Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty

"Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty" is a Soulslike action game developed by Koei Tecmo's Team NINJA, set in the Three Kingdoms era. As a title attempting to establish its place in the Soulslike market, it has its highlights but also obvious shortcomings. Level design is one of the game's strengths. I personally think it's quite thoughtful, and it's one of the few Soulslike games that allows jumping, adding considerable verticality. Some maps can be stunning on first sight. Moreover, there's no noticeable quality drop in later maps due to rushed development - the average performance is very stable. Technical performance has numerous issues. The PC version's audio easily stutters due to driver problems, windowed borderless settings don't persist and need to be reset each time, and crashes occur during "Thousand Miles Alone" mode. As for the optimization problems many players reported early on, including newer graphics cards performing worse, these all stem from poor hardware compatibility. There are low-probability crashes and slightly long loading times. The physics engine is ancient - you can push NPCs while walking. Visual presentation is generally dated. Model quality and texture work are somewhat behind contemporary titles, and some scenes have lighting transition issues. PC default key bindings are poor, and you need to manually set keyboard and mouse controls to see corresponding prompts. Guidance is lacking - even finding your way in the starting village is difficult. Regarding the story, following the historical context, there's not much to say about Koei's Three Kingdoms games - a straightforward final boss, with main plot logic basically being combat for combat's sake. Though it has an independent protagonist, they feel like a person who suddenly traveled to the Three Kingdoms era without proper character development - a recurring issue before "Origins." The "Crouching Dragon" truly "crouched" through the entire game... unless there's a sequel, the title is quite off-topic. The DLC quality is decent, but some parts weren't fully translated. The Chinese translation includes many famous memes, such as "I can talk too, I can be patriotic too!" There are quite a few interesting Easter eggs in the text, such as the success prompt for "avenging Pan Feng" after defeating Hua Xiong. Content-wise, aside from the core gameplay of repeating battlefields and iterating equipment, there's a lack of casual gameplay expanding on existing systems. For example, maxing out a general's bond level only grants an exclusive equipment set with no other content. However, the difficulty and duration of battlefields are well-balanced, making repetitive grinding less tedious - it's been a while since I played a game to its third playthrough. The DLC maps are somewhat mediocre, but the new generals and narratives are decent. DLC3 added a new system called "Stratagem," though it feels like it came out too late. Overall, "Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty" is a Soulslike game with decent playability, featuring thoughtful level design and well-paced battlefield rhythm, but it has obvious shortcomings in technical optimization, visual presentation, and story depth.