Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is actually pretty good, nerds. There, I said it. And I’ll say it again if I have to. It’s not perfect, and it’s definitely not rewriting the rulebook, but for everyone crying into their keyboards because “ugh, it’s hard for the sake of being hard” welcome to the genre. That’s the point.
Seriously. If you’re complaining that a soulslike is hard, you’ve wandered into the wrong damn forest. Maybe check out Kirby’s Dream Buffet and leave the cursed swordplay to the rest of us.
So let’s get into it. Wuchang drops you into a disease-ridden hellscape at the end of the Ming Dynasty and immediately lets you know it’s not going to be your friend. You play as Bai Wuchang, who’s cursed, deadly, and entirely done with everyone’s shit. You’re dropped into this nightmare world full of corrupted villagers, rotting temples, and monsters that look like they crawled straight out of a fever dream and the game just goes, “Figure it out.”
And I love that.
The combat is the real heart here. It’s slick, weighty, and demanding in the best way. Perfect dodges and parries feel earned, not handed to you. The Skyborn system, where you build a gauge by playing aggressively and spending it on enhanced attacks, adds a nice layer of pressure.
Play like a coward and you’re screwed. Play like a badass and the game rewards you for it. It’s that simple.
Wuchang expects you to learn its rhythms, to adapt. The bosses hit hard, but they telegraph their moves. The trick is to stay calm, watch, and strike when the moment’s right. It’s not unfair. It’s just not here to hold your hand. And that’s exactly what a game like this should be doing.
Now, let’s talk about the world. Holy shit, the world is gorgeous in a rotting, soul-crushing kind of way. It’s soaked in Chinese mythology and history, but filtered through this dark, plague-ridden nightmare lens. Forests are haunted. Towns are cursed. You’re always stumbling into something weird, tragic, or straight-up terrifying. It’s the kind of place that tells stories through its ruins if you’re paying attention.
And then there’s the lore. Like any good soulslike, it’s scattered in item descriptions and cryptic dialogue, but it’s clearly crafted with love. The Feathers aren’t just some gimmick. They’re a symbol of corruption, power, and decay. You can cure afflicted NPCs or let them rot, and the world reacts. There’s a weight to your choices, even if the game doesn’t always scream it at you.
But alright, let’s not pretend this game doesn’t have flaws, because it definitely does.
Weapon variety, for one, is kind of a lie. On paper, you’ve got all these choices: greatswords, spears, axes, daggers, and more. Cool, right? In practice, the only weapons that really work are the longswords, and wouldn’t you know it, that’s what the game starts you with. They’re fast, efficient, and they synergize perfectly with every damn system in the game. Everything else feels clunky or underpowered in comparison. You can try other weapons if you want, but it’s basically hard mode with none of the payoff.
That’s just bad balance, plain and simple. It sucks when a game gives you options and then punishes you for not sticking with the obvious choice. Fix it, devs.
There are also some performance issues, mostly on PC. Frame drops, stuttering, and the occasional visual bug pull you out of the experience. It’s not Cyberpunk-level broken, but it’s noticeable, especially during big fights or busy environments. I had a couple moments where a boss fight felt like it was happening underwater, and not in a fun “atmospheric design” kind of way. Just janky as hell.
Still, for all that, Wuchang is doing something a lot of games are too scared to do right now. It’s trying. It’s pushing. It’s actually got fucking teeth. And when it sinks them in, it doesn’t let go.
You want a clean, polished action RPG where the enemies politely take turns attacking you and the story is spoon-fed like baby food? This isn’t it. But if you want a game that challenges you, that respects your time by not wasting it on exposition dumps and glorified tutorials, then Wuchang has something real to offer.
It’s rough around the edges, but there’s soul here. There’s craft. And there’s a kind of fearless ambition that I haven’t seen in a while. It’s the kind of game that knows exactly what it wants to be, even if it stumbles a bit getting there. I’ll take that over another safe, corporate-approved AAA game any day of the week.
Also, and this matters — the boss designs are sick. The monster design overall is just fantastic. From corrupted monks to blood-drenched beasts and insectoid horrors, every major fight feels like a proper showdown. Some of them took me hours to beat. I swore. I died. I walked away. And then I came back and stomped them into the dirt. That’s the fucking loop. That’s what I signed up for.
If you liked Lies of P, this might hit even harder. Wuchang is rougher, sure, and it doesn’t have that same polish.
So yeah, it’s pretty bloody good.
Ignore the whiners. If you’ve ever played a soulslike, you already know the deal. It’s hard, it’s punishing, and it’s worth it. If that’s not your thing, cool. Go play something else. But don’t sit there and act like the game’s broken just because it kicked your ass a little. That’s the point.
Pick up your longsword, shut the fuck up, and get to work.
Wuchang deserves better than the dismissive takes it’s getting right now, because underneath the roughness is one of the most satisfying action RPGs I’ve played all year.
And yeah, nerds… it’s actually pretty fucking good.
