Maybe probably the most telling factor about Wo Lengthy: Fallen Dynasty is that its first boss, a towering determine of a commander named Zhang Liang, took me about three hours to topple. All through a litany of my futile makes an attempt, he staggered me repeatedly with a gargantuan mace, wiping out practically a 3rd of my well being every time it bloodied my face. Inside seconds, the battle was over, a uninteresting purple washing over the graceless sight of my crumpled, defeated physique, and the Chinese language phrase for “crushing defeat” was emblazoned throughout the display. It quickly grew to become clear that what I used to be doing was not simply unsuitable, however hopelessly inelegant: dashing headfirst into the combat with a fragile sword, hacking stupidly within the hope that one thing I did would depart a mark.
Wo Lengthy has zero endurance for ineptitude — a chorus you in all probability count on in the event you’re acquainted with Nioh or Nioh 2, Staff Ninja’s soul-crushingly brutal video games set in feudal Japan — in addition to an unwillingness to tolerate negligence. Take my battle with Zhang Liang, which may solely be received after I lastly internalized his assaults and actions, doled out in fast, erratic intervals: a leap into the air and the slamming of his mace onto the bottom; a number of hefty swings of the identical weapon, whirled round like a weightless twig; and unblockable vital assaults that drained my well being quickly. To attain victory, I should be acquainted with the sport’s key maneuvers of fast ripostes, dodges, and magical spells, and be capable of carry out them at precisely the suitable second — earlier than my enemy seizes the higher hand. I ought to perceive the cadence and circulate of this seemingly not possible skirmish. And simply after I suppose I’m performed, I ought to metal myself for an much more troublesome second part.
That is the type of demanding, nearly onerous apply you could preserve to beat the cruel encounters in Wo Lengthy. You traverse a fantastical Chinese language countryside, spending your time gathering loot; recruiting companions within the type of navy generals and legendary allies; and unlocking checkpoints and shortcuts within the vein of Darkish Souls, Bloodborne, and, most straight, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. As was the case in Nioh and its sequel, Staff Ninja demonstrates a deep understanding of what makes the “Soulslike” style tick, and it deploys these learnings with an professional hand in its most bold challenge but.
Possibly much more spectacular is Wo Lengthy’s meticulous, borderline reverential method to its narrative supply materials, no less than within the chapters I’ve accomplished to this point (I’ve spent round 14 hours with the sport). As a fantastical retelling of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms saga — one of the crucial well-known Homeric epics of Chinese language literature — Wo Lengthy begins in a smoldering village, on the coronary heart of a vicious conflict generally known as the Yellow Turban Rebel. As a anonymous hero gifted with a mysterious energy, you’re unceremoniously thrust proper into the thick of motion. You discover abandoned foothills, dilapidated palaces, and grassy plains and lakes nestled amongst towering mountain peaks — very similar to a pilgrimage throughout each pastoral and war-torn scenes of medieval China.
Wo Lengthy avoids the clumsy heavy-handedness typical in video games impressed by Chinese language literature, the place random Japanese-looking motifs are injected as a logo of otherness. You’ll be able to end enemies off with a mixture of supernatural powers and physics-defying, swashbuckling stunts, alongside companions who converse of righting wrongdoings with their metal, swearing everlasting fealty, and making lifelong pacts. Legendary creatures — just like the Zhu Yan, a monster plucked from the pages of the Chinese language textual content on mythic beasts, Traditional of Mountains and Seas — make frequent appearances. That is the Three Kingdoms story reimagined as wuxia, a Chinese language style that includes swordsmen certain by a chivalrous code; Wo Lengthy borrows liberally, and successfully, from this lexicon.
Wo Lengthy’s backstory could also be wealthy and expansive, however so is its elaborate system of fight guidelines. Fights are primarily centered round your rotating weapon loadout, be it a mixture of sword and colossal halberd or ax and stylish spear, as you loot new armor and objects, and aggressively carve your means by the fleshy our bodies of your enemies.
Nonetheless, there’s a tremendous line to tread right here; carelessness could be met with lacerations and heavy wounds, and even lowly foot troopers can ship you to a untimely loss of life. However, Wo Lengthy rewards consecutive victories with a function referred to as morale rank, which quickly will increase with each enemy you slaughter. That stated, the sport taketh simply as a lot because it giveth. Your enemies have their very own morale ranks, too, which enhance every time they kill you, be they an imposing boss or a lowly peon. Together with the stats of your tools loadout, your morale rank — because it pertains to your enemy’s — straight impacts how a lot injury you deal and obtain. On the similar time, there’s additionally a approach to regain your misplaced morale: by searching for vengeance on the identical enemy that killed you. It’s an creative spin on the Soulslike system, because it signifies how difficult a selected match will seemingly be from afar — with out you having to die a number of, useless deaths by plunging headfirst into random encounters.
There are expertise factors, too, within the type of what the sport refers to as “real qi.” (This, by the best way, is a little bit of an odd translation selection; an identical Chinese language phrase, “important qi,” is incessantly invoked in wuxia tales and has roots in conventional Chinese language drugs.) Qi can be utilized to stage up your character stats, and after sure intervals of upgrades, unlock factors to be distributed throughout 5 parts: wooden, hearth, earth, steel, and water. These additional have an effect on your hero’s passive stats, from power to vitality, but in addition grant new lively talents and magical powers. The sport’s wizardry spells, that are based mostly on these 5 parts, can principally be used to reinforce your melee assaults and inflict standing results in your enemies — for example, one creates an area-of-effect earthquake, whereas one other creates a toxic puddle at its place of impression. These really feel principally like thrives, nonetheless, no less than within the first few chapters; at that time, melee fight nonetheless makes up the core of the sport.
If one single mechanic is the crux of Wo Lengthy’s intense fight, it’s the deflect transfer. In reality, so lots of the recreation’s encounters are contingent on this one balletic movement that victories can really feel nearly out of attain in the event you merely can’t get the dangle of the timing. As is the case in Sekiro, guarding and dodging assaults in Wo Lengthy merely presents non permanent reprieve, shopping for you a valuable few seconds to heal, forged a spell, and higher comprehend the tide of fight. Block a flurry of assaults, and your protection shall be damaged, leaving you staggered and extensive open for extra incoming blows. Deflect a smidgen too early or late, and your well being bar shall be fast to convey the error.
However time your deflection good, and Wo Lengthy offers you ample area and time to retaliate, even permitting you to carry out a robust “deadly strike.”
The parry maneuver is a microcosm for Wo Lengthy’s high-risk, high-reward ethos. It is a recreation equally involved with immersing you within the breath-stopping circulate state of a protracted duel and with tossing you into an in depth and harmful legendary world set across the Three Kingdoms saga. Writer Koei Tecmo’s in depth portfolio in Three Kingdoms video games — from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms technique wargames to the Dynasty Warriors sequence — is probably why Staff Ninja was afforded the area to refine its world and its mechanics equally.
Surviving the calamities of Wo Lengthy requires practically obsessive hours of apply. However what comes after is the exhilaration of with the ability to deftly execute hordes of enemies and demons alike with merely a reflexive twitch of your well-honed limbs. With its intricate fight system and an equally evocative setting, Wo Lengthy is a journey value embarking on — even when it means devoting three extra hours to your subsequent boss combat.
Wo Lengthy: Fallen Dynasty shall be launched on March 3 on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Home windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Sequence X. The sport was reviewed on PC utilizing a pre-release obtain code offered by Koei Tecmo. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These don’t affect editorial content material, although Vox Media could earn commissions for merchandise bought by way of affiliate hyperlinks. You’ll find further details about Polygon’s ethics coverage right here.