Wuchang: Fallen Feathers Reviews

The Soulslike subgenre is becoming oversaturated, so it’s difficult for new takes to stand out. Wuchang: Fallen Feathers doesn’t reach the upper echelon of its stronger contemporaries, but it is a generally well-executed checklist of genre tropes with inventive ideas for combat customization and a unique form of dynamic difficulty scaling.

Thanks to its stunning visuals, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers certainly makes a good first impression. Its gameplay is what will keep you hooked in the long-run, though, even if it is perhaps a little too derivative of the early Souls games by FromSoftware. Still, being able to freely respec your character here is a fantastic touch, allowing you to experiment if a boss is proving to be a tough cookie to crack.

This dark fantasy reimagining of the late Ming Dynasty doesn’t succeed at every trick it copies in the crowded hardcore action RPG genre, but it’s got enough tricks of its own to set it apart and represents another Chinese studio looking to go large with Western audiences.

A wearingly competent Soulslike that seems to have no interest in inventing anything of its own and which is nowhere near as refined as FromSoftware’s best games.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers feels like a fresh take, forgoing staples like overencumbrance and a reliance on parrying for faster, more aggressive action and stunning set pieces.

Developer Lenzees' unique take on the Soulsborne genre has a lot to like, assuming you can overlook several technical and design missteps.

Chengdu-based developer Leenzee's debut game possesses an impressive world that's dazzling to behold and features solid gameplay systems, yet the state of its PC version on a technical level holds it back from greatness.

A Soulslike that understands the assignment

If you’re hoping for something that shatters expectations or tells a deeply personal story, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers doesn’t quite soar—it just glides comfortably in familiar skies.

A grim journey that finds its wings in the endgame.

Wuchang is an ambitious Soulslike, which helps it stand out in what's one of the newest and most popular subgenres around. What keeps it from being great is that all these new systems are a chore to actually understand and use. I'm sure that if players perfectly grasp a balance of the systems, they could make a character with some amazing capabilities, yet it's hard to reach that sweet spot playing through the game.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers exceeds all expectations as this year's GOTY-level soulslike. Leenzee finds new remedies for the chronic pains endemic in the genre, and its semi-open world is enriched by Chinese culture and masterful level design. However, framerate drops and familiar UE5 optimization problems can't be ignored.

It can be hard to stand out as a soulslike action RPG in this day and age. We’ve had underwater soulslikes, we’ve had soulslikes based on classic Italian literature, and we’ve had steampunk soulslikes set in revolutionary France. Wuchang: Fallen Feathers makes a decent enough impression in a crowded market with its strong Chinese cultural identity and some neat gameplay flairs that do just enough to allow it to stand out, despite having some areas for improvement.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is a sprawling game for better and for worse. It has a lot to like: story, art design, and environment-wise. But it comes with a lot of combat caveats and an upgrade and progression system that just doesn’t know when to stop expanding and complicating things.

There's also no shortage of risk-reward elements, and leaning into specific offensive capabilities tends to come with interesting costs. A frequent build-up of Madness makes you take more damage from enemy attacks, but it also opens up plenty of opportunities in your skill tree, giving you a greater chance to control the pace of an encounter. While I largely built my strategy around getting health back from attacks, those braver than I can build up synergies that focus on poisoning bosses or breaking their posture as quickly as possible.

WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers polishes the souls-like formula that encourages experimentation and lets every player shine. The learning curve is steeper than usual and the story still suffers in the beginning. Fans of the souls-like genre shouldn’t ignore this game as it is impressive on many fronts.

The Soulslike genre of games has been a staple of modern gaming for well over a decade by this point. Chinese developer Leenzee has produced their own take at this popular (and merciless) genre.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is the best soulslike game since 2023’s Lies of P. Developer Leenzee has handled almost everything expertly, from intricate level design that intelligently loops back on itself to thrillingly fast-paced combat that introduces some very fun defensive elements. It’s also a game that really makes you think about your loadout on a per-level basis, with status afflictions and damage types playing an important role. Some frustrating moments aside, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is an essential soulslike experience.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers doesn't soar all the way to FromSoftware heights, but it comes darn close. What's presented here is likely the best traditional Soulslikes I've ever played from a competitor, and well worth checking out for any fan of the genre. At its core, it's a brutal game with lots of build variety, but can eventually be trivialized if you know how to exploit some of your options. Still, it never stops being fun and interesting, and melee players will have great challenges in spades. Occasional "frustrations" will arise during your experience, but it's typically nothing we don't let FromSoftware get away with time and time again. Bottom line, if you want a brilliantly interconnected Soulslike map with plenty of great bosses and overall design, this is another fresh genre option that shows the field is truly beginning to close the gap.

Familiarity stalks you at every turn in Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, a competent, cool and pretty soulslike with a nice twist on death but few true surprises.

Wuchang brings some fun ideas to soulslike boss fights, but the rest of it is a pale imitation of much better games.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers isn't perfect, but it doesn't need to be to stand among the best in the Soulsborne genre. It doesn't just mimic what makes these games fun but expands on the formula that few others could. Challenging gameplay, riveting exploration, and unique control mechanics help to elevate Wuchang well above the run-of-the-mill Soulsborne clone. Wuchang more than deserves its own franchise.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is yet another great soulslike to add to the ever-increasing pile, featuring excellent combat, wonderful level design, an incredible skill tree, and fearsome bosses. Just watch out for some steep difficulty dips and spikes, and a reliance on cheap-feeling "gotcha!" ambushes.

The demands for fewer Souls-likes in the gaming release calendar make quite a lot of sense when they're as formulaic and familiar as Wuchang: Fallen Feathers.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers had a lot of potential, but overtuned boss fights and inconsistent level design make it more frustrating than fulfilling.

WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers is a Soulslike game that aims to take a top spot in the genre. Providing a nice challenge for those looking to step up and fight through fearsome bosses. The focus in combat is to build up feathers to use spells and skills while in a fight, allowing you to utilize the arsenal of ways to fight bosses as you progress. Everything you do is a dance between yourself and your enemies; one wrong move and it can spell the end of the fight.

The ancient mythological world depicted by Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is a fascinating one. Set during the late Ming Period, an era of great sweeping change in China when ineffective leadership resulted in famine, rebellion, and war, the game is also imbued with mythological elements inspired by the amazing discoveries found in the Sanxingdui archaeological site. Some of these bronze relics featured mysterious half-bird half-human creatures, leading to the concept of ‘Feathering Disease’ that provides the basis for the game’s story. This horrific plague transforms those poor saps afflicted into hideous, mutated beasts, rampaging around the place and leaving chaos in their wake. That’s where the player steps in, cast as Bai Wuchang – a butt-kicking pirate – they must cut their way through hordes of demons to save the people of the land in this third-person action Soulslike.

Anyone put off recent Soulslikes by a perceived lack of challenge need not worry about Wuchang: Fallen Feathers.

While it doesn’t reinvent the Soulslike formula, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers executes the fundamentals with confidence.

Wuchang goes back to the genre’s roots in terms of level design, and this actually dates the title more than it makes it feel at home in 2025. The area-to-area exploration is some of the weakest I’ve known, and ultimately ends up being frustrating more than fun. Nevertheless, the rest of the game makes up for this weak point, and Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is the start of an exciting new franchise Souls fans need to play.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is a solid soulslike game with some unique systems that sets it apart from its contemporaries. Combat is flashy and fun, but it's bundled with some frustrating boss and movement mechanics. Still, a stunning world and excellent dungeon exploration make Wuchang: Fallen Feathers worth trying.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers' combat, art direction, flexibility, and level design are fantastic, but balancing issues and its derivative nature ultimately hold it back.

Since it was first revealed, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers has been compared to Black Myth: Wukong, and on the surface, that makes sense. The combat, tone, structure, and even visuals all feel like they're cut from a similar cloth. However, after spending dozens of hours with it, Wuchang turns out to be a very different kind of game. It leans into some surprising ideas, especially when it comes to how players approach progression and risk. Some of those ideas work better than others, and a few take a while to really click, but there's more going on here than it might seem at first glance.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is an excellent first attempt for Leenzee that is sure to make any Soulslike fan happy.

If Elden Ring Nightreign’s shift to a more multiplayer focus has left a Soulslike-shaped hole in your life, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is here to fill it, armed with one of the most satisfying combat systems you’ll find all year. As long as you can put up with some torment.

It would be an understatement to say Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is an anticipated game for many, having been tweaked greatly from its first appearance in 2021, garnering awards like Surprise of the Year at the 2024 UCG Game Awards, and themed controllers being made by brands like 8BitDo. There’s no more need to wait, for the beautiful yet brutal Wuchang: Fallen Feathers has finally arrived. With the last FromSoftware Soulslike released in the form of Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree expan...

As a Soulslike player with tens of thousands of hours invested in the genre, I came away from Wuchang: Fallen Feathers with a complex mix of emotions. It’s one of the best-looking of the recent Soulslikes, and when its combat feels balanced, it is a lot of fun. Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is encumbered by a few too many mechanics, sluggish animations, boss fights that need a tune up and slow progression. But it’s also a value-priced, substantial game with multiple endings and the potential for long-term play beyond the credits. It treads extremely familiar ground to be sure. Its greatest appeal might be to those devoted Soulslike players who are looking for an unadulterated old school challenge with up-to-date production values and new systems to learn.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers spreads its wings, delivering brisk and exciting combat that notches a radiant feather in the cap of the Soulslike subgenre. However, its plumage elsewhere is quite a bit ruffled.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers wears its inspirations a little too proudly on its sleeves, not to the point of the original plagiarism claims, but enough to fail to stand out in an increasingly saturated market. The game’s cultural authenticity is commendable, but it leans too heavily on familiar tropes. The middling technical performance is just the cherry on top.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is one of the best non-FromSoftware soulslike games out there, that brings engaging mechanics and embraces player freedom above all. Even with some minor performance issues, it stands out as the biggest soulslike surprise of 2025.

Soulike games are truly everywhere nowadays. Back when FromSoftware's Souls series did not have the immense popularity it enjoys nowadays, the release of any game inspired by the series was an event in itself. However, today's increased offerings for hardcore action RPGs have led to some stagnation for the genre. While many Souslike games released in the past few years are solid games, very few of them are true standouts, as the vast majority of these games opt to stay within the boundaries of a tried and true formula that is starting to get a little tiring.

WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers is about problem-solving as much as mastering skills and opponents’ patterns, showing there’s more to be done in this genre.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers had such interesting promise, only to lose itself to building a game on frustration rather than learning and fun.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is a shockingly great time. Fans of hardcore action RPGs won't want to miss out on this one. Every aspect of the game has been made with clear passion on display.

There’s a solid game somewhere inside WUCHANG, but it falls short of greatness in several areas, including the fact that this genre is really starting to feel a bit tedious and saturated in 2025. But if you’re craving some of that early early 2010s punishment era Soulslike feeling, this game may really resonate with you.

We’ve had quite a few non-FromSoftware takes on the Soulslike genre that could easily stand on their own for one reason or another, and this season, Chengdu-based Leenzee is throwing its hat in that ring in its gaming debut. Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is a Soulslike game that takes us to a fictional ancient China based on folklore and mythology, but it also puts some spins on the formula that make this an interesting action-RPG in its own right.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers has most of the right ingredients of a fantastic action RPG, and adds its own refreshing takes on the Soulslike subgenre. The combat, accessible weapons and spells, punishing bosses, and stunning views are absolute standouts, but the story is slightly less desirable and at times, challenging to follow.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers feels like a labor of love from start to finish. It does justice to the Soulslike formula, amplifies it, mixes it with another culture, and delivers something that has a lot more depth behind it.