseries.Wo Long: Fallen Dynastyfeatures a fully customizable protagonist, who will come face to face with not only hordes of monsters and demons, but famous generals and warlords from the time period, including the formidable warrior Lu Bu and the feared and respected military general, Cao Cao.
Team Ninja is certainly no stranger to creating challenging games, andWo Long: Fallen Dynastymay well prove to be its toughest one yet. The game features hard-hitting combat that requires fast reflexes, as well as a steely resilience and determination that fans of the Soulslike genre should be well acquainted with by now. The combat is fast-paced and relentless, with almost every enemy in the game able to cut the player down swiftly should complacency or carelessness kick in.
RELATED:The Divine Beasts of Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty Explained
Wo Long Wants to Set Itself Apart From Other Soulslikes
WhileWo Long: Fallen Dynastyundeniably shares many similarities with theNiohseries, it differentiates itself in a couple of interesting ways. Its level design has a far greater emphasis on verticality than either of theNiohgames, both of which featured fairly compact maps built for a game that deliberately doesn’t have a jump button. On the contrary,Wo Long’s double jump mechanic can be used to great effect, encouraging players to fully explore its large maps, as well as allowing them to use the environment in order to help tackle particularly tricky enemies if necessary.
As with many recent games,Wo Longplaces a huge emphasis on its parry mechanic, which can be used to quickly turn the tables on the enemy. Blocking and dodging are both viable options too, but the effect of either of those seems to be far less useful than a well-timed parry, particularly against the game’s colorful array of powerful bosses.Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, a game that largely relies on the player’s ability to parry effectively, seems to have had a significant influence onWo Longin this regard. The game features a variety of weapons for players to wield, such as swords, spears, axes, and bows, as well as the usual assortment of defensive armor that can be upgraded using materials found throughout the world.
Of all the game’s mechanics though, it is perhaps its morale system that is set to really shake the formula up. Every enemy in the game has a morale rank, a number above their head that represents their general toughness. The player also has a morale rank that can be raised by defeating enemies as well as finding ‘Battle Flags’ scattered across each map. Battle Flags effectively serve as this game’s version of theDark SoulsBonfire, acting as mini checkpoints which restore the player’s health and regenerate enemies in the area. Dying at the hands of an enemy will cause the player’s morale rank to drop, while the enemy becomes tougher. Defeating an enemy that has a higher morale rank will raise the player’s own rank, making them stronger.
This system should encourage the player to scour each map seeking out high-ranking enemies, in order to defeat them and reap the rewards, which is a refreshing change in a genre where sometimes simply running past standard enemies instead of engaging with them is sometimes an all-too-common tactic. Team Ninja has a reputation for delivering robust, fluid combat systems, and theNiohseries is considered by many to be thebest Soulslike gamesthat weren’t developed by FromSoftware.Wo Longis set to continue in this same vein, and fans of the genre will likely find much to love about the upcoming title.
Wo Long: Fallen Dynastywill release on March 3 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
