Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty receives positive reviews (mostly)
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty- the latest Team Ninja game- has been released for all consoles but the Switch to some pretty positive reviews from fans and critics. The studio has become famous in recent years for their spin on the Soulslike formula with the Nioh duology and their unique take on the Final Fantasy series with Stranger of Paradise. Wo Long is much more Nioh than Final Fantasy, however- and not just in terms of its eastern Asian setting. The fast paced action, demonic creatures and, of course, frustrating difficulty returns- and is seems to be a winning formula.
With an 81 critic score and 7.2 User Score, Wo Long seems to have generally been well received- especially when you take out the typical 0/10 reviews due to the game’s difficulty. The review site ‘Attack of the Fanboy’ were huge fans of the game- giving it a perfect 100 score. Citing how it masterfully combines its influences as well as its addictive difficulty, the reviewer loved Wo Long:
“The best way to describe how Wo Long feels is if you combined the visuals and swordplay of the Dynasty Warriors and Nioh games with a pinch of Sekiro. What then happens is that you have a game that is quite difficult, but oh-so-rewarding when you conquer the seemingly impossible”
Checkpoint Gaming was another site that praised the swordplay, but was a little cooler on the game’s often frustrating difficulty and complicated gear systems:
“The combat mechanics are intuitive and all work together, making strategy and consideration of each next big boss fight vital. However, those same systems can be overly complex with a flurry of gauges, ranks, and stats to consider all at once. Even with a few difficulty spikes and balancing issues, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is still a fun adventure”
Despite the praise, other reviewers were much less happy with Wo Long’s somewhat derivative design that, according to VGC, takes far too much from the studio’s older games such as Nioh, and does little to work upon or introduce interesting ideas to a tired and often oversaturated genre:
“Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is a lazy game, devoid of ambitions. It copies and superficially applies the Souls' recipe, in a way unworthy of the studio to which we owe Nioh. It is a generation or two behind graphically, and its poor gameplay, unbalanced on many levels, doesn't make you want to dwell on it”
Conversely, users praise how Wo Long takes the best parts of Team Ninja’s previous work and melds them into its perfected form. User Kyokushin said the following on the game:
“For al Nioh fans a hell yeah! Three kingdoms fan? Even more! Combat and customization take the main stage here that's for sure and while the story is pushed a little more to the back this game is a game of the year contender for me!”
Much like the critics, however, other users were torn on some of Wo Long’s more difficult and frustrating aspects. Zisis151 had the following to say about the game after awarding a disappointing 3/10:
“Bad game design, on top of a game that was supposed to be "different" but isn't really different. All I'm seeing is Nioh with removed mechanics…the rest of the fights are either irrelevant because you can beat them on the first try, or they're just straight up artificial difficulty”
So, Wo Long is certainly not for everybody- but if you’re a fan of the previous Nioh games or Soulslikes' in general, this one may be a surprise winner in your books. Regardless, you can now pick up the game on all modern consoles (except the Switch) and Xbox Game Pass subscribers can enjoy the full game right now on the service. Although you may want to steer clear of the Steam port- with the game currently at a mostly negative 38% due to some pretty awful performance issues. Let’s hope those get sorted out- and soon.
