A Pheasant Experience
It very much feels like this is the year of the soulslike games as every time I seem to read about upcoming games or watch trailers for new games there will always be one coming out, this is alongside the already popular established Elder Ring series with its new game Nightreign and Lies of P which has just had a DLC update.
Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is the latest soulslike action rpg to come out and is a debut game by Leenzee and published by 505 Games. The game follows protagonist Bai Wuchang who wakes up suffering from Amnesia and whilst also suffering from a disease which is slowly gripping her and has already ravaged much of the region she resides in; the disease in question is a feathering stemming from her arm and whilst not completely immune to the disease it seems to be taking over her at a less alarming rate than other less fortunate and is both a blessing and a curse as she learns to wield it to her advantage while she navigates the ravaged world.
Waking up in front of a giant Buddha statue is where the story begins and you soon learn about the disease and set off through the plague-stricken land. As you learn the lay of the land the game teaches you the basics of combat. The games story while very surface level has character interactions and story segments in, there are npc’s you can interact with there also side quests which you can do as the game follows a non-linear progression throughout.
The world is connected and traversing the world you will come across shrines. These shrines act as safe havens where you can save and travel between other shrines, they are also used for upgrading your abilities, strength and overall level, eventually more mechanics become available later on which are accessible through these shrines. The game plays from a first person perspective and the world is visually impressive
Combat is very fluid and it does not take a lot to get used to it. It is quite common to think the game is relatively easy at first as you hit foes in one or two hits only to learn that enemies can bash through your attacks midway and break through your defences. Wuchang: Fallen Feathers insists that you learn its array of weapons for this reason and there are plenty of weapons that become available at your disposal. Short swords, Long swords Spears and Battle Axes are just a few of them and you might come to favour one over the other but the best thing is you can switch between two weapons mid combat and even mid combo meaning the options are endless. There is a talent tree that branches out into pretty much all of the weapons available and by using the Red Mercury that comes in the form of items and slaying enemies you can slowly strengthen these abilities as well as Bai Wuchang’s strength overall. Skyborn might is another mechanic that allows you to retaliate with powerful attacks by dodging enemy attacks at the last second, it also allows you to use Magic which also plays a major role in the world and these can quickly take out unsuspecting foes. Eventually you learn to transmogrify your gear which is also a nice touch as you get to dress Bai Wuchang up in an array of outfits throughout the game whilst retaining the physical strength of your best gear so now you can play the game however you want while looking the part (more games should have this mechanic).
The game is a soulslike at the very heart so a lot of similarities are apparent straight away but I honestly felt more substance here especially in levelling up, the use of its mechanics however are very much a scale needing to be balanced, as a woman slowly losing her mind and succumbing to the disease every action Bai does whether it is from killing enemies to being killed will raise her madness and once she does her eyes will glow red and she will take more damage but also deal a lot more also, so avoiding enemies and dying altogether seems like a no brainer but not possible in this world when everything in it sees you as a threat, even the small rivers that instantly cause you to fall at your knees (I mean I had to try). Falling in battle you will lose Red Mercury that you have accrued and will lay there until you get to that point again, fall again before reaching that point it will be gone. Being in her madness state Bai will lose less mercury should she fall in battle, being in this state she will also have to fight her inner demon at some point which is no pushover, fighting your inner demon is no easy feat especially as this usually spawns with other enemies however a nice touch is that this can be used in your favour as your inner demon will get into a fight with other enemies allowing you to either pincer attack or lie in wait until you can fight it alone.
The game features a plethora of Items which can be used from throwing knives and bombs and while the latter is used to take out a camp of enemies, the knives can be useful in some situations also but I usually save them for the Goldwings, these birds that perch around the world in high place and drop feathers when slain which can randomly increase your Maximum Health or Defence for a short period of time. Many other items act as restoratives or buffs or will outright give you Red Mercury, the strength increasing liquid that is required in spades to strengthen Bai.
The game does have some insane difficulty spikes which for me can make or break the game, I am one for overcoming an obstacle, Wuchang does have a habit of adding things with one shot mechanics placed in as a don’t do it again or you will die which I have done repeatedly. One of these was Zombie like creatures that sit and do not attempt to attack you as long as you leave them alone but putting other enemies with one shot mechanics that do attack in the same room meant that naturally they are going to take a few hits so they did therefore Bai had suffered being eaten alive a few times. There is also no way to pause the game so if you absolutely need to take a break then make sure it is near a shrine (I learned the hard way)
It was hard for me to find some negatives after some time with Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, the games story is very basic, the idea of a feather disease in humans is brilliant and original but the story overall feels very basic, the game also feels somewhat derivative of other soulslikes games but at least it brings in some of its own originality and for that I commend Leenzee.
Overall Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is a game that is very well polished and I have witnessed no bugs or glitches, only death by my own carelessness from rolling away from a fight on a high ledge or attempting to cross shallow rivers, for a first developer developed game I am impressed not only by the gameplay but on a technical and visual marvel also.
A PlayStation 5 code was provided by 505 Games. This This article is featured on OpenCritic
