Wo Long Fallen Dynasty from Koei Tecmo and Team Ninja is an action RPG that’s extremely reminiscent of Nioh. The complete edition of the game features the base game plus all 3 DLC expansions which substantially increase the game’s longevity and makes this a high value package.
So is Wo Long Fallen Dynasty Complete Edition worth picking up?
Wo Long Fallen Dynasty
If you played Nioh or its sequel Nioh 2, you’re in for a similar experience here with Wo Long Fallen Dynasty. Much like in Nioh 1 and 2, you’re going to die. A lot. Wo Long Fallen Dynasty however feels a lot less punishing than Nioh did though that might just be me getting used to these types of games by now. Your mileage may vary in this regard. Nevertheless, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty by no means an easy game and you will end up dying to boss enemies a lot as well as to some normal enemies that can wipe the floor with you.
Players will take on the role of a nameless soldier that’s been gifted the power of the Elixir. This mysterious Elixir plays a central role to the plot and without spoiling too much, draws inspiration from Three Kingdoms history. There are numerous characters throughout the game from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms historical lore and the game is set in the latter stages of the Han Dynasty’s rule albeit with a lot more dark themes playing a role here. Expect to fight against demons and monsters that are pure nightmare fuel with menacing designs and equally menacing attack patterns.
As mentioned above, this is not an easy to play game and if you are frustrated with difficult games where timing and precise movement is key to victory, you will most likely have a bad time here. If however you’re a fan of games such as Sekiro, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and the overarching genre, Wo Long will feel great to you. It does set itself apart from the other titles in the genre, including Nioh, by having a faster paced battle system though and a “Spirit Gauge” which works a little bit differently to the traditional stamina gauges seen in the other titles.
The character creator in Wo Long Fallen Dynastyis pretty good and gives you quite a lot of options to pick from. You’ll easily spend quite a bit of time here crafting your perfect character before heading into the action adventure game that awaits you.
Players will be able to dodge, jump, attack, cast spells, fire arrows and even summon Divine Beasts in Wo Long Fallen Dynasty. The game makes its fast-paced combat central to its entire premise with five different combat paths to invest into. This opens up a vast variety of combinations for you to work with and significantly alters your playstyle with each change you make. Combining these different “Phases” as the game calls them together is an essential part of enjoying Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty. The sheer amount of customisation open to you here is great.
For example, if you want to focus purely on wizardry or magic, you can do this by equipping a range of spells which can be cast by simply mapping them to the face buttons in combination with one of the shoulder buttons on your controller. Weapons in Wo Long Fallen Dynasty also impart special attacks which are also mapped in a similar way and thus players have two sets of attacks that they can choose from on the fly in the heat of battle. This of course being in addition to the standard light and heavy attacks that you can perform.
Fast Paced Battling
Wo Long Fallen Dynasty’s emphasis on fast paced fighting also involves having NPC characters that accompany you along your journey join in on the fighting. You can also encourage your NPC allies and fighting against huge monsters alongside them is great fun. It really does make you feel as if you’re waging a war here against some tough odds but your pals are there to lend you much needed aid. You can also unlock “Oath” levels with them and eventually upon maxing this out, you can even obtain weapons from them to use yourself.
Exploring areas in Wo Long Fallen Dynasty is pretty straightforward with each area having “Battle Flags” that can be deployed. These serve as resting spots where you can level up and change your equipment and wizardry among other options while also recovering your health and respawning enemies.
Graphically, Wo Long Fallen Dynasty is beautiful to look at it. Koei Tecmo have also graciously included a photo mode into the game and you can use this to take in the beautiful sights as well as capture some gorgeous screenshots of your character and fellow NPCs. The game also thankfully runs buttery smooth on PS5 with none of the performance issues that plagued the PC version being present here.
The attack animations in Wo Long Fallen Dynasty are visually spectacular to look at. Especially the attacks that your character performs with the counterattacks being the real star of the show along with the Divine Beasts. Koei Tecmo really didn’t hold back on the visual front here. Wo Long Fallen Dynasty is breathtaking throughout. The soundtrack to Wo Long Fallen Dynasty features a lot of music that’s well suited to the game’s theme and aesthetic and the sound effects are well done too.
Final Verdict
Wo Long Fallen Dynasty streamlines the combat and exploration process of the Soulsborne genre a bit with less focus on slow, laborious trekking through areas and more on fighting enemies and looting. The downtime between fights is pretty much non-existent with players having a lot of enemies to take down in levels. Enemies also telegraph their attacks pretty well and when your targeting reticle turns red, you can attempt to immediately launch a counterattack.
This works pretty well throughout the game and is a lot more lenient than Nioh 2’s counter system was. This is great though because your character’s counterattacks are usually so visually pleasing to see in action, you’ll want to use counters whenever possible just to see what amazing attack they’ll do in retaliation.
The DLC packages included in the Complete Edition of the game include more enemies, more story and more weapons to choose from. The DLC packs however are mixed bag with the first one being a bit rough around the edges and the second one being incredibly difficult to get through due to the bosses being very hard to beat. The third DLC, “Upheaval in Jingxiang” also features a boss enemy that’s ridiculously difficult to face off against and you’ll most likely have to enlist help from other players to defeat it.
Overall, Wo Long Fallen Dynasty tries something different with the Soulsborne genre and identifies its own little niche. Playing the game co-operatively with a friend is a tonne of fun though and is highly recommended since it makes boss fights less tedious and more enjoyable. The difficulty for the rest of the game is just right with only the additional DLC boss enemies being a bit of a misstep. Grab Wo Long Fallen Dynasty if you’re a fan of Soulslike games. And if you’re still on the fence, you may want to give the demo a try first before diving head first into it.
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