Worth: $14.50
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Intro:
If you can get on board with the deflection mechanic and the typically punishing difficulty, there’s a lot of masochistic fun to be gleaned.
Although FromSoftware – creators of Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro and Elden Ring – are the undisputed masters of the Soulslike genre, there are many games that have tried to borrow and expand upon the wildly popular format.
Some have worked, some have not, but few have engaged as well as Team Ninja’s Nioh titles. While Nioh 1 and 2 were undoubtedly heavily influenced by the aforementioned FromSoft bangers, the talented dev team added a slickness and speed to the combat that made moment-to-moment gameplay feel unique. They are, after all, the creators of the brutally difficult and completely addictive Ninja Gaiden series.
Well, now it seems Team Ninja want to tweak their own formula, much as FromSoft did with Sekiro, and offer a faster, more immediate take on their own Nioh vibe with Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, which is a cracker of a game with a few caveats.
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is set during the Three Kingdoms period in Ancient China. A player-generated character is thrust into a plot involving intrigue, war, real historical figures, and a shitload of narky monsters all of whom seem to want to muck up your day by stabbing you with sharpened pieces of metal or just straight up eating you.
Happily, you’re a bad arse warrior type and will swiftly master a frankly staggering number of combat options, weapon choices and armour pieces as well utilising magic spells and special attacks of a supernatural nature.
If this all sounds a whole lot like Nioh – even down to the overabundance of loot that deluges your inventory – then, yes, that is correct. Wo Long is, in many ways, Nioh 3: Off To China We Go, but with one major mechanic shift: deflection.
Much like FromSoftware with Sekiro, Team Ninja have opted to design a game around deflecting enemy blows, which means pressing the deflect button at just the right time to knock your foe’s weapon back instead of copping damage. It’s a controversial choice, as deflection-based gameplay often proves divisive, with some folks adoring the intricacies of perfect timing and others baulking at the narrower focus.
Unlike Sekiro, Wo Long does offer combat alternatives to those who aren’t fans of the mechanic – including magic, summons and reinforcement NPCs – but the truth is, if you don’t like this kind of gameplay, you’re probably not going to have a good time. Hell, the tutorial boss – literally the first major enemy you fight – may be a point of no return for some players. Your humble scribe, a fan of these types of games, had his arse handed to him an embarrassing number of times before mastering the mechanic, so proceed accordingly.
Another potential sticking point is the storytelling, which is mostly absent and not particularly interesting. History buffs might enjoy the namechecking of real figures and events, but everyone else will probably shrug at yet another video game narrative involving good battling evil. It seems like a missed opportunity because video games rarely use Ancient China as a setting, but it just feels a little generic. Add to this, the enemy variety is a tad lacking (like Nioh) and you’ll become very familiar with the foes you fight as your journey nears its end.
Wo Long nonetheless offers spectacular combat and jaw-dropping boss encounters. If you can get on board with the deflection mechanic and the typically punishing difficulty, there’s a lot of masochistic fun to be gleaned. And if you were really just looking for another Nioh-like Team Ninja adventure in a different setting with tweaked mechanics, you’re going to have an absolute blast.
