184 AD, Later Han Dynasty China. War is on the horizon and with it chaos, destruction and death. The imperial dynasty is about to collapse, and China will follow it with war.

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is a dark fantasy set during the Three Kingdoms period of China. More specifically, it follows the beginning of that period with the Yellow Turban rebellion and leads to what would later be the formation of the Wu, Wei and Shu kingdoms. Wo Long is the next step in the action RPG genre from Team Ninja the developers behind the similarly alternate dark fantasy history series Nioh. Whilst both being about corruption and demons, the similarities end about there. Wo Long is far less focused on the flashy and weak point focused combat gameplay of Nioh but is rather based more around the Samurai style of fighting and takes on a far more Sekiro like combat system.

Wo Long is a fantastic step forward for Team Ninja. Nioh was slick and fast, but definitely had flaws laying under the surface with its combat. Demons and bosses that became walls of difficulty, with a corresponding brutal curve based on your chosen combat style. Wo Long takes a far more measured and skill-based approach to the action RPG genre. Doing away with the Ki system, Wo Long uses a positive and negative Spirit system. The more successful you are, the more you build your spirit and the better damage you can do to your opponents. The more you get hit, dodge or perform badly, the more your spirit gets damaged and you eventually get momentarily stunned. It is simple in theory and allows for a lot of room for mastering. The combat is seamless, flowing incredibly well and you’ll find yourself, deflecting, dodging and spirit attacking your way to success across the historical battlefield before you.

A minor gripe here, whilst most weapons and their varieties have unique movesets, martial arts and even different animations depending on the type of weapon with a particular weapon style. There is very little reason to ever change your weapon once you’ve settled upon it. Besides going up in rarity levels for more active abilities, the weapons scale better on upgrades than they do with different weapon types. Perhaps more so, because you choose a weapon style, rather than having an inherent upgrade system. This means that it detracts from the excitement of getting new weapons and armour. There is very rarely ever an actual upgrade acquired from getting loot. Whilst this definitely simplifies the overly complicated spirit weapons that come out in the Nioh end game, it also means that you are seldom going to ever change your weapon once you’ve picked it. Some may enjoy this, whereas loot goblins may find themselves let down.

Despite the inclusion of corrupted Qi and Elixir, which uses traditional Chinese Taoist beliefs as a basis, being used as an explanation for the emergence of demons. The demons that exist are all based in some level of a historical belief system. Wo Long takes a more focused and almost realistic approach to the narrative they are attempting to explain and lends itself to being a much rawer experience with a far more authentic feeling to it. The world design takes less creative liberties and puts you into areas that feel far more familiar and authentic to the worlds we’ve seen created in the Dynasty Warriors series, than Nioh did with its high fantasy aesthetic. Whilst it does mean that you will run into points where the scenery can feel a little plain, the overall theme of the game stands true and it truly immerses you into the world that it wants you to experience. This is the end of the height of an Imperial Dynasty. There is vying for power, destruction, burnt down capitals and a descent into an inevitable war by hands of fate far out of the control of the average person.

Wo Long does an incredibly good job of weaving the historical aspects of the story it is telling, alongside the narrative it wants to push. Wo Long refers to a crouching dragon, which also refers to a hero or a person of greatness who is not yet known. This applies across the entirety of the cast. The protagonist themselves is just a militia soldier, who by chance happened upon the man who could lead the antagonist to Immortality. Cao Cao and the Xiahou brothers, Liu Bei and his sworn brothers Zhang Fei and Guan Yu, and Sun Jian’s children Sun Ce and Sun Quan. These are all people who would become known as heroes, but in this instance are not yet any person of true greatness. Yu Ji or the Taoist in Black is attempting to find immortality. To do this, he needs the elixir field (which seems to be the system of Qi in a person) of a person blessed by dragons.

To achieve this however, many sacrifices are needed, thus the warring period. Manipulation by Yu Ji leads to the rise of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the Eunuchs, Dong Zhuo and eventually the corruption of faith of Yuan Shao. The best aspect of Wo Long, however, is it does not require you to have preceding knowledge of this part of history to understand it. The game provides a fairly in depth explanation of the real life historical connotations, alongside the story beats it is trying to create for you. Doing so in a way that seamlessly blends the real with the fantasy in an enjoyable way that keeps pushes the story forward. My only gripe here is the decision to go with a silent protagonist. In the modern day, a silent protagonist is almost inexcusable in the way that stories need to have themselves expressed. Whilst Wo Long does get away with it, being that other characters are so well spoken they can cover it, it is a point that I would address if future titles were considered.

Wo Long is not as inherently difficult, at least when compared to titles like Nioh and Dark Souls. In fact, Wo Long is probably the most approachable and accessible title in these slightly more difficult Action RPG titles. With a major focus on clean combat and gameplay over a more tepid play style, the game feels far less demanding of your time. There is a whole range of bosses, all with unique attack styles and movesets. Yet there is only two or three that are truly difficult. The first of these for most players will be Lu Bu, who is easily the most difficult boss in the game. If you can beat Lu Bu who is around the midpoint of the game, you’ll have no problem with every other boss. That isn’t to say they are easy, but the game is far more rewarding if you take your time to master the combat, which in turn makes every encounter much more approachable.

A simplified combat system also allows for a simplified levelling system. Most weapons will scale with 3 of the 5 elemental phases. You’ll level these phases to match your style of gameplay. If you like the magic aspect, you’ll find a weapon that scales with the corresponding elements and allows you to use more magic with less punishment to your spirit gauge. Alternatively, if you like banging your enemies heads in, you’ll increase your health and equipment weight skills, which in turn also reduce consumption and increase the gain of spirit with deflection and attacking. A five skill levelling system allows for specialisation in a way that feels good for you as a player, without punishing you too heavily for wanting to put a few points into something else to experiment with.

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is an action packed thirty plus hour experience, but if you want to experience it all and claim all the achievements, then you will get closer to forty to fifty hours, out of it. The best part is that all this comes without demanding ridiculous skill checks out of the player. Wo Long is an incredibly well-tuned and finely crafted game, with exceptionally clean and precise combat. A story that blends fantasy and history together perfectly, in a way that allows even people with no prior knowledge of this fascinating period of Chinese history. A tight, rewarding game that is accessible to players of all skill levels and gameplay styles, means this is one dynasty that will live on for quite a while.