Review | Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty

A short review

How about some cool characters and great narrative? Not in this game boy!

Team Ninja, what happened here?

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is a historical fantasy action role-playing video game that feels and looks like the Nioh games. It is developed by Team Ninja and published by Koei Tecmo. The game was released on March 3, 2023, for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

The main idea is to introduce a new world, new characters, and deflect and jump (double jump) mechanics to make this game feel fresh. But you know, when you copy yourself, why not improve on that foundation? Wo Long feels like a step down compared to Nioh 1 and 2 in almost every aspect.

Story and the characters

I can't remember the last time I was this bored during cutscenes. I don't care about anyone, and the English voices are so bad... I know this one is about some Elixir that drives people mad, gives them strength, and turns them into demons. Honestly, that's all you need to know.

You can bring characters as allies to dungeons to fight alongside you. You can even visit them in the hidden village, but I skipped talking with them—I just don't care.

Game design, exploration

It's the same as in Nioh—you choose a level, enter, find all the secrets, and defeat the boss in the middle and at the end. I love that all the levels are new, and the sub-missions are short enough that I didn't feel bored like in Nioh when you enter the same level for the 9th time. I don't like recycling, and this game didn't have that feeling.

The problem is the enemy variety and how easy the game is. You can almost mash deflect to get through it. The exploration is basic—there are some secrets, but the rewards are bad. The whole loot system is bloated, and I have no idea why they didn't make it simpler and introduce some cool armor/weapon sets. I hated this part of the game. I just upgraded the gear I liked visually, kept my capacity below 30%, and the game was still so easy.

Lu Bu was the only boss that made me feel like I was playing the game as intended (at least in the first fight with him).

Combat

Fluent, deflect, mashing... It's fun! Maybe it's easy, but I love deflecting and slicing throats in games. After 40 hours, I was still having fun. Too bad the magic and special moves are unimportant, so the basic combo is where you need to focus.

Leveling up is basic, with only 5 categories to level up. You can learn new spells, but they are useless. The whole loot system is a miss—you collect around 50 sets of gear, most of which are the same. I was overwhelmed by the stats the sets provided, which ultimately didn't make any real difference. Just invest in upgrades and stick with them.

The combat is fun, but it's a step down.

Side Content

Side content is basically collecting some healing upgrades, memos, and gold scarabs. You can also find a panda, give it an item, and it will transform that into something else. This is mostly worthless, except for the potion/healing upgrades.

Repeating missions isn't a chore, but it's nothing worth mentioning.

Conclusion

If you like games like Nioh and are curious about how a jump mechanic fits in, try this game. Just don't expect top-tier quality—expect a solid and fun experience while waiting for something better.

I think I've managed to drift away from all of the story scenes. I have no idea who is who, what is happening and I honestly don't care.

The combat is the best what this game can offer, but with weak enemy variation and easy boss fights. It can be worse of course, but it's not so bad.