After enjoying upcoming soulslike Wuchang: Fallen Feathers for 4 hours at a behind-closed-doors preview occasion in London not too long ago, I’m left genuinely stunned at how a lot it grew on me over time. Whereas the primary hour smacked of that ‘yep, it’s one other one among these’ feeling, its winding degree design and fight system did ultimately open up into a novel and satisfying expertise.
Video games within the subgenre are a dime a dozen today, with titles like Lies of P, Lords of the Fallen, Black Delusion: Wukong, and the upcoming Nioh 3 all vying to be the following greatest soulslike recreation to various levels of success.
These video games could all be reduce from the identical material, however do provide their very own programs, mechanics, and takes on the formulation to make them value enjoying. Wuchang: Fallen Feathers isn’t any completely different, nevertheless it may simply be one of the artistic and attention-grabbing soulslikes I’ve performed in years.
Birds of a feather
Having now performed round 4 hours from the very starting of the sport, I’ll admit issues don’t get off to the most effective begin. From the get-go, you’re instantly positioned into a reasonably lifeless hub space with a small handful of non-player characters (NPCs) with little of curiosity to say. You’ll choose up {that a} terrifying illness has ravaged the land, however there’s not a lot in the way in which of worldbuilding at this early stage.
It’s solely after beginning at this hub – a dilapidated temple – that you simply start the tutorial section correct. At first, I used to be slightly thrown off by this, as Wuchang appears to be going towards the soulslike grain of getting a linear tutorial part first earlier than dropping you into the hub. Nevertheless, that is solely partly the case, as a second bigger hub is found after beating the primary main boss.
Till you attain this level, Wuchang’s degree design begins out pretty linearly, however this pseudo-tutorial section does an honest job of introducing you to the sport’s many distinctive programs. Mainly, participant character Wuchang is contaminated by a plague often called the Feathering, which additionally varieties the core a part of this recreation’s narrative (at the least within the early recreation).
…the sport closely incentivizes gamers to handle their Insanity ranges, which is in itself its personal type of natural issue.
For most individuals on this planet, the Feathering is an excruciating illness that causes immense ache, bodily disfigurement, and ultimately drives one to insanity. Wuchang does really feel these signs, however at a extra manageable diploma that enables her to nonetheless combat.
For Wuchang herself, Insanity is a really attention-grabbing and multi-layered mechanic. Taking harm, dying, or making use of sure objects will enhance her Insanity gauge. At larger ranges, she’ll each deal and take extra harm.
For much less bold soulslikes, a mechanic like that would’ve begun and ended there. Fortunately, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers appears to essentially discover it in-depth. For instance, sure weapon varieties have unlockable strikes and skills that solely activate (or have elevated effectiveness) at sure thresholds of Insanity, comparable to 50% or 90%.
As such, the sport closely incentivizes gamers to handle their Insanity ranges, which is in itself its personal type of natural issue. For instance, when you’re maxed out on Insanity and die, a robust humanoid demon will spawn the following time you go to choose up your dropped level-up forex, which you’ll be able to solely reclaim by defeating it. It’s robust, however taking it down additionally brings extra rewards, comparable to weapon improve supplies.
Dodge brawl
Total, I discovered Insanity to be a deeply compelling system in Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, if one which takes a couple of hours to totally wrap your head round. It’s additionally complemented by the Skyborn Would possibly system, which I assumed was equally cool.
Skyborn Would possibly is, primarily, a useful resource you’ll be able to accrue and spend on a moment-to-moment foundation that enhances the ability of your weapon’s distinctive abilities and charged R2/RT assaults. You receive it by performing a ‘shimmer’, which is only a fancy time period for dodging by means of an enemy assault on the final potential second.
Collectively, shimmering and utilizing Skyborn Would possibly-powered talents kind the spine of Wuchang’s fight system and are essential to success. If Lies of P is the parrying soulslike, then Wuchang is actually its dodging counterpart. This notion is additional pushed house whenever you notice that not all weapons have a block operate by default. And even ones which are capable of block don’t negate all types of harm.
Right here’s an instance; I discovered a two-handed axe that produced a parry-like deflect as one among its weapon abilities, inflicting the enemy to momentarily stagger. I later found that this solely labored towards enemies who wielded man-made weapons. A demonic boss later within the demo attacked utilizing its claws, which fully bypassed any makes an attempt to deflect them. Because of this, cautious dodging and use of Skyborn Would possibly talents have been the way in which to go.
What this implies, in essence, is that you simply’ll in all probability need to have two completely different weapon varieties geared up always. There’s no weight restrict in Wuchang, both, that means you’re free to construct your personal playstyle with out restrictions. Weapons all home their very own Skyborn Would possibly abilities, and extra will be unlocked by way of the sport’s monumental talent tree.
Stated talent tree can also be the place you’ll enhance each single side of your character. And I do imply the whole lot. From rising particular person stats like well being and energy, to therapeutic flask prices, new weapon abilities and upgrades, and Insanity talents, it’s all completed inside this talent tree accessible from Shrine relaxation factors.
I’m in two minds about this. On one hand, it does really feel fairly restrictive, as guaranteeing weapons extra highly effective, for instance, is tied to their very own branches of the talent tree. Which means you’ll be able to sometimes really feel such as you’re being shoehorned into a specific kind of construct. Then again, it does make you rigorously think about the place you need to place your factors.
And moreover, you’ll be able to totally respec at any time with out value, so that you’re undoubtedly capable of experiment on the fly to see which weapons and stat spreads work greatest for you. I’ll say that on this case, a talent tree ‘loadout’ operate can be very welcome, as I can undoubtedly see myself shifting abilities round steadily to greatest swimsuit a specific space or boss encounter.
A optimistic begin
My ideas to this point after 4 hours with Wuchang: Fallen Feathers have me believing it’s a really competent soulslike, and one which’s fairly deeply difficult. Even in these opening few hours, I misplaced rely of the variety of occasions I perished, although numerous that was all the way down to exploring harmful aspect paths, attending to grips with the Insanity system, and encountering some fairly lethal boss fights.
One fought with a flaming spear and set parts of the world alight, whereas one other was a towering demon that liked to quickly throw its weight round, resulting in devastating harm. Each have been vastly completely different encounters and had me enormously trying ahead to the sorts of monstrosities the complete recreation may need to supply.
Whereas the sport’s preliminary linearity did put me off a bit, it does quickly divulge heart’s contents to have extra intricate degree design. After you attain that second principal hub, there are tons to discover within the degree surrounding it, and I felt like I’d solely actually scratched the floor of what was on the market.
I’m actually trying ahead to enjoying and reviewing the complete recreation when it releases on July 24, 2025, for PS5, Xbox Sequence X|S, and PC.
