PREVIEW: Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty

While Koei Tecmo already has one foot in the “Souls”-like genre courtesy of their Nioh series, it seems they want to take a second bite at the apple with their upcoming “masocore” title, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty. I was lucky enough to sit down with a preview version of the game's Steam port.

The first question would be, “What does Wo Long offer that other Souls-likes don't?” Well, besides the phenomenal character creation engine as seen in the Nioh titles, Wo Long differs through its setting. As opposed to a Medieval Europe or Feudal Japan setting, Wo Long is set in Feudal China during the Han dynasty amidst a war being waged in search of the immortality-granting Elixir. This Chinese setting extends to the stat growth system: your main stats are grouped together under the five Chinese elements (Fire, Water, Wood, Metal, and Wind).

Of course, just the Chinese window dressing wouldn't be enough; the system must be appealing. And in stark contrast to Nioh's overwhelming complexity, Wo Long astounds with its simplicity. Dispensing with complicated combo strings and stances, Wo Long instead features the Spirit system, which itself feels like an interpretation of Sekiro's battle system. Here, your attacks and dodges feed off your Spirit meter: taking actions or getting hit causes it to go into the negative, while landing blows or deflecting attacks causes it to go into the positive. It's possible to expend energy and go into the negative, only to regain a whole bar from a good read off of your opponent that leads into a combo string. From there, you can continue to press the offensive with Wizard Spells or Martial skills. By forcing your enemies' Spirit meter into maximum negative values, your opponent is vulnerable to a damage-dealing Fatal Blow. However, the same applies to you, so it's on you to play as defensively as possible.

Unlike the character action-infused systems of Nioh, Wo Long seems focused on delivering a much more approachable combat system with all the speed and excitement of a Wuxia film. In my brief time playing, I walked away exhilarated with how well it works: it's pretty easy to learn the timing of almost any attack and lead it into a deflection, opening up your enemies to brutal counters. Characters dance with swords or polearms in hand as they mow down enemies and max out their Spirit meter, giving way to flashy Martial moves that open up subsequent enemies to Fatal strikes. It's even possible to deflect sequential moves, leaving a thrashing enemy exhausted and vulnerable to your Spirit attacks as you weaken their footing.

As you explore stages and fight enemies, there's also a minor tactical element. Landing blows and defeating enemies increases your Morale level. This not only grants passive bonuses as it increases your stats, but it also ensures you have even footing with certain enemies who themselves have high Morale levels. Too much difference in your Morale can make your attacks much easier for enemies to deflect. You also need your Morale for your Wizard Spells; while casting them is simply a matter of expending some Spirit, some spells also require you to have a minimum Morale level before casting them. Finally, there's the Vengeance system: enemies that kill you steal a portion of your Genuine Qi (the currency for leveling up) and a Morale level. Thankfully, encountering and defeating them allows you to regain your resources.

Speaking of death, the other question most would have about Wo Long is, “How bad are the death penalties?” Thankfully, Wo Long is relatively gentle compared to its peers: besides losing a point of Morale and some Genuine Qi to enemies that defeat you, it's rather hard to get too messed up. Falling off cliffs drops you to 1 health point instead of outright killing you. Even dying to bosses is moderately cushioned; all it takes to regain your Morale and lost Genuine Qi is returning to face the boss and landing a hit. Even if you die several times in a row (which I did), it's still possible to build your reserves of Genuine Qi amidst your attempts to eke out enough to level up and close the gap. So while the difficulty is there in terms of enemy mobs, surprise enemies with bumped-up Morale, and bosses that require mastery in deflection, Wo Long is surprisingly welcoming to even the most inexperienced of Souls-like players. Simplified combat makes it easy to feel like an expert warrior; deflecting is a simple mechanic to learn and understand. The penalty for dying doesn't keep you from finding ways to bridge the gap via raw attrition.

So far, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is shaping up to be a worthy entry in the Souls-like genre. Players can look forward to it releasing this March 3rd, 2023, on PS4, PS5, Xbox Series S|X, and Steam.