Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is, at best, a serviceable Souls-like. Wo Long instead chooses to drown itself out in a sea of needless information that leaves no room for its characters, of which there are far too many, likely to pad out the NPC co-op roster. Something so few Souls-likes understand is that the appeal of FromSoftware games is the mystified unreliable narrator and cast of characters defined by their bizarre personalities. A huge part of that is because the majority of dialogue is exposition, and each level ends with animated cutscenes that throw an endless barrage of lore at you. I don’t remember a single name, but I remember each bog-standard archetype that not once subverted expectations. You come across valiant knights and damsels in distress, as well as distant fathers and backstabbing friends. At least there I can find multiple ways to progress.What adventure left isn’t worth much, anyway. If it were a single phase I could understand it. Also the deflect window is inconsistent and the hit boxes for the first boss are obscene, making any dodging impossible. I was able to get to the second phase multiple times but the pace of the deflects changes drastically. The only reason why it is not receiving a 1 from me is that it was made available on Game Pass so at least all I was out was time and space on my SSD. But to have two phases that rely on reflexes ONLY is a really, really poor game design choice. If it was just defeating a single phase boss, fine. If you cannot get the deflect down you can not progress out of the tutorial.

The entire game is gatekept by a single, reflex related ability - deflect.

If you cannot get the deflect down Incredibly poor game design.

Wo long: fallen dynasty metacritic