Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty

Japanese developer Team Ninja has long been known for presenting the games “Ninja Gaiden” and “Dead or Alive,” but has deviated from that framework in recent years with the fan-favorite Nioh series of action and RPG games from genre games, and here the team returns with the all-new title Wo. Long: Fallen Dynasty falls into this category, which has piqued the interest of gamers since its release as one of the most promising releases of the current year.

The Story of Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty

The game’s story takes place in China in the second century AD, during the period of political unrest between the three kingdoms, which led to a fierce war that coincided with the appearance of demons and their spread throughout the country. You will go through This adventure tells of one of the soldiers fighting in this war who meets a strange priest who seems to be connected to the appearance of demons and the elixir. Mysterious immortality, what are this priest’s plans? What connects him to the ongoing war? These are the questions that the game raises and answers in a good story that included some surprises and exciting changes, and the narrative was maintained by many cinematic clips separating the missions.

The Technical Level and Gameplay Experience

The game offers a good technical level, accompanied by a group of traditional Chinese melodies that beautifully represent the various battles and boss encounters. One of the things criticized about the game is the camera, which does not give a clear idea of ​​the battlefield when fighting a group of enemies in a tight environment or full of details that may obscure the view is compromised and the really annoying problem in our test of the PC version is that the game stops working after completing a few levels, which is a common occurrence but fortunately the game saves what you were doing before it stopped working and we hope that the update will be on day one will fix this problem.

Speaking of gaming experience, Wo Long excels at offering fans of action-RPG games similar to Souls a familiar and refreshing experience at the same time. In some aspects it sits halfway between Dark Souls and Sekiro, but presents some ideas that make the gaming experience different. The style of the game is inspired by martial arts. While Sekiro focused on blocking at the right moment, Wo Long focused on dodging at the right moment and then countering, meaning the risk here is higher if you don’t dodge properly. The game focuses on two important elements in battles, the first of which is your character’s “morale” gauge, which increases as you defeat enemies, especially if you eliminate them with a fatal blow or martial arts move. There is a spiritual energy meter similar to the stamina meter in Sekiro, but this meter moves negatively or positively based on the player’s efficiency in combat and their lack of damage, as well as the weight of the armor used and the type of weapon. This is what it has This affects the amount of energy used. To fill the meter, you need to dodge enemies’ attacks at the right time and deal damage to them by counterattacking and pressuring them.

The Importance of the Spiritual Energy Meter

The Spiritual Energy Meter is very important as it is the currency that allows you to use martial arts moves and magical abilities that also require a certain level of morale. Most of the time, maintaining a positive balance means that it opens up options for you to deal with your opponents, while a negative balance means that your character is on the verge of exhaustion in battle, which is a dangerous proposition. It makes you vulnerable to enemy attacks and you also have a morale meter and a spiritual energy meter. The same applies to your opponents and the same conditions apply to them. It’s a clever way to get the player to take advantage of the game’s different elements. Knockouts, for example, discourage the opponent and reduce the damage they inflict on you. High morale means that you take less damage from the enemy and deal more damage to them, which is an essential point that you need in confrontations with leaders. In addition, constantly avoiding the opponent’s attacks causes him to tire faster and more easily, allowing you to deliver deadly blows with less effort. And don’t forget that all enemies are capable of this… blows that cannot be blocked, but must be avoided, and the game intelligently keeps you away from the counter mechanism, which means stagnation and defense, and pushes you strong to move quickly and attack violently.

The Structure of the Game and Boss Encounters

Speaking of the structure of the game, it does not offer an open world, but is divided into missions, including main and side missions. During missions, you advance on the battlefield to defeat your opponents and raise your flag. With the flag raised, your lowest morale level will be stabilized. If you lose, your morale level drops to zero and you have to build it up again, but with progress. On the battlefield and when raising your flag, morale will not fall below a certain level. There are main flags that also play the role of a save point. Through them you can develop your character and acquire some basic resources, while there are side flags that you can raise to further increase the level and thus stabilize morale.

All of the game’s main missions end with a fight against a new boss. Team Ninja came up with different ideas for these bosses in terms of size, abilities they use, and variety of attacks. The team impressed us with their ingenuity in presentation. New boss encounters are constantly being added, and one of the main things we should praise in the game is the difficulty level. It is very precisely balanced from start to finish, and the player feels an interesting and escalating challenge without feeling unbalanced and with the awareness that any mistake will lead to death, meaning that you continue to refine your skills or the attack patterns have to pay more attention to the opponent.

Accessibility and Character Development

The nice thing about the game is that it is suitable for professionals in the genre, but also offers some help to newcomers. Martial arts moves and magical abilities give players many ways to deal with difficult situations. We also have a group of monsters that you can summon when their meter is full, and these monsters can save you in a time of crisis without being exploited in a way that detracts from the challenge. In most missions you will be accompanied by a character from the fighters who you can rely on and who will support you. Typically one character accompanies you, with the option to call another character to help you. You can call a maximum of two characters to help you, or two of your companions if you want. For a greater challenge, you can bring the supporting characters back to camp and complete the mission on your own.

Content and Completion Time

The game also simplifies the character development process, focusing on five elements of nature, each representing an aspect of your character’s strength. Also, unlike other weapons, the game does not require you to have a specific point level to use any type of weapon common in genre games. Choose the weapons. This suits you and head to the battlefield! The game features a star classification of weapons, with ratings ranging from one to five stars. The higher the number of stars, the more advantages the weapon or armor has, such as resisting poisons or dealing greater damage when the player is in a critical situation.

As for the content of the game, it is huge and extremely diverse. The battlefields are very different and they are also based on vertical movement, not just horizontal. Therefore, it was interesting in terms of the design of the levels and the game in this way they fulfilled the desire of exploration enthusiasts to search for treasure. Most levels contain treasure. You have to defeat a powerful monster to get there, and the decision to face or ignore that monster is up to the player. The environments of the stages are varied. Sometimes they lead through forests and palaces, sometimes through trenches and valleys. Many of these stages are carefully designed, have an iconic character and remain in the memory. There are also side missions that break the rhythm. As usual, there are side missions limited to defeating bosses or returning to a previous battlefield and eliminating any monsters remaining there, and the game generously rewards you for your desire to explore by providing treasure and useful resources.

Conclusion

We finished the game in 31.5 hours with two-thirds of the side missions completed, and the entire game will take between 40 and 45 hours to complete. The game will also provide a higher difficulty option after completing the story and allowing you to replay the missions you have gone through at that difficulty, greatly increasing the challenge in exchange for providing better weapons and resources. As a reward for your skill, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty has far exceeded our expectations, giving us a fast-paced experience and intense and entertaining battles that we can’t get enough of. If you are a fan of action and RPG games, don’t miss this experience!

The game was tested on a PC version provided by the publisher before the game was released.