Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty elemental strengths and weaknesses chart
Master the rock-paper-scissors of the Five Phases: Wood, Fire, Earth, Water, and Metal
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Master the rock-paper-scissors of the Five Phases: Wood, Fire, Earth, Water, and Metal
Our Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty review finds the game treading familiar Koei Tecmo territory as, like the developer’s Dynasty Warriors series, it’s based on Luo Guanzhong’s Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Dynasty Warriors is a popular hack-and-slash/strategy hybrid in which players choose a general from one of three armies and use them to wipe out thousands of soldiers in epic battles for territory. Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is a darker, Soulslike interpretation of the same material. There’s more magic and more supernatural creatures lurking around, fewer campy moments, and significantly more taxing gameplay.
You take the role of an unknown soldier during the Yellow Turban rebellion, fleeing a burning village with a blind companion who’s just saved your life. This is the setup for a plot that blends a shady arcane conspiracy with the events of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Along the way in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, you meet and greet many notable characters from the Romance. If you’ve read the book – or played Dynasty Warriors or Total War: Three Kingdoms – you’ll know that Zhang Fei is a brash fellow, tempered by his brothers Liu Bei and Guan Yu. You’ll recognise the calculating and ruthless side of Cao Cao. The design of these characters and their weaponry is familiar from Koei Tecmo’s previous interpretation, but the supernatural elements of Wo Long give our allies a more foreboding outlook, as they know of a great evil that’s causing instability across Ancient China. It’s a nice new twist on a story that, while still unfamiliar to some, especially in the West, has been told and retold since the 14th century.
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A defiant wuxia epic characterized by rapid, brutal combat
It’s easy to label Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty as a Soulslike that’s basically Nioh and Sekiro mashed together. To some extent, that’s true. But I think Wo Long is Team Ninja having sanded off some – not all – of the edges from the overwhelmingly complex Nioh, to craft an action RPG with even crisper combat than its predecessor. And crucially, it’s more approachable as a result. Clever ranks and meters reward, whether risk-taking is your jam or you’re more of a careful type. It may still be a tricky venture filled with demonic, titanic cows that’ll want to pound your skull into the dirt, but this is Team Ninja’s most encouraging effort yet.
In most games, going into a fight underleveled means almost certain death. Wander into the lair of the Fire Giant in Elden Ring without adequate preparation, and you’ll meet your end before you can so much as raise your blade. Stride into Gehrman, the First Hunter’s arena without grinding out the whole game and eat a face-full of trick weapon. That’s not really the case in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty – a curious Souls-like experiment from Nioh and Ninja Gaiden developer Team Ninja. Here, your level does matter… but the game cares far more about your Morale.
Each level takes the form of a battlefield, and the paper-thin premise is that you’re reclaiming the field from whatever the enemy of the day is – Yellow Turban rebels, Lu Bu’s army, treacherous allies that have turned on you in the name of power. As such, you need to claim the territory back by planting flags, and each flag gives you and your troops Morale. The higher your Morale, the more damage you can do to your enemies, and the more likely you are to wear them down in a duel. Keeping track? Good, because we’re just getting started.
Every boss has Level 20 Morale when you first face them. Per level, you need to explore everything and everywhere and claim all the flags – both the bonfire-like ones that act as checkpoints, and smaller ones smugly hidden away in the most obscure parts of the map – in order to keep your Morale at Level 20 when you die. If you’ve missed one, you will need to go out into the level and kill things (without taking hits yourself) in order to get your morale rank back to a boss-ready level.
The first boss fight in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is right up there with the toughest first bosses in video game history. This opening battle pits you against Zhang Liang of the Yellow Turbans, as you clash in a kinetic two-phase fight to the death. It’s an intense skill check that challenges your prowess of Wo Long’s mechanics almost immediately. In many ways, it feels like a rite of passage for the rest of the game and a bold statement of intent from developer Team Ninja. I initially loved how it forced me to adapt to the demands of the game’s particular brand of Souls-like combat, yet the further I progressed, the more this feeling dissipated as I realized that this introductory struggle was little more than an unbalanced outlier, providing a much sterner test than the bosses following it.
For many, this sudden difficulty spike will be a barrier to entry, halting progress a mere 10 minutes into the game. It’s a shame Wo Long begins with such a sturdy roadblock, not least because this initial undertaking isn’t indicative of the rest of the game moving forward. In fact, outside of this first boss, Team Ninja has crafted one of the more approachable Souls-likes in what is a traditionally challenging genre.
I didn’t encounter another boss fight on par with Zhang Liang’s difficulty until roughly 15 hours into Wo Long’s campaign. Most of the bosses in between were a relative cakewalk, to the point where I was able to cut down each one on my first attempt–usually in under a minute. I still had fun dispatching every single one, but the ease with which I was able to do so makes them lose some of their luster and reinforces the notion that the first boss is at odds with the rest of the game. The battle with Zhang Liang sets up expectations that never come to fruition, particularly when other fights allow you to summon help from either AI or human teammates.
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is Team Ninja’s newest soulslike outing, bringing the company’s trademark challenge and flair to a tale based in ancient China. With winding levels filled to the brim with demons, punishing bosses who can snuff you out in just a hit or two, and an abundance of gear to grind for and upgrade, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty will certainly keep you busy for many, many hours. If you’d like to know just how long it’ll take you to make your way through, though, we’ve got the answer here.
Completing the campaign in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty will average around 25 hours. That being said, genre veterans with considerable knowledge of how these types of games play may be able to work through it a bit quicker, while those trying their hands at a soulslike for the first time could find that it takes them even longer.
Completionists, meanwhile, can expect to spend at least 5-10 additional hours beating any skipped side missions and wrapping up the extra requirements for obtaining all of the Trophies or Achievements in the game. This includes finding various types of collectibles, fully upgrading armor and weapons, engaging in some cooperative play, and doing a few miscellaneous tasks.
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is a challenging soulslike experience that is certain to last quite a few hours on an initial playthrough. With so much content to see throughout your first run through the campaign, you might think that’s all that is available to you–but there’s plenty more to delve into after besting the final boss. As with Team Ninja’s other games, there is a New Game Plus mode to experience once you’ve rolled the credits, and we’ll tell you what to expect below.
Once you beat the game by defeating the final boss, you unlock the ability to replay the game on the harder Rising Dragon difficulty. Parts 1-3 are available from the get-go on this new difficulty, meaning you can take on missions out of their original order if you find yourself stuck on something or simply don’t want to play a particular level. As you reach certain completion milestones, you gain access to more and more late-game missions that you can once again finish in whatever order you prefer.
Enemies will hit much harder on this new difficulty, so maxing out your 4-star gear and having a solid build will be of vital importance if you want to tackle the whole campaign again. Otherwise, not much changes besides the addition of 5-star gear, which can be periodically found in chests or dropped by enemies. Coming by this highest tier of gear won’t be common, so you may need to grind certain missions or bosses for chances at scoring specific pieces that would help your build.
Like most games in the genre, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is filled to the brim with items to find off the beaten path, though many of them don’t have immediately obvious uses. Such is the case with Golden Cicada Shells, which you’ll find in well-hidden spots throughout levels–that is, if you’re exploring thoroughly enough. But what do they do, and where do you take them? We’ve got you covered below.
After completing the first few main missions in the game, you’ll eventually find the quiet and majestic Hidden Village hub, where you’ll be able to respec your attributes, upgrade your weapons, and undertake some game-long missions. It’s in this Hidden Village that you’ll encounter the NPC desperately seeking Golden Cicada Shells.
You can take Golden Cicada Shells to the man high atop an extremely tall tower in the center of the village. From the spawn point, take the vine to the left of the battle flag, then head down the stairs and left across three more sets of vines to reach the tower. Use the vines wrapped around the tower to scale it, and at the very top will be a strange fellow who seems eager to get as many Golden Cicada Shells as you can bring him.