Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty" is a challenging action game based on the "Three Kingdoms"!　Review of "Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty," a challenging action game based on the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms

On March 3, 2023, Koei Tecmo Games released "Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty" ("War Long"), a title for PS5/PS4/Xbox Series X|S/Xbox One/Xbox Game Pass/Steam®/Microsoft Store The game is based on the theme of the Three Kingdoms. The title is a dark fantasy action game themed on the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms," in which players take on the role of a volunteer soldier in a battle to lead a turbulent world to peace.

This article provides a review of the Steam version of the game. The review will cover various elements of the game, from the worldview and story to the core battles and beginner-friendly system.

Dark fantasy depicting China at the end of the Later Han Dynasty

The story takes place in 184 A.D. in late Han Dynasty China. The Han Dynasty, which had been prospering for a long time, is dying due to the influence of "demons," which are deformed beings, and frequent warfare. As the "Yellow Turban Rebellion" led by Zhang Jiao's Taiping Dao intensifies, the hero, as a volunteer soldier, goes to defeat the Yellow Turban faction and encounters a mysterious boy. With the boy's help, the protagonist navigates his way through the turbulent times of the Three Kingdoms.

The story is based on the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and features many heroes representing Wei, Wu, and Shu. The game features a wide variety of heroes, including Cao Cao, Sun Ken, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Sun Quan, Xia Hou Jun, and many more. The player is the main character in the game, and the immersion of sharing the same world with the heroes of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, even if only pseudo, is very high. The player can also fight alongside them in the game, which will be explained later.

While the characters are based on historical facts, there are original enemies called demons in the game, and the story has a strong fantasy element. The story is a dark fantasy based on the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms," so it is interesting to note that there are many developments in the game that cannot be understood if you only know the historical facts. Koei Tecmo Games has produced the "Shin-Sangoku Musou" series, which is based on the "History of the Three Kingdoms," so those who have played that series may enjoy the story, including the rearrangement of the "Warlong" story.

There are various types of demons.

There is also an extensive glossary of terms, including those for the characters. The background of this work can be checked anytime with this glossary.

Tension where a moment of carelessness can be fatal.

Along with the story of the main character's journey through the turbulent world, players will also have to conquer various stages. The stages in this title are basically a single path, and the player must defeat the boss at the destination to clear the stage, but there are many forks in the road, and items are cleverly hidden in the corners of rooms and places where the player may be blindsided.

Because of the extensive exploration elements, I often spent a lot of time investigating each stage because I was curious about the mysteries, such as what was beyond the strong enemies or how to get the treasure chests in the prison. If one were to carefully explore each stage, it would be a very large volume and rewarding to play.

However, the style of this game is the complete opposite of a game in which you play as a warriors against a large number of enemies, so you cannot progress as fast as you would like. Basically, the enemies' attack power is high, and if you take on multiple enemies head-on, you will die. Also, enemies hiding in the shadows may surprise you and kill you in a blink of an eye. It is best to think that forceful tactics will not work in "Worlon.

Therefore, it is important to use the most advantageous strategy possible. If there are two or more enemies, you can lure one of them out or attack them unilaterally with a bow and arrow by taking advantage of your elevated position.
However, it is important to avoid forceful attacks and to avoid dying. One is that the level-up item "Senki" (mainly obtained by defeating enemies) is reduced by half. After revival, the player can regain the lost amount by defeating the enemy who defeated him, but if he is defeated again before that, it will be completely lost.

Second, the "morale rank" is reduced. Morale rank is like a strengthening effect on the player, and it affects the player's combat power itself, including attack and defense strength. The higher it is, the stronger the player becomes; conversely, the lower it is, the weaker the player becomes. As with Senki, it is basically raised by defeating enemies, so if a player dies repeatedly, all of the Senki he or she has accumulated will be wasted. The halving of senki and the lowering of morale ranks greatly hinder the player's ability to attack, so careful handling of the situation is essential to prevent this from happening.

In this game, where players are likely to die, the "military banner" and "marker banner" are the main support for players. Military flags are like checkpoints, and there are several of them on each stage. Checking them will restore your strength and replenish the recovery items you have consumed up to that point. In addition, players can level up, buy and sell equipment, and the last flag touched becomes a resurrection point for players who have lost the game. Of particular importance is that the first time a military flag or marker flag is used, the "fortitude rank" is increased.

The Fortitude Rank indicates the lower limit of the morale rank. For example, if a player dies and his Fortitude Rank is 10, his Morale Rank will not drop below 9. In other words, the rank that has been raised can be maintained.

A marker flag is like a simplified version of a military flag, which can only raise morale rank and fortitude rank.

It is interesting to note that morale ranks are applied not only to us but also to our enemies. In other words, an enemy with a higher morale rank than you has is stronger than you, so you can use it as a guide to determine whether or not you should attack them. My sense is that we can handle enemies with morale ranks of 1 to 3 higher than ours.

On the other hand, if the enemy's morale rank is more than 5, there is a high possibility of being beaten back. It is safe to give up, but if it is impossible to fight head-on, you can aim for a surprise attack or create a one-on-one situation by defeating the surrounding enemies. Depending on how you do it, you may be able to win. It is a simple and common method to show strength in terms of ranks, but in this so-called "death game," I appreciated that it not only prevented unnecessary deaths, but also gave me a chance to think about tactics.

Nevertheless, the fact that players can revive themselves as many times as they wish, even with the disadvantages of having their Senki halved and their morale ranks lowered, is a great advantage. It is also a good idea to minimize the demerits you suffer after you have used up all your Senki or when your morale is low at the beginning of a stage, and to be prepared to be crushed at the first opportunity by a strong enemy. In this game, everyone is bound to die sooner or later, so it might be a good idea to get used to the trial-and-error process that is indispensable in a game of death by taking revenge early on.

Intense battles with the enemy using Ki Sei and Hua Jing

One of the most impressive aspects of "Worlon" is the use of "Kiatsu" and "Kakei" in battle. These two techniques form the basis of the battles in this work.

Ki sei is the energy required for various actions, including "senjutsu," and basically increases as you attack, and decreases as you defend and evade. It increases as you attack and decreases as you defend. When the Ki-Sei reaches its lowest point, both friend and foe alike lose their stances and become defenseless for a certain period of time. When an enemy loses its stance, the player can use a powerful technique called "zekkei" to inflict heavy damage.

The "hua jing" is a counter-like move that, if used just before an enemy attack, can parry the attack and simultaneously reduce the opponent's ki and increase one's own ki. In this title, where Ki management is important, I personally feel comfortable using mainly Kejing as a defensive tool and guarding or evading in a pinch as a countermeasure. However, since Kejing is not a technique that catches attacks, it is a high-risk, high-return technique that can catch an enemy's attack if timed incorrectly.

The concept of armor weight is based on the weight of the armor, and if the weight of the armor exceeds 100 percent of the weight of the armor, the hua jing itself becomes impossible. Since it is fatal to be blocked from using hua-jing, the weight of the armor should always be kept below 100%.

As you get used to it, you will be able to parry all the attacks of strong opponents with hua-jing. It is good to feel a sense of superiority in being able to see through the opponent's movements, but you will also love the feeling of speed as you attack boldly with normal attacks, parry the enemy's attacks with hua jing, and then attack again, eventually exhausting the opponent's ki with zeikyuu.

The more you attack and jade, the more ki you have, and the more you can mix in attacks that require ki to use, such as the "martial arts," which are exclusive to each weapon, and the hermetic arts, which use supernatural powers like magic. It would be no exaggeration to say that the battle in "Worlon" is all about offense, as the more you attack, the more new attacks you can take, and as a result, the more tactics you can take. Since the battles themselves are fun, I personally would be happy to see content that allows players to just fight the enemy.

Although the game is difficult enough to be a game of death, there are many elements that are suitable for beginners.

While there are many elements in this game that may discourage players, such as highly aggressive enemies and fierce battles, there are also many elements designed for beginners. First of all, there are morale ranks. As already mentioned, the higher the morale rank, the stronger the player's offensive and defensive capabilities. In other words, depending on one's morale rank, it is possible to fight regardless of the enemy's attacks and push one's luck. I do not know exactly how much effect the difference in rank has, but in my experience, when I fought a boss with a morale rank 3 to 5 lower than my own, the amount of damage I inflicted was clearly increased, while the damage I received from my opponent was reduced.

However, to raise the morale rank significantly, it is not enough to use military flags and marker flags alone, but one must inevitably defeat the surrounding enemies. Since this is somewhat inefficient, it is probably a countermeasure for struggling boss battles rather than a stage strategy.

The second is the presence of a companion. In stages related to the main storyline of the game, NPCs who appear in the story will fight alongside the player. Up to two NPCs can accompany the player, and when their health reaches zero, they become inactive, but they can recover as many times as they wish if the player approaches and helps them. NPCs will leave the scene after a certain amount of time has elapsed, but they can be revived by using a military flag.

The difficulty of battles is greatly reduced when you have friends. The NPCs themselves have sufficient offensive power and are as effective as the players. The NPCs themselves have sufficient offensive power, and their fighting ability is also enhanced according to their rank. They can be relied on not only in the fight against zombies, but also in the fight against bosses.

The third point is that the stage to challenge can be changed at any time. In this work, the battlefield is prepared for each stage, but you can freely switch between stages by using the "Move" item on the military flag. If there is a boss that you cannot defeat no matter how many times you try, you can leave the stage you are attacking and go to an easier battlefield to level up and collect weapons until you are satisfied, or you can try a "sub-battlefield," a sub-event-like element for a change.

If you return to a previously challenged stage, you can resume from the location of the last military flag you used. This eliminates the hassle of having to re-start the attack from the initial point, which was useful when taking a detour across stages.

Set in the unique world of the Three Kingdoms and dark fantasy, "Warlong" offers an original story based on historical facts, intense battles with an emphasis on aggression, and stage exploration with many detours despite the single-stage path. While the difficulty level is undoubtedly high, the game is also designed for beginners, making it a game that can be recommended not only to gamers with confidence in their skills, but also to those who are new to death-defying games.

(Text by Xia Mu Naifeng)

• Title Information
• Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty
• (Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty)
• Genre: Dark Three Kingdoms Action RPG
• Compatibility: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Xbox Game Pass, Steam, Microsoft Store
• Release date: March 3, 2023 *Simultaneous worldwide release
• Price: 8,580 yen
• CERO: D (for ages 17 and up)

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