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Wo Long Fallen Dynasty Review

A bite-sized Soulslike that's quite enjoyable.

I’ve been playing a lot of Soulslikes of late; in fact, I was bouncing between the sci-fi Scars Above at the same time I was engaging with Team Ninja’s latest, Wo Long Fallen Dynasty. While the former proved to be an ill fit for a genre that FromSoftware has made infamous, Team Ninja continues to carve its own niche into a genre that continues to grow in popularity.

This isn’t the developer’s first attempt, of course — it’s merely the latest from the team responsible for Nioh, a competent action-adventure title that was successful enough to spawn a sequel. I’ve dabbled with Nioh well, more than dabbled as I reviewed it — but I can confidently say I enjoy Wo Long just a teeny bit more. That’s because of a bite-sized nature that breaks up the action into accessible (or at least more accessible) missions.

I’m getting ahead of myself, though. Wo Long is a retelling of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, a story that’s been represented in novels, manga and films. Set during the Later Han Dynasty in 184 AD China, the player fills the shoes — and decides the appearance — of an unnamed militia soldier who must fight off enemy soldiers and demons alike. As I’ve already mentioned, the story of Wo Long is broken up into missions, relatively linear but with some room to explore (and bigger and badder enemies to discover); your success is ultimately governed by skill, but bolstered by stats galore.

The core of a Soulslike is certainly present within; you progress through a level and will earn Genuine Qi as you dispatch enemies. Qi, in turn, is used to level up one of five different virtue (stats) pools; they’re connected to different wizardry spells that can be activated for buffs, elemental attacks and the like. Finding a Battle Flag within a level will cause you to respawn from that point; once activated, it’ll also replenish your health, status conditions and healing items (read: it’s a bonfire). A Battle Flag will also increase your Fortitude Rank when activated for the first time, and that plays into your overall Morale Rank; smaller, hidden Marking Flags also do the same.

Your Morale Rank is displayed front and centre at the bottom of your main hud and is quite important; with each enemy you dispatch, you’ll slowly increment that number to a max of 25. Enemies on the battlefield will also have their own Morale Rank, and that can be shortcutted to an overall level; if theirs is higher than yours, you’re in for a tough fight. When your Morale Rank is maxed — or at least high — you’ll notice you’ll deal more damage to enemies and take less damage in return. Die, of course, and that ranking (plus half your earned Qi) disappears.

I understand at this point that this is a lot to throw at you, and to be honest you’ll certainly feel like that as an actual player easing yourself into Wo Long. By the end of the first mission, however, it’ll all sink in. I was throwing myself at my first final boss — a two phase battle, of course, so don’t get excited once you beat him for the first time — and it was here that I realised that heading backwards and earning Qi to level up was only half my recipe for success. A handful of grinding rounds later and I was not only more powerful in terms of overall stats (including equipped armor and weaponry that sported the biggest numbers I could muster), but packing new spells to buff healing and nerf damage. All that, plus a Morale Rank of 23, made the boss’ second phase a breeze… even when taking a considerable amount of damage.

In addition to the skills I’ve already mentioned, your character has light and heavy attacks at their disposal, plus the ability to guard, block, parry, fire ranged weaponry and (eventually) call in a Divine Beast to further aid in combat. I mistakenly thought parrying — which is done by timing your B button on Xbox correctly — was guarding, and as a result discovered that guarding, on the whole, is generally worthless. A proper parry is useful enough, but one on an opponent’s charged move will cause more damage and open them up to be staggered, allowing for even more punishment to be dished out. A double-tap of the same B button will cause you to dodge instead, though of course you’re limited by your own stamina.

You’ll usually be paired up with a companion of some description and while they’re generally useful to get in a couple attacks on opponents, their independent actions will sometimes screw up your own timing and swing the battle in a direction you certainly didn’t want it to go.

Missions themselves are large enough to allow for a sense of exploration and challenge between flags, but small enough to let you feel like you’re able to set and accomplish goals in ways that other Soulslikes don’t allow for. You can’t get too far off the beaten path, which means that you won’t ever find yourself in a situation that’s way over your head. Everything is attainable, given a bit of time (and perhaps some grinding), and while I appreciate that from a title like this, the more hardcore amongst us might consider this a detriment.

As is standard in titles of this format, you’re able to engage in both cooperative and competitive multiplayer, able to combine forces with a player or engage in PvP thanks to invader mechanics. I didn’t have the chance to try this online functionality out in the pre-release review period, sadly. I did get a taste of vengeance functionality, where you’re able to avenge the death of another (online) player in another (online) world. It’s all pretty standard fare, but welcome additions to those who like to partake.

While I wasn’t jazzed with Scars Above and the way it tried to incorporate Soulslike elements, Team Ninja has certainly found its groove in Wo Long Fallen Dynasty. It’s very familiar, yet not, and with combat mechanics and a storyline that’ll keep you going. Those new to the genre as fans of Elden Ring might find more instant gratification with the likes of Dark Souls, but Wo Long could certainly cater for a player with time constraits. If you’re uncertain as to whether or not you’d find enjoyment within, don’t forget that this is a day one Xbox Game Pass launch title; a demo is also available on other platforms should you not have instant access.

# out of 10

Wo Long Fallen Dynasty was reviewed using a promotional code on Xbox Series S & X, as provided by the publisher. Click here to learn more about Stevivor’s scoring scale.


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About the author

Steve Wright

Steve's the owner of this very site and an active games journalist nearing twenty (TWENTY!?!) years. He's a Canadian-Australian gay gaming geek, ice hockey player and fan. Husband to Matt and cat dad to Wally and Quinn.