Wuchang: Fallen Feathers Review – A Safe But Solid Soulslike

As a fan of the genre for over a decade, a new release within the soulslike genre always excites me. There has been no shortage of Soulslike games ever since FromSoftware kickstarted the genre with 2009’s brilliant Demon’s Souls (a game I believe that should be played by more people!). For many years, FromSoftware held something of a monopoly over the genre, which is expected, given they pioneered it, but in recent years, we’ve seen titles like Lies of P and Nioh push the formula forward in exciting ways. Even last year’s Black Myth: Wukong, (a game I strongly recommended back then) though not strictly a Soulslike, elevated the action RPG space with its impressive scale and ambition. In short, the Soulslike genre, and action RPGs that borrow its mechanics, are going nowhere and dare I say, are in their best periods.

Enter Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, a new action RPG from Leenzee that clearly draws inspiration from its predecessors while trying to make a name of itself. The question is: how does it play? And can it surprise me the way Lies of P or Nioh once did?

"Combat in Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is easily its strongest suit."

Set during the Ming Dynasty, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers puts you in the role of Bai Wuchang, a warrior suffering from amnesia (because, let’s face it, nearly every protagonist these days seems to). The land of Shu is in a mess and things aren’t quite what they seem. The townsfolk are plagued by a mysterious illness known as the Feathering Disease, a condition that Bai Wuchang herself is afflicted with. The premise immediately made me think about Bloodborne, where the residents of Yharnam were similarly gripped by a monstrous disease. Here too, infected villagers will often attack you on sight, although, in typical Soulslike fashion, some NPCs might still offer help along the way. Interestingly, villagers may even turn on one another if others are suspected of being infected, adding some unpredictability to the world.

As the story unfolds, Bai Wuchang slowly regains fragments of her lost memory, leading to some interesting revelations. I won’t spoil what those are, but it’s safe to say the narrative takes a back seat to the gameplay; it’s more of a backdrop than a centerpiece that’ll keep you on the edge of your seat. It felt to me that it was there to support the atmosphere and gameplay, rather than to steal the spotlight. As in most soulslikes these days, there are also the usual side stories scattered throughout the game’s world, tasks that involve delivering or fetching key items. These may or may not contribute to the main narrative, depending on how deep you go or you can completely ignore them. Ultimately, the story is serviceable and functional, it fits the world, and it offers multiple endings, but it’s nothing genre-defining or something I will be thrilled to discuss with my friends.

Combat in Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is easily its strongest suit. You’re given access to five weapon types: axe, two-handed sword, long sword, one-handed sword, and spear. Naturally, you’ll unlock or discover new weapons within each category as you progress through the rather long campaign, though you can only equip two at a time. Weapon switching is available in real time, much like other Soulslike games, but don’t expect a seamless combo system that lets you chain attacks between the two (although I would have personally loved to see that happen). The strikes feel impactful, the hitboxes are generally accurate, and I didn’t notice any input lag between controller actions and on-screen responses.

"Progression in Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is handled a bit differently compared to most traditional action RPGs."

Each weapon also comes with special abilities that consume a resource called Skyborn Might, which is accumulated through precise combat actions like dodging or parrying. This makes the system heavily skill based, punishing reckless gameplay with death at the hands of your enemy. While movements like dodging aren’t as fast or snappy as what you’d find in Bloodborne, successful dodges grant the ability to follow up with special moves, rewarding player awareness. On top of that, the game features a magic system with dozens of spells to find and use, allowing players to combine physical and magical attacks, thereby delivering an engaging combat experience.

There’s also a Benediction system in place, allowing you to apply specific materials to your chosen weapon to gain added advantages, such as improved block efficiency or increased damage output. Alongside this is the Temper system, which lets you enhance character-specific parameters like weapon agility or elemental effects such as fire. Lastly, there’s the Discipline system which is essentially a set of combos tied to each weapon type that you acquire throughout your journey. While these systems aren’t particularly groundbreaking for a modern AAA combat-focused game, I feel they add a welcome layer of weapon customization that complements the existing mechanics well.

Progression in Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is handled a bit differently compared to most traditional action RPGs. While you still have your usual attributes like vitality, stamina, and magic to manage and level up, the core of progression is closely tied to your weapons. Using Red Mercury Essence (the game’s souls) and a variety of other upgrade materials, you can improve any weapon type of your choice; however, it may push players toward specializing only a particular weapon. In my case, I found myself focusing heavily on upgrading my longsword, though the game does support balanced builds as well.

What’s refreshing is the flexibility the system offers. Skill nodes can be reset if you want to change your build, allowing players to experiment; there are also upgrade trees dedicated to character attributes like vitality and other stat-driven parameters, but overall, Wuchang places heavier emphasis on weapon-based progression. The game also features a risk-reward system based on how many times the player character dies. When one dies, they lose Red Mercury, but the amount lost is influenced by a unique mechanic called the Inner Demon Level. The more the player dies, the higher their madness level becomes, which in turn increases the Inner Demon Level thereby losing more mercury. This system allows you to deal more damage the higher your madness climbs, but it comes at a cost: you also take significantly more damage.

If you die with a high madness level, a mirror version of Bai will spawn at the site of your death. To recover your lost Red Mercury Essence, you’ll need to defeat her in battle. Interestingly, certain abilities and weapons are tied directly to this madness mechanic, becoming usable or more effective only at specific madness levels. I found this to be a clever system that rewards high-risk playstyles provided you’re skilled enough to handle the challenges that come along with it.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is undoubtedly one of the toughest games you’ll play in 2025, but is it the hardest Soulslike out there? Not quite. Some bosses will certainly push your patience to the limit, especially on your first few attempts, but once you learn their patterns and timing, they become a tad easier to manage. Boss designs are impressive across the board, featuring a solid mix of enemy types that vary in shapes and strategy. As a veteran Souls player, I found the difficulty rewarding and the variety refreshing, with each encounter offering its own flavor of tension.

I was, however, a bit disappointed by certain inconsistencies in level design. In a few instances, I encountered sections where two areas were separated by such a small gap that it felt unreasonable not to be able to cross, one moment even had an enemy just a foot away, but unreachable due to a lack of traversal connection. Situations like that break immersion and come across as poor level design. Either provide a bridge or path between those sections, or don’t place enemies within visible range if I can’t reach them.

To be clear, this wasn’t a widespread issue during my time with the game. For the most part, I found the levels to be well crafted and feature strong interconnectivity, which is a hallmark of the genre. And perhaps I’m nitpicking, but when so many Soulslike games have nailed level design with minimal errors, moments like these stand out in a way they really shouldn’t.

Another noticeable issue I have with the game is that it doesn’t seem to fully capitalize on the capabilities of Unreal Engine 5. Given that Wuchang: Fallen Feathers began its development on UE4, it definitely shows some signs of a rough transition to newer tech. Don’t get me wrong, some areas look absolutely stunning, but certain textures and assets clearly reflect their outdated tech origins. That said, the overall presentation is solid, animations are fluid, environments are richly detailed, and the cutscenes are decent. The soundtrack, on the other hand, is serviceable, not particularly memorable, but it gets the job done.

"Overall, I found Wuchang: Fallen Feathers to be a solid entry in the Soulslike genre."

From a technical standpoint, I played the game on a high-end PC (Ryzen 5950X, RTX 3080 Ti, and 32GB of RAM) with most settings maxed out at 4K using one of the upscaling options. Performance was acceptable, though not locked at 60fps as there were occasional dips during more demanding moments, but at least there was no stuttering. With some post-launch optimization, I expect performance to improve further. It may not match the production values of Black Myth: Wukong, but Wuchang still manages to deliver a visually competent and mostly stable experience.

Overall, I found Wuchang: Fallen Feathers to be a solid entry in the Soulslike genre. Its engaging combat, multi-layered skill systems, and unique risk-reward mechanics built around the madness system offer enough depth to keep fans of the genre (like me) invested. It’s a game that I feel understands what makes Soulslikes tick and delivers that experience with confidence.

That said, I feel that Wuchang doesn’t take many risks of its own. It adheres too closely to genre conventions and rarely steps beyond familiar territory. It doesn’t reinvent or significantly push the genre forward but for many players including myself, that won’t be a deal breaker. What it does, it does well enough, and sometimes, that’s all we need.

This game was reviewed on PC.