Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty Review (PS5) | Push Square

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Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty raises the bar for Soulslike combat to such an extent it deserves to break free from that descriptor entirely in favour of something new. It provides deeply intricate combat and an exhilarating arcade alternative to FromSoftware's more contemplative formula.

A game like Elden Ring seeks to draw you into the mystery of its broken world, letting the player piece together how it all fell apart as they tip-toe around sleeping giants. This approach was and remains a revelatory breath of fresh air in RPG design. Wo Long is the dark side of that moon, choosing instead to loosely retell one of the most classic tales in all of world literature, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, adding in some demonic possession for extra spice. Expect to crush the Yellow Turban Rebellion and clash with Dong Zhuo amidst the flames of a burning Luoyang, just like you did in Dynasty Warriors, and face the legendary Lu Bu in some truly epic encounters.

It tells a story, but outside of bookending each major mission with some melodrama, it's really just the vehicle through which epic combat scenarios are delivered to you. The player character, a silent protagonist, is crudely shoehorned into overly dramatised moments from Three Kingdoms-era Chinese history.

Each environment (called battlefields) in Wo Long seems straightforward at first, but quickly you find they're riddled with complex encounters, traps, shortcuts, valuable treasure, NPCs to chat with, and secrets to uncover. Exploration is made not only rewarding but essential due to the implementation of the Battle Flag system, which is kind of genius but also somewhat overwhelming.

As you explore a battlefield (of which there are around 40, both major and minor), you