Thank you 505 Games for providing us with a review code!

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is an Unreal Engine 5 powered Souls-like action RPG set in the final years of China’s Ming Dynasty. Like other Souls-like games before it, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers has challenging fights and boss battles and if you die, all of the enemies except for bosses will respawn again. As you win battles, you’ll accumulate Red Mercury which is used for unlocking stats and skills in the skill tree referred to as the Impetus Repository. When you die, a good chunk of your collected Red Mercury will be left where you were last alive. You can collect it after dealing with whatever killed you the first time around. In the event that you fell from a high distance (this will happen a lot!), the Red Mercury will be on the edge of where you fell and not where you landed.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers begins with your character (Bai Wuchang) waking up in a Buddhist temple without her memories and having feathers sprouting out of one of her arms. This is a sickness referred to as “The Feathering”. Typically, when people have this condition they lose their minds and become violent; many of your battles will involve taking down such cases. Your ultimate goal in this game is to recover your memories and find a cure for The Feathering before it overtakes you.

The battle system in Wuchang: Fallen Feathers requires perfectly timed dodging while maintaining a fluid combat rhythm. Skyborn Might is what powers weapon arts (abilities), spells, and discipline skills, and is generated by dodging attacks (shimmer) or by hitting enemies with specific weapon attacks.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers has multiple weapon types to master; each has different methods for offensive and defensive maneuvers. You can master single-handed swords, dual blades, longswords, axes, and spears. I primarily used spears.

Like many RPG’s you can change your attributes and immunities with various pieces of equipment, jewelry, and weapon enhancements. Wuchang can be struck with various elemental attacks such as burn, frostbite, corruption, blight, and paralysis. These ailments will slow you down if they completely build up. The deadliest ailment is despair which will kill her if it fully manifests. I highly recommend wearing armor that is strong against despair.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers has a madness mechanic which is related to the Feathering disease. When Wuchang kills non-feathered creatures or dies, her madness level will increase. In order to lower madness she must kill Feathered enemies, bosses, or defeat her inner demon. As your madness increases your attacks get stronger, but your defense weakens. The amount of Red Mercury lost upon your demise is proportional to your madness level.

Graphically, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is gorgeous. The world contains desolate wastelands and vibrant jungle atmospheres. The enemies are gory and disturbingly detailed. Unfortunately, when this game was released there were some stability issued that were later addressed in patch 1.3

There has been a controversial 1.5 patch that changed the game’s story by making some historically relevant bosses exhausted instead of dying after battle. Other changes in the 1.5 patch include removing the pray mechanic and reducing the difficulty by making some Ming soldiers non-hostile. As a result of stability issues and the 1.5 changes, many gamers have review-bombed this title on Steam and other gaming platforms.

Morally, there are several things to take into consideration before buying this title. There’s a ton of violence, blood, and gore, even with the streamer-friendly reduced violence settings enabled! Some of the enemies are undead, and there is a lot of dismemberment. As a China-centric game, it should come as no surprise to see multiple references to Buddhism. I was happy to see a couple of references to Christianity. There’s not much language outside of the word sh*t appearing in the dialogue.

You can change Wuchang’s appearance by changing her equipment. Some outfits are more conservative than others. Even if Wuchang is dressed modestly, there are some female characters (one of them being a boss) who don’t mind showing off their skin and cleavage.

If you enjoy Souls-Like games, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers will deliver in spades. It has a lot of eye candy and enemy variety. There are different tiers of difficulty when it comes to foes, and then you have environmental challenges on top of that. Be prepared to get knocked off of bridges, ledges, and platforms not big enough for dramatic fight sequences. If you don’t mind dying often, you’ll have a good time. If you don’t like hard games, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers isn’t for you.