Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty Review – Fluid violence and fun

thesixthaxis.com:

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty has one of the toughest first boss fights I’ve ever encountered. I’ve beaten my head against every Soulslike I can get my hands on, and never before have I genuinely worried I might not be able to get past it. This isn’t a bad thing, as it turns out that, much like Sekiro, you need to understand how to pay Wo Long specifically, and not just action games in general. On top of that, the high I got after crushing the smug git took me through several levels before I found myself stuck again, which is always nice.

Coming from Team Ninja, the team that made the impeccable Nioh series, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty has high hopes riding on it, at least from people like me who are all constantly waiting for the next big Soulslike. One of the biggest changes this time around is that Masaaki Yamagiwa, the producer behind Bloodborne, has since joined Team Ninja, and it really shows.

While Nioh 2 was undoubtedly fast-paced, the combat often felt less like a tug of war, and more like a brutal beatdown from one side or the other. Wo Long changes things up by adding in a spirit gauge, which goes up if you’re doing well, and goes down if you’re not. With high spirit, you can pull off incredible special attacks and cast powerful spells, but at low spirit, you can find yourself completely stunned and open to a brutal killing blow.

Enemies all have this spirit bar as well, and while it’s unlikely a basic enemy will survive long enough for their spirit to be broken, this mechanic is essential to master if you want to defeat bosses and some of the nastier monsters that lie ahead of you. You need to use a blend of different attacks to make it easier to stun these horrifyingly tough foes, but doing so will allow you to take off