Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty review - Romance of the Three Souls

Our Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty review finds the game treading familiar Koei Tecmo territory as, like the developer's Dynasty Warriors series, it's based on Luo Guanzhong's Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Dynasty Warriors is a popular hack-and-slash/strategy hybrid in which players choose a general from one of three armies and use them to wipe out thousands of soldiers in epic battles for territory. Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is a darker, Soulslike interpretation of the same material. There's more magic and more supernatural creatures lurking around, fewer campy moments, and significantly more taxing gameplay.

You take the role of an unknown soldier during the Yellow Turban rebellion, fleeing a burning village with a blind companion who's just saved your life. This is the setup for a plot that blends a shady arcane conspiracy with the events of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Along the way in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, you meet and greet many notable characters from the Romance. If you've read the book - or played Dynasty Warriors or Total War: Three Kingdoms - you'll know that Zhang Fei is a brash fellow, tempered by his brothers Liu Bei and Guan Yu. You'll recognise the calculating and ruthless side of Cao Cao. The design of these characters and their weaponry is familiar from Koei Tecmo's previous interpretation, but the supernatural elements of Wo Long give our allies a more foreboding outlook, as they know of a great evil that's causing instability across Ancient China. It's a nice new twist on a story that, while still unfamiliar to some, especially in the West, has been told and retold since the 14th century.

Read the rest of the story...