Games are very educational, if you think about it. Some games are based on real-life events and the developer’s interpretation of such events. Team Ninja, who has made fighting game classics such as the Dead or Alive series and action-adventure fare such as Ninja Gaiden, caught my attention for blending historical events (with a twist) and an action RPG that had me dodging, parrying, and attacking my way to victory—and learning a little bit more about Chinese history as I went along.
For hardcore history buffs such as myself, I found Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty to take a unique interpretation of an interesting time in history: the Three Kingdoms era of Chinese history. While rarely discussed in schools, the Three Kingdoms flourished around the same time as the Roman Empire and was characterized by war, and, subsequently, advances in technology. You play as a nameless warrior who is swept into the conflict, with each warring kingdom pursuing an elixir of immortality. You team up with a historically significant warrior in action that reminded me of classic 1990s side-scroller fare: fight enemies, fight a boss battle, and move on to the next level.
While that is an oversimplification of what is actually going on, the real learning curve comes with the combat. We’ve seen many games take the route of complex combat in recent years (think Elden Ring), and Wo Long is no exception. It is more reactive than anything: you have to time deflections and find openings to start your offensive. For those who are a little reckless in combat, this might be something new to learn. As long as you have Spirit, you can indefinitely block regular attacks. However, Spirit is also used for special abilities, spells, and Spirit attacks, meaning you have to balance both offense and defense. Spirit attacks can be used to clear out a powerful enemy or groups of enemies, so use it wisely.
The number of weapons you can use is staggering. You can use bows, crossbows, repeating crossbows, hammers, sabers, dual halberds, dual sabers, dual swords, glaives, halberds, poleaxes, slashing spears, spears, staves, straight sabers, and swords. I ended up trying to balance melee and ranged attacks, but the straight sabers and repeating crossbow won out for me in the end as they balanced power and speed. If you like getting up close and personal, I would suggest using hammers or glaives as they can clear multiple enemies quickly.
In every level, you have Morale Ranks, which go up to rank 25. To reach max rank is straightforward—defeat enemies and you gain morale. Enemies also have morale as well. How you defeat those enemies will determine how you gain that morale. Spirit attacks, special abilities, and spells will increase your morale faster. There is also a conundrum with loot. Where things get complicated is with Wo Long’s loot system—you’ll need to have a gear set ready for every situation. What makes things worse is that you can’t sort by sets or special effects, which is more than a minor annoyance. This is something that makes the game less fun, and requires you to have the time and patience to sort out what you want to use on specific enemies or bosses.
Wo Long is broken up into main missions and side missions that are rather large. Side missions can have you visiting the same level from another perspective. Is a level too hard? You can exit from a mission using a battle flag and save your progress. Enemy variety is rather limited relative to the complexity of combat, which can make Wo Long seem more like a grind fest. This is thankfully offset by the complexity of the levels that you’re playing in.
Many have compared Wo Long to a soulslike game, but it falls just short of the mark. While the combat definitely excels, the game can get rather stale quickly unless you’re challenging yourself to play with all the weapons at your disposal. However, if you want to experience the Three Kingdoms Era with a bit of a creative twist or enjoy Team Ninja games, Wo Long is a good game to keep you occupied.
Developer: Team Ninja
Publisher: Koei Tecmo
Platform(s): PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Words by Jose Alvarez
Also published in GADGETS MAGAZINE April 2023 Issue