To an extent, all types of action games are a fight between your stubbornness to continue and the seemingly insurmountable challenge in front of you. Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty simply makes that sensation–your inherent determination to keep going–into its core mechanic using an in-game system to tie its challenge to your character’s morale. It’s an interesting idea, though I do worry it might lead to frustration much later into the game when the challenge of encounters likely increases.
Developer Team Ninja’s upcoming action-RPG sees you play as a nameless soldier battling their way through a fantastical interpretation of the Three Kingdoms period, reimagining one of the bloodiest eras in China’s history with the likes of demons and divine beasts. At the start of the game, you customize your character’s appearance and decide what combat style they use. I almost went with Fire–which sees you armed with a large sword and is designed for going all-out on offense–but couldn’t pass up on Water. Armed with twin shortswords and geared toward stealth? Yes, please.
Your style of combat will determine which spirit attacks you’ll have access to, as well. Going with Water grants you spirit attacks that help you surprise enemies by, for instance, creating icicles that launch at an unsuspecting foe or going invisible and making it harder for enemies to notice you. Using spirit attacks depletes your spirit gauge, which can be filled by attacking enemies at close range, encouraging you to always get up in the grill of whatever you’re fighting. Fights are intense and regularly over quite quickly–with no shield to speak of, your best chance of success is dodging or deflecting an enemy’s strikes and then overwhelming them with melee and spirit attacks until they’re stunned.