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Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is basically fine so far. That was the initial headline for this hands-on preview, because the game took me through such emotional ups and downs that an exhausted shrug is the best I can provide right now. To summarise my feelings in advance, Wo Long is to Team Ninja's earlier game, Nioh, what Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is to Dark Souls – something tighter and a little more focused than what came before, at the cost of both breadth and choice.
Problem is, Dark Souls is a great game to build on, while Nioh 1 and Nioh 2 were arguably more mixed bags. Wo Long is an improvement over them, at least in the preview build I played, but… well, it's complicated. Let's start with the story.
Katanarama
I'd like to tell you what happens in the plot of Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty. I'd like to, but I can't, because it's incomprehensible. The game is set in a swords-and-sorcery version of China's Three Kingdoms war in the third century (I think), and there's some ongoing fracas about Jade necklaces, Immortality Elixirs, a group of comically-villainous yellow soldiers and an evil Taoist Monk. All of that said, how they all relate and what we're supposed to feel about it is completely beyond me.
I think the overarching problem of Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is that it presents itself pretty poorly in just about every respect. The story might be interesting - but I wouldn't know, because it's borderline incoherent. And that's not for lack of trying, there's constantly at least one character following you around, explaining things and vocalising their every thought, but it's not only clumsily-written, it's usually shouted at you during a high-octane brawl with demon tigers, so I never had any brainpower to spare for consideration. Plus I made the mistake of choosing an English dub, and the commercial-grade voice acting combined with all the characters being stock archetypes just made me feel uncomfortable and embarrassed.
I have to get all of this out of the way, because it's a symptom of a larger issue that really negatively impacted my early hours with Wo Long, and I was definitely getting ready to bring out the big "thumbs down" stamp. The mechanics are just as badly-explained as the plot, and key elements like Spirit, Morale and Fortitude are thrown at you rapidly with little chance to consider or internalise these concepts. In my first boss fight, my useless sidekick yelled at me in phase two that my jade necklace "will give you the power you need to overcome this challenge," before becoming uncharacteristically silent and refusing to elaborate further.
"What does that mean?!" I wailed, before getting creamed against a menhir by a spike-covered tentacle. So yeah, I wasn't having a great time. The overall experience felt like being blindfolded and pushed into a boxing ring with three brawny opponents.
The Art of War
But then I made the decision to abandon the boss fight – to walk away and go looking for some low-level goons who could just about hold a sword by the blunt end. Fallen Dynasty does have a level structure and it's all technically linear, if a little sprawling and maze-like at times, so I retraced my steps and just spent some time honing my slicing arm on enemies who aspired to be as threatening as baby otters.
This exercise was less about training muscle memory or farming for XP as it was about understanding what the game actually wanted from me. The tutorial had been no use for explaining any concept more complex than "stabbing is good", so I carefully experimented on the poor schlubs nearby, seeing what actions got a positive response from the UI - and discovered through trial and error that there are actually some very clever ideas here, it's just the game has no idea how to convey them.
It's a parry-focused Soulslike melee-engine where Spirit (aka Stamina), can actually be improved by landing hits and counters successfully - so rather than flailing and dodge rolling constantly, you'll have a much better chance of success if you carefully pick your moment to retaliate. When done right, you can deflect a sequence of spear strikes in rapid succession, decimating the enemy's Spirit and boosting your own enough to perform a deadly finisher.
And in the moment, it feels pretty sweet. Admittedly, the overly-busy animations and UI can make reading enemy movements tricky (again, this game has a real issue with presenting poorly), but getting the counters right does feel undeniably satisfying, especially when you can hack limbs and horns off certain foes in the process. Next time a spiky tentacle went for me, I simply vaulted over it, severing it at the shoulder with a flash of steel along the way.
More elements began to demystify over time. All players and enemies have levels, as per usual, but you can earn temporary bonus levels on top of those simply by pulling off difficult attacks and combos, never having to spend XP to do so. Likewise, getting utterly humiliated in battle can take those bonus levels away from you, so it means fighting well in the run-up to a boss can leave you with a little extra panache to press against them. And if you can play especially well in the boss fight itself, it drains levels from them as a reward, making the rest of the brawl easier. Is it me, or is all this... actually quite solid design?
Rise and Fall
I went back to the two-stage tyrant who'd abused me before, feeling flush with confidence - and got creamed against the menhir again. But this time it was only because it was a hard boss, not because I didn't understand what I was supposed to do, and after a few more attempts I eventually emerged the victor. Suddenly I had found my momentum, and while the first level in a burning village had taken me more than two hours to complete, I finished the second level - a canyon hideout presided over by a cranky baboon - in under 40 minutes.
And more importantly, I was enjoying myself! The narrative was still tedious, full of trite characters somehow overexplaining and underexplaining the plot, but I just learned to ignore the lumpen cutscenes and focus on the slicing and dicing. The whole thing could certainly be sharper, but there's a solid core to the experience that had me coming back to it, even in my off-hours.
So yeah, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is basically fine so far, as the agonising first half of my experience was almost perfectly counterbalanced by a pretty enjoyable second half. And considering much of the painful stuff was routed in total confusion, there's a part of me that can't help but be a little hopeful for what might follow.
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is one of the new games for 2023 that's worth watching, and it's set to release on PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, and Xbox One on March 3.
