Games based on ancient history have become an absolute staple in the gaming industry. The titles we usually get tend to revolve around a few select eras, heavily focusing on European history blended with fictional events. We get the Roman Empire, the Vikings, Ancient Greece, and the brutal dark ages of the medieval period. Occasionally, we wander off to feudal Japan to experience the era of the samurai. But alongside these highly popular settings, there is one that isn’t explored nearly as often, despite being one of the most fascinating periods in human civilization: Chinese history. Here at Vrkutak, we’ve witnessed an expansion of stories drawing from Chinese history over the past few years, but I still don’t think it’s enough. However, with the games announced this year and last, it seems more players worldwide will finally get to experience the fantastic tales of this rich history and mythology.
The Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a Chinese historical novel written over six centuries ago by Luo Guanzhong. Spanning 120 chapters, the novel chronicles the most turbulent era in Chinese history, the struggle between three kingdoms and their warlords for the imperial throne. The ruling Han dynasty was drawing its last breath, while various factions fought to seize power, sparking a massive, century-long war that raged from 184 AD to 280 AD.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms is one of the most celebrated literary works in Asia, often placed side-by-side with Shakespeare’s works in English literature. Over the past two decades, we’ve seen games partially tackle this subject, but none have managed to universally captivate both Eastern and Western audiences simultaneously. The Dynasty Warriors series by Koei Tecmo, defining the famous Musou genre where you play as a single warrior mowing down hundreds of enemies in classic hack-and-slash fashion, failed to fully win over the broader Western mainstream, despite its massive popularity in Asia. A few years ago, SEGA delivered Total War: Three Kingdoms, a title that brought us closer to this dark period in a much more informative way, but naturally, the Total War franchise caters to a specific strategic niche and simply isn’t for everyone.
Essence and Purity Against Everyday Demons
In late 2021, Koei Tecmo and Team Ninja announced a new game: Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty. Heavily drawing from the Souls/Sekiro formula, the title aimed to do exactly what many prior games couldn’t: bring ancient Chinese culture and mythology to the masses through a subgenre that is incredibly popular today, pioneered by FromSoftware and Demon’s Souls. As is tradition whenever a new Souls-like is announced, players were skeptical. Following FromSoftware’s massive success, everyone tries to copy them, but very few succeed. On the flip side, that exact audience is always hungry for more Souls-likes, constantly seeking games that demand dexterity, focus, and 100% of their attention while delivering a brutal challenge.
Koei Tecmo and Team Ninja had previously collaborated on the Nioh franchise, which spanned two excellent games. Nioh is set in feudal Japan and successfully showcases the era’s lifestyle, samurai combat, and Japanese mythology. While Nioh was undeniably a Souls clone, it introduced enough fresh mechanics to carve out its own identity and dedicated fanbase. Recognizing this success, Team Ninja decided to take a swing at another FromSoftware masterpiece, Sekiro, delivering their own interpretation filled with original ideas, set during the Three Kingdoms era and packed with Chinese mythological beasts. This was the perfect opportunity to use a stellar action game to push fascinating Chinese history and mythology even closer to Western audiences.
In 2023, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty launched on PC, Xbox Series, and PS5. Now, exactly three and a half years after its original release, we finally have the Nintendo Switch 2 version. And it’s not just the base game; it includes all the DLC expansions released in the interim. This review will focus specifically on the Switch 2 Complete Edition, but knowing many players missed the original release entirely, we will dive deep into exactly what this game brings to the table.
A Massive Story Upgraded by DLCs
The events in Wo Long kick off in 184 AD. You take on the role of a nameless militia soldier fighting alongside the rebels, simply trying to survive, find your place in this massive war, and help the “good guys” seize power. However, the Three Kingdoms aren’t just consumed by a human war; demons have emerged, drawing their power from corrupted Qi.
In Chinese culture, Qi represents life energy, vitality, and the spiritual purity of a living being. Everyone possesses it, but those who fall under demonic influence mutate into grotesque monsters, regardless of whether they are humans or animals. Our nameless hero will fight not only against the might of corrupted warlords but also against those who have discovered how to harness demonic Qi to unleash even greater chaos across the Three Kingdoms.
As for the additional content, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty Complete Edition includes three massive DLC packs that expand the narrative, introduce new weapon types and enemies, and offer brutal new challenges for those who have already conquered the base game. Each pack follows a different phase of the Three Kingdoms conflict. While they aren’t ground-up overhauls of the core formula, together they provide more than enough material to keep you in this world for a very long time.
The first DLC, Battle of Zhongyuan, puts Cao Cao and his forces in the spotlight as they fight for supremacy over the Zhongyuan region following the collapse of the anti-Dong Zhuo coalition. The story naturally weaves into the historical conflicts defining this turbulent era, giving you more opportunities to familiarize yourself with key historical figures. Still, the narrative isn’t the primary reason you’ll replay this DLC. As with the base game, the story merely frames a series of new battles and encounters with increasingly lethal foes, while the combat system remains the undisputed star. This pack introduces higher difficulty tiers, giving veterans a reason to revisit old haunts and test their mastery of the mechanics. It expands rather than reinvents the experience, making it a solid, if slightly modest, start to the season pass.
The second pack, Conqueror of Jiangdong, follows the Sun family after the death of Sun Jian, as Sun Ce and his forces march to conquer the Jiangdong territories. This introduces new locations, enemies, and famous historical figures like Gan Ning and Taishi Ci. The biggest gameplay addition is the Long Sword, a weapon that drastically shifts the combat feel and heavily rewards precise attack timing. Alongside new gear, a Divine Beast, and extra demons, the true value of this DLC lies in the Thousand-Mile Journey endgame mode. Here, you select a route and battle through a gauntlet of challenges to earn exclusive rewards. It’s a massive addition for min-maxers who love optimizing their builds, even if it can eventually feel repetitive. Compared to the first DLC, Conqueror of Jiangdong feels much more substantial.
The final expansion, Upheaval in Jingxiang, tracks Liu Bei’s forces battling an Elixir threat that consumes Jing Province following Yu Ji’s death. The story dives back into the dark, supernatural elements that define the game’s world, bringing fresh demons and foes into the fold. You’ll reunite with familiar faces like Guan Ping and Lady Mi. The standout addition here is the Whip weapon category, arguably the most fun and experimental weapon in the entire package. Its range and attack patterns demand a completely different combat approach. This DLC also introduces the Stratagem system, allowing you to trigger powerful effects mid-combat when specific conditions are met. Packed with new difficulty levels and endgame expansions, it serves as a highly satisfying conclusion to the game’s post-launch support.
Redefining the Souls Formula
As I mentioned, many games try to replicate FromSoftware’s success, but very few succeed because they rarely dare to redefine the systems FromSoftware invented. They usually rely on identical mechanics, hoping players will simply enjoy a clone from a different studio. We all want these games to have enough originality to stand apart from their inspirations, and Wo Long does exactly that! It takes established systems and aggressively adapts them to fit its own interpretation of the subgenre. While its closest relative is the Souls series, after spending over 100 hours with it, I’d argue Team Ninja actively tried to replicate and evolve the mechanics of Sekiro, both in execution and the sheer “feel” of the combat.
After booting up the game and spending a mandatory half-hour in the ultra-detailed character creator, you drop into the dark, beautiful, and unique world of Wo Long. You start in a small Chinese village under attack by the Yellow Turbans. The first few levels act as an extended tutorial, teaching you the core mechanics and setting expectations. Needless to say, the enemies will immediately remind you just how brutal this game can be, which is exactly the point. The very first thing you will notice is the incredible fluidity and speed of the protagonist. Wo Long is rooted in ancient Chinese martial arts, characterized by mobility, agility, and lethal precision. Chinese martial arts often look like a deadly dance between two combatants until one’s footing or skill gives out. The game perfectly translates this feeling, demanding you put in the hours to master the rhythm.
One helpful narrative and gameplay tool is that you will almost always have a historical warrior fighting by your side during missions. You can dismiss them using an item called the Willow Branch, but for your first playthrough, it’s highly recommended to keep them around. They draw enemy aggro while you adapt to the game’s blistering pace, and they provide constant lore dumps about this beautiful, mystery-filled world.
The Dance of Death
There are a few critical mechanics you must learn immediately. You have a basic attack, a heavy “Spirit” attack, and Martial Arts attacks. Additionally, you have a dedicated block button and a separate deflect button. Your character boasts a double jump, a dodge roll, and a flashy evasive sidestep. Over time, you unlock ancient Chinese Wizardry spells bound to the right trigger, and you can summon massive Divine Beasts to completely turn the tide of a battle.
Why is it so important to mention all this? Because the game demands absolute mechanical mastery; micro-management is the razor-thin line between victory and defeat. Every action has a reaction and a consequence. In most Souls-likes, you manage a standard stamina bar. Here, you manage the Spirit Gauge. It swings in two directions: positive and negative. Heavy attacks, blocking, and dodging push your Spirit into the negative. Landing basic attacks and executing perfect deflects drain your negative Spirit and build it into the positive.
This is the central pillar of the game, the mechanic that will save your life countless times. The basics matter! Early on, you might think, “Hey, I can just hold block and beat everyone.” That might work against the initial fodder designed to ease you into the game. But as you progress, you’ll quickly realize that relying solely on blocking will get your posture broken and get you killed. You must utilize every tool at your disposal. This initial familiarity is a trap; players will fool themselves into thinking they can play this exactly like Dark Souls or even Sekiro. You will learn exactly why that’s a mistake on the very first boss.
Every enemy has a Critical Blow, a devastating, unblockable attack telegraphed by a glowing red aura. You cannot block these; you must either deflect or completely evade them. Deflecting is paramount. Not only does it build your positive Spirit, but it shatters the enemy’s Spirit Gauge, allowing you to defeat them much faster. Enemies operate on the exact same Spirit system as you. Landing Spirit attacks, Martial Arts, and perfect deflects shrinks their maximum Spirit Gauge limit. Once you completely fill their negative gauge, you break their posture and can execute a Fatal Strike. This deals massive damage to bosses and instantly kills weaker foes.
This all boils down to the “dance” I mentioned earlier. Every opponent has a moveset pattern. It’s up to you to learn those patterns and exploit them. The gameplay isn’t strictly “fast” or “slow”, it’s a dynamic combination dictated by the moment. In every boss fight, you have to be highly adaptable, knowing exactly when to press the attack and when to back off. I have to admit, for the most part, the game heavily rewards aggression, much like Sekiro, but it demands calculated aggression. Standard enemies telegraph their attacks early, making them easy to read, deflect, and counter. Bosses are an entirely different story. No matter how well you learn a pattern, they can suddenly throw out an unexpected, wildly erratic move that completely shatters your rhythm. If you are too hyper-aggressive, you’ll be locked into an attack animation, unable to deflect, which usually results in a quick trip back to the spawn point.
Unlike many games in this genre where bosses have multiple distinct phases, a “Phase 2” practically doesn’t exist here (save for a rare few). But that doesn’t mean they are easier. If you play too passively, the boss will slowly recover their broken Spirit Gauge through basic attacks. If you just stand there waiting to deflect their Critical Blow without maintaining offensive pressure, the fight will drag on for an eternity.
I mentioned the AI companions earlier. While they make the early game easier, they become an active hindrance later on, especially in boss fights. The boss’s aggression, which needs to be focused squarely on you so you can deflect their strikes, frequently gets redirected toward your companion. This completely ruins your rhythm and leads to disastrously unpredictable outcomes. I firmly believe most players will eventually opt to play completely solo.
Progression, Morale, and Build Variety
Leveling up works similarly to standard Souls games: you collect genuine Qi from defeated enemies and spend it at checkpoints to upgrade your stats. However, Wo Long uses the Five Phases (Virtues): Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. Upgrading these Virtues fundamentally defines your build:
- Fire boosts your offensive capabilities and Martial Arts.
- Water favors stealth and ranged combat.
- Wood heavily boosts your HP and support spells.
- Earth increases your equipment load and the Spirit you gain from deflecting.
- Metal dictates your mastery over Wizardry spells and negative status effects.
These stats also directly scale with the weapons you wield. Weapons come with inherent stats, base damage, and specific Martial Arts skills. They also roll with passive bonuses that you can eventually swap out and customize at the blacksmith using scavenged materials. You can upgrade every piece of gear to +9. There are also powerful set bonuses that drastically alter your playstyle if you equip matching armor and weapons.
Crucially, the gear you wear directly impacts your combat mobility. You have Agility ranks ranging from A to D. Higher agility enables flashier, faster dodges and cheaper deflects, but it requires your total equipment weight to stay under a strict percentage of your maximum capacity. If you exceed 100% equip load, your character can barely move, let alone block or deflect on time, making loadout management essential.
Verticality and the Morale Rank System
Previous Team Ninja games were incredibly flat, rarely utilizing vertical space. Wo Long changes that entirely, offering multi-layered maps you can explore vertically. Every map is semi-linear, featuring unlockable shortcuts that loop back to earlier areas. Verticality isn’t just for exploration; it opens up lethal stealth opportunities, allowing you to drop down for an instant Fatal Strike on an unsuspecting patrol.
The second massive innovation is the Morale Rank system. Throughout the levels, you must locate and capture two types of flags. Battle Flags act as your standard Souls bonfires (healing you, leveling you up, and respawning enemies). Marking Flags are smaller, hidden checkpoints. Capturing these flags raises your Fortitude Rank, which acts as a baseline for your Morale. Every enemy in the game has a Morale Rank hovering above their head (ranging from 1 to 20). Killing enemies raises your Morale, and capturing flags ensures it can never drop below a certain threshold when you die. If you capture every flag on a map, your minimum Fortitude will be 20. Bosses and elite enemies almost always sit at max Morale.
This system is brilliant because it dictates your raw power and defense. If you fight an enemy with a higher Morale Rank than yours, their attacks will absolutely melt your health bar. If your Morale is higher, you become the powerhouse. This mechanic actively forces players to explore the meticulously crafted levels instead of just sprinting straight to the boss door. If you enter a boss arena with a single-digit Morale Rank, the boss will have a mathematically insurmountable advantage.
How the Switch 2 Handles the Game
Perhaps the most important question regarding this specific version is how it actually runs and looks. It’s common knowledge that Team Ninja’s proprietary engine isn’t exactly the most optimized in the industry, largely because it still carries technical baggage dating back to the original Xbox. The great news is that the Switch 2 version features a 60fps mode, but only in Docked mode when connected to a TV. If you want to play in Handheld mode, you are locked to 30 frames per second. However, thanks to the smaller screen, the game looks significantly cleaner and crisper in Handheld mode.
The main issue with Docked play is that the image can look incredibly blurry in certain scenarios, even though it maintains its 60fps target relatively well. Sure, there are occasional frame-pacing hiccups, but nothing game-breaking that will ruin your experience. Still, I honestly don’t understand why Team Ninja didn’t utilize any upscaling methods here. The console supports DLSS upscaling, and I firmly believe the image quality would have been vastly superior had they implemented it. But even with the blurriness, the game remains ridiculously fun, which is ultimately the most important factor, alongside the fact that Switch 2 owners who missed out on this masterpiece can finally experience it.
We would like to thank Koei Tecmo for providing us with a copy of the game for review purposes.
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty Complete Edition (Nintendo Swtich 2)
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty introduces so many innovations to the popular Souls-like formula that it practically carves out its own distinct niche. Its similarities to Sekiro are undeniable, yet it provides an entirely different kind of satisfaction once you dig into its systems. The combination of its blistering combat, deep build crafting, and morale mechanics creates flawless, unforgettable combat scenarios that deliver an indescribable high upon completion. Very few games manage to fuse highly complex mechanics into something as permanently fun as Wo Long. After dumping another 100 hours into this Complete Edition, not an hour goes by where I don't feel the itch to jump back in, just for one more mission, just for one more hit of that adrenaline. Wo Long is mandatory playing for action RPG fans, and the inclusion of AI companions ensures that even genre newcomers have a fighting chance to see it through to the end. Now, go test your mettle on the Rising Dragon difficulty, now on-the-go!
