Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty brings Sekiro’s combat to a mesmerizing new world

polygon.com:

Perhaps the most telling thing about Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is that its first boss, a towering figure of a commander named Zhang Liang, took me about three hours to topple. Throughout a litany of my futile attempts, he staggered me repeatedly with a gargantuan mace, wiping out nearly a third of my health each time it bloodied my face. Within seconds, the battle was over, a dull red washing over the graceless sight of my crumpled, defeated body, and the Chinese phrase for “crushing defeat” was emblazoned across the screen. It soon became clear that what I was doing was not just wrong, but hopelessly inelegant: rushing headfirst into the fight with a fragile sword, hacking stupidly in the hope that something I did would leave a mark.

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Wo Long has zero patience for ineptitude — a refrain you probably expect if you’re familiar with Nioh or Nioh 2, Team Ninja’s soul-crushingly brutal games set in feudal Japan — as well as an unwillingness to tolerate negligence. Take my battle with Zhang Liang, which could only be won when I finally internalized his attacks and movements, doled out in rapid, erratic intervals: a leap into the air and the slamming of his mace onto the ground; several hefty swings of the same weapon, whirled around like a weightless twig; and unblockable critical attacks that drained