Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty Review

I’m a sucker for an motion RPG, particularly if it runs alongside the traces of Elden Ring or Darkish Souls, and so after I first noticed the trailer for Wo Lengthy: Fallen Dynasty from Crew NINJA and KOEI TECMO, I knew I needed to play it. 

See, Wo Lengthy: Fallen Dynasty has been in comparison with one of the best FromSoftware titles and so let’s journey again to Historical China and see if these comparisons are warranted. 

It’s all the time a good suggestion to have a powerful story in these video games, and right here the narrative is superb certainly. The scene is ready within the prologue, the place we, a lowly militia soldier, assist to avoid wasting the lifetime of an harmless bystander, a blindfolded boy. In return, he saves our life by giving us an amulet, a Jade, that appears to permit us to rise from the useless. However conflict has come to Han Dynasty China, and never simply any conflict – a conflict that has demons, monsters and all types prowling the battlefield. Can we rise above our humble beginnings and put an finish to the dangerous guys? Effectively, while I’m not going to spoil any narrative, it’s protected to say that you simply’ll need to go and seize your sword…

The story is totally bang on, as are the visuals – Wo Lengthy: Fallen Dynasty is a ravishing sport to have a look at. The degrees are various, from a burning village to a mountain rising into the clouds, while the design and look of the backgrounds is superior. The enemies that you simply face are a effectively designed bunch too, with varied flavours of enemy troopers and demons seemingly combined in and dealing collectively. The bosses we face are once more all very effectively designed, and positively deliver a rise in problem to the sport. 

It’s good that the NPC characters that we meet are all drawn from precise Chinese language historical past, and there’s a great probability you’ll recognise lots of the names when you have performed the likes of Dynasty Warriors beforehand. Having these guys struggle by your facet generally is a nice boon, particularly as each totally different NPC has a buff that they apply simply by being with you. Choosing the proper companions (at a sure level within the story) is essential. 

The sound can also be very effectively performed with some nice voice appearing on show within the cutscenes, and beautiful music to take heed to as you wander about. The monsters all make totally different noises, the bosses (a few of them) speak and taunt you, and all in all, the presentation of Wo Lengthy is first charge. 

The world is nonetheless considerably totally different from the open world motion RPGs that you could be be used to – that is no Elden Ring the place you’ll be able to experience wherever you fancy at any time. No, every a part of the sport, every battlefield if you’ll, is a separate and discrete stage. As soon as you might be loaded into the extent, you possibly can roam round freely, however be in little question – the degrees are fairly linear, with a begin and an finish in an enormous boss struggle. And it’s this choice that introduces my one grievance concerning the sport (other than the truth that my reflexes aren’t as much as a lot lately ) – the time it takes to load a stage is simply too lengthy. It looks like an eternity once you simply need to struggle the identical boss that’s simply stomped you, Wo Lengthy sitting there loading. Shifting to a brand new battlefield is even worse. 

Look away from that although and also you’ll have to know that you shouldn’t strategy Wo Lengthy as a Darkish Souls sort sport. See, the fight is far more timing based mostly, and studying to counter is totally important. You understand how in Darkish Souls you possibly can parry assaults if you’re ok? In Wo Lengthy, it’s important to parry so as to survive. Fortunately, parrying is fairly easy – simply press B as an assault lands. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Effectively, when some enemies land strings of assaults on you, and every hit must be countered, it quickly will get more durable. You may clearly block odd assaults for those who aren’t assured about countering, however essential assaults need to be countered. When an enemy glows purple (and never simply bosses, even run of the mill foot troopers can do it too) it’s important to counter; doing so can flip the tide of a battle. 

With out going into an excessive amount of depth, the fight system in Wo Lengthy runs on Morale and Spirit. As you defeat your foes, and plant flags, your morale rises, and which means you do extra injury to enemies with decrease morale. Enemies with greater morale could cause a problem, until you will discover a sneaky technique to flip the tables – possibly a plunging assault from above, or a sneak assault from behind? These are generally known as Deadly Assaults, and so they scale back the enemy’s morale for those who pull it off. In fact, turnabout is honest play, and your opponents can return the favour in the event that they hit you with a essential assault.

As well as, spirit is gained and misplaced by countering assaults and touchdown clear hits; the extra spirit you might have, the extra magic assaults you should utilize. The preventing system is so deep and sophisticated that it’s laborious to do it justice in only a few phrases, however make sure that it’s quick, livid and intuitive – at the very least upon getting received out of the Darkish Souls rut. 

Defeating all these foes must deliver a reward, and this comes within the type of Real Qi, which is the foreign money used to stage up. We initially need to discover a Battle Flag, which acts as Wo Lengthy’s bonfire. These are available in two flavours – open or managed. Open flags permit you to plant your pole simply, whereas managed flags want you to take away a robust creature or mini boss who’s controlling it. There are additionally smaller flags that serve to lift your fortitude with each one you elevate, so exploring every stage completely is very advisable. 

That does get me on to a different minor grievance although – given how difficult a few of these battlefields are, would a map have been an excessive amount of to ask? The one trace you might have is a bit compass within the backside nook of the display, with a purple line indicating the course to the boss. Oh, and an orange line to the enemy that final defeated you and stole your Qi – that bit is helpful. 

That orange line is significant too as you will die in Wo Lengthy: Fallen Dynasty – so much. Within the conventional model, if you’re defeated, you lose half the Real Qi you have been carrying, and the enemy who beat you will get a buff to their morale. Going again and battering them afterwards is thus a bit more durable, but for those who handle it, you possibly can regain your misplaced Qi. In case you are killed by a boss, you get your Qi again as quickly as you enter the world once more, and so then all it’s important to do is kill it! What could possibly be easier?

In terms of levelling up, you might have quite a lot of totally different Phases that you would be able to select to place your Qi into. These are Wooden, Water, Hearth, Earth and Steel, and every Part has a distinct impact. As an illustration, Wooden Part factors permit you to improve your most HP, whereas Earth Part permits you the prospect to put on heavier gear with out being overburdened. Helpful to know, as heavy armour will definitely hold you alive longer. Every of the Phases additionally means that you can be taught spells that may make your life simpler, however that devour spirit when they’re solid. These spells have a sure stage connected, and you have to hit that stage within the specific Part so as to use it. There’s a lot extra to speak about on this sport, but when I did, it could be a novella. 

As you progress, the NPCs that you simply meet will struggle with you for a stage, and keep till the boss of the battlefield goes down. As soon as they depart, you might be granted a logo of your camaraderie – a Divine Beast that may be summoned in battle. Each NPC appears to permit you to summon one, and they’re all totally different. These NPCs can be summoned again to your facet at a Battle Flag, so for those who want backup for a boss, that is completely doable. You want a Tiger Seal for every character you summon, and one of the simplest ways to amass these is to avenge fallen gamers. That is performed by travelling the land, recognizing purple flags all over the place. Should you work together with them, you’ll get the prospect to avenge individuals who have died to no matter creature you might be about to face. Beat them, and a Tiger Seal is your regular reward. 

You too can summon precise actual folks to your facet for those who need assistance. You may both play the sport in a co-op mode, both by utilizing a password or inviting a good friend, or you possibly can summon anybody from a pool of these enjoying (once more, so long as you reached a sure level within the story). You too can reply to folks looking for assist. That is performed cross-platform, so PC gamers and Xbox gamers can play collectively, and this works rather well. I’ve helped folks kill bosses, and simply working across the stage with different actual folks is loads of enjoyable. It makes an actual distinction having an actual particular person to separate the aggro. 

Wo Lengthy: Fallen Dynasty is an excellent sport. It’s blindingly quick, fluid and nice enjoyable to play. The bosses could have you chewing your pad till you suss out their patterns, and the remainder of the motion is simply as powerful – by no means underestimate an enemy, even a small one. Aside from the loading occasions, this is likely one of the greatest motion RPG video games in the marketplace. 

Wo Lengthy: Fallen Dynasty is on the Xbox Retailer