Birds of a feather
Despite my issues with the genre, I keep trying to love each and every Soulslike game. I love the concept, the characters and worlds are normally intriguing, and the combat is mostly solid, but there is something that rarely clicks with me. The latest game to take a dodge roll at the idea is the first title from developer Leenzee Games, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers. This title has received plenty of press with its titular cast and marketing from being day one on Game Pass. After dozens of hours, I have mixed feelings. It does a lot to make its own mark, while also falling victim to some of the genre’s worst tropes.
Much like other Souls-style games, the story has some very interesting aspects. It kicks off with our main protagonist waking up in a cave, complete with amnesia. She is trying to figure out why her arm is messed up, and also, she is covered in feathers. It turns out all of China is suffering from a disease known as “Feathering” and you have to figure out what is going on.
MSRP: $49.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, PC
Price I’d Pay: $49.99
It is a unique setup that definitely intrigued me. The issues come from the normal Souls mechanic of having players really have to dig for story beats. Reading descriptions and using environmental storytelling forces players to really dig to discover it all. Some people love this, others not so much, but if you dig there is a lot here. I was also not a fan of named characters showing up, then disappearing for hours, and by then I had totally forgotten who they were and what their purpose was. It is all over the place at times, but for those dedicated, there is good stuff here.
The world of Wuchang feels like a carbon copy of the original Dark Souls, and familiar to anyone who has played one of these games before. The templates are strong here. There are a ton of unique areas and biomes, each filled with their own deadly enemies and hazards. As I progressed through the world I would unlock paths to other areas, making it more connected over time. If you have played one of these games, you get the idea. This game in particular feels very reminiscent of the first Dark Souls game with the way it works. It is literally the closest the genre has come since its inception. It is almost as if the developers purposely set out to stroke those chords of nostalgia.
Stop me if you have heard this before, progression works exactly as you expect. There are shrines scattered along the way that serve as checkpoints. These are used to reset enemies, level up, and fast travel. Dying also resets everything and causes you to lose your experience points, known as mercury here. The upgrades are the four basic styles of vitality, agility, endurance, and strength and there are plenty of status effects that can be cured with items found throughout the game. It is exactly what you think it is and you could have convinced me that FromSoftware made this game.
The biggest change to the progression system in Wuchang is that instead of standard traits, you actually use a massive skill tree to improve things. This allowed me to tailor my game experience to what I wanted. It reminds me a lot of the Sphere Grid in FFX with six branching paths that have a variety of different skills. Most of the paths revolve around upgrading weapons and armor, while there is one that is entirely dedicated to things like increasing health vials and such. It is a nice break from the numbers menu and gives the game more ways to customize the experience.
Much like other games that attempt to ape the formula, Wuchang has one defining feature when it comes to game play. There is a madness meter that increases every time I died or used a specific item. The higher the meter goes, the more damage I do, but it also increases the damage I take. At full bore it can even spawn a monster that will guard my loot when I die. Speaking of loot, I really liked the way the game doled out the goods. I was constantly finding better items and weapons, which increased the enjoyment of combat.
Combat itself is fairly similar to Dark Souls 1, seeing a pattern here? We have the traditional light and heavy attacks, and a dodge move that has similar timing to the aforementioned game. The difficulty of Wuchang has peaks and valleys, it is all over the place. There are bosses that had me wanting to uninstall the game, while other times I felt like it had an easy difficulty mode. It can be frustrating at times as the inconsistency makes some sections of the game unbearable. It feels unbalanced, it also doesn’t help that the enemies have patterns that feel out of place. Combat feels slow and methodical like Dark Souls, but some enemies have action game movements. There were many occasions where I felt like they were in the wrong game.
Visually the game has a language that most of these titles do. Lots of dark and broody horror themes with some Eastern inspiration to match the world. I loved the biomes and enemy design, but nothing here felt like it was pushing the system to its limit. Which makes the inconsistent frame rate even more puzzling. The Series X had moments that felt like bad frame timing, but I did eventually adjust to it. I would have preferred consistency, so hopefully they can iron that out over time. Audio is fine if not forgettable. Most of the voice acting is fine and the music is ambient, but none of it stuck with me afterwards.
Everyone knows I am not the biggest fan of the genre, but I keep trying to find games that I love in it. Wuchang has some neat ideas, but the inconsistent difficulty and confusing story really made it hard to enjoy a lot of times. Still, I love the world, and combat feels great and responsive. This is a solid effort from a first-time studio, and I think people who really enjoy the genre have yet another one they can get into. The campaign is long, clocking in at just under 50 hours with plenty more once credits roll. Fans will love it, but for those like me, this one doesn’t do enough to overcome my issues with the genre.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
