4/5 ★ – DanteHR's review of Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty.

And here it is, a new ``IP'' delivered by ``Team Ninja'', one of the best studios when it comes to combat. Many of us waited for this game with hope that it will be a ``NIOH'' on steroids, but in the end, it appeared and it's not exactly what we all thought it was. ``Wo Long:Fallen Dynasty'' delivers an experience in a ``Fantasy'' world full of beasts and good and bad mythical creatures. The only bad things are the PC port and the visual effects. ``Wo Long Fallen Dynasty'' has a generic ``soulslike'' beginning, a few enemies thrown in here and there and a rather difficult first boss for new people trying this genre. The way the game is presented at the beginning is not the most interesting, it's true, the aesthetics of ancient China combined with a dark world is quite unique, especially in Soulslikes. The best part of the game is the combat, the mechanics of parrying absolutely anything is incredibly satisfying. Being a Soulslike, the combat in ``Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty'' has to be learned from head to tail, even to get past the first boss. The game is more towards ``Sekiro'' than the other souls, the Movement and Slashing is very similar. Having a huge variety of melee and ranged weapons, you can get them very easily just by defeating random enemies that you will meet along the way your in-game journey. ``Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty'' still has a new mechanic in combat, the ``Spirit Gauge'', again, very similar to the one in ``Sekiro''. A new idea in ``Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty'' is the ``Moral Rank'', the Moral Rank is a measure to determine how strong you are in the game. A high moral rank equals higher better stats because you will take less damage from your enemies. Furthermore, many sorcery spells can only be used after reaching a certain morale level. The game delivers a ton of powerful and interesting spells, each with a specific class. Wood spells, used for protection and bonuses for you and your allies. Fire spells, used for high damage to enemies. Earth spells, used for large bonuses to your protection and earth damage to enemies. metal spells, only used to deal damage to your enemies. Finally, water spells, used for movement, attack and stealth. We have reached that point where we are talking about the variety of enemies in the game. The variety of enemies is absolutely disappointing, in all the chapters of the game, in total, I could distinguish only 12 designs for enemies. A lot of similar attack patterns between enemies, but except for the variety of enemies, the Bosses are top notch. 31 challenging Bosses with unique attack patterns and visually pleasing. From a demon monkey to the great "LU BU", "Wo Long" really delivers us some exceptional Boss battles. In a game like this, you can't have them all. Although the game delivers insane combat and some exceptional Boss Battles, "Wo Long" is not really that visually pleasing. Certain effects are very good, but the textures and details of the environment are mediocre, the particle effects aren't too great either. However, the the worst part of the game is the pc port. "Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty" managed to deliver the worst optimized PC port in recent years. Compatibility with the mouse and keyboard were terrible, (DISCLAIMER: they released a patch solving the mouse delay and bad keyboard controls). The frequent stuttering can completely ruin your experience on this game. Let's hope that "Team Ninja" tries to solve this problem in the next patches. The sounds of the game are really quite good, the sound of the parry is soothing and the slashing sound of the bladed weapons is satisfying. The music from "Wo Long" reminds of "Kung Fu Panda", a very good orchestra and each boss having their own soundtrack, brings the music from "Wo Long" to a fairly high level. The dialogue is enough solid in Japanese as well as in English. Voice actors are very suitable for their roles, but sometimes the sounds they make out of their mouths can be questionable. The story of "Wo Long" is just an irrelevant part put into play so as not to be aimless. The original story follows an unnamed militia soldier who confronts a conspiracy which surrounds a powerful elixir with mysterious powers. Along the way, the soldier not only faces countless demons and monsters, but also famous warlords from history, including Liu Bei, Cao Cao and Sun Jian. The story seems attractive at the beginning, but after you advance in the game, you will get bored of the story in an instant and you will focus only on the combat. With amazingly good combat, equally good music and exceptional Boss Battles, the new IP of the "Team Ninja" studio delivers a decent soulslike if you're looking for a challenge. "Wo Long" it's the only game close to "Sekiro" in terms of combat and aesthetics. Except for the bad parts of the game mentioned above, if you are a fan of difficult games, "Wo Long:Fallen Dynasty" is a must play. 7.5/10 Made by DanteHR