Will a non-Dark Souls game ever come out to dethrone this series? Technically, Elden Ring broke new ground but that is still part of the FromSoftware family. Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty isn't the first Soulslike experience to attempt a rebellion in the genre, nor will it be the last.
How did it do? Well, so far, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty has received many good scores across its plethora of platforms on Metacritic. Part of the praise may belong to how accessible it feels for a Soulslike. This is because it does a lot of things differently when compared to other Soulslikes.
8 Your Created Character
Most Soulslike games have players choose some sort of class or loadout before they can begin. Players in the game can customize their character’s looks, but that is it. Every character will start at zero as far as levels go and they will all start with the same gear.
Genuine Qi is the experience currency in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty and players can infuse it into one of five different Virtues: Fire, Water, Earth, Wood, and Metal. These things are not a dramatic departure from others in the genre, but they are worth noting.
7 Multiplayer And AI Partners
The biggest difference between Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty and other Soulslike experiences is that players can recruit AI partners. They will begin with the Blindfolded Boy, but he isn’t so much a partner as he is a guide. The first true party member will be Zhao Yun in the first non-tutorial level.
Players can have two party members with them at all times and they do make life a little easier as they can distract enemies like bosses. Players can also go into a menu to ask for other players to join them in a co-op session or they can look for matches others have posted on different levels.
6 A Speedy Counter
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is the type of action game that favors speed and countering over pure muscle and defense. The player's character, overall, is quick on their feet like a ninja. They can easily jump up buildings and cliffs as if this were a ninja-based game.
The closest Soulslike that comes close to this is Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. However, the created character in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is even more nimble than the titular Sekiro, and countering is a skill that is easier to master early on.
5 The Currencies
There are two types of currencies in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty which is different than a lot of RPGs with currencies in this genre. There is the aforementioned Genuine Qi which is how players will level up. Then there is actual money that players can gain from enemies, or by selling equipment.
Most Soulslikes use the experience equivalent for both leveling up features and store features. It’s nice that this game separates the two and also makes it so easy to get money. The only setback is that money can sometimes feel useless as players will probably get way more than they need in their playthrough. It’s better to have more than none at all though.
4 It Is Level Based
Players are not going to traverse through a huge open world like Elden Ring, or even an interconnected Metroidvania-like world akin to Bloodborne. Every map in the game is instead its separate little mini-diorama filled with plenty of secrets.
Each map, in the level layout, will even tell players how their completion on each stage is going. This makes Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty a more linear experience which may not be what Soulslike fans are looking for. To alleviate fear, no level ever feels too straightforward and cramped.
3 The Story And Theater
Strangely enough, the story is an important part of the game. Players will begin as a nameless soldier who is swept into the great Yellow Turban Rebellion that happened in China thousands of years ago. There are mystical aspects to this story too, involving a magical Elixir that can power up those who wield it.
Of course, there is magic and monsters too as this is an action RPG. There is even a theater mode in the extras wherein players can relive their favorite scenes which are quite unlike others in the Soulslike genre.
2 Your Morale
By increasing their Virtues, the character will level up traditionally in an RPG. A character can have an overall level of 15, for example. There is also a mechanic called Morale that starts at 0 and maxes out at 25. The player-created character and all enemies in the game will have this Morale.
If players have a 7 Morale ranking and an enemy has a 9, it’s going to be tougher to damage them. The higher ranking players have above their opponent, the more damage they will do. Both player and enemy defenses will also be determined by Morale.
1 What Happens When You Die?
Players may be curious about how death works in the game. When players fall, they will lose their Morale ranking and half of their Genuine Qi. This is not bad considering other Soulslikes tend to steal all of the experience from players. At least Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is more lenient in this regard.
If players defeat the enemy that killed them, they can get all of their Genuine Qi back along with some of their Morale. This is trickier with bosses since players will probably die on them a lot and not every piece of Genuine Qi can be regained from them.
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty was released on March 3, 2023, and is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.