Developer Leenzee Games recently released a patch to address these, but more improvements are inbound. It’s also targeting other gameplay aspects in response to player feedback. “We will continue to optimize performance issues and will keep adjusting the game based on your suggestions—such as difficulty levels and boss encounters—in upcoming patches.”

These include crash fixes, improving the frame rate and reducing lag on certain GPUs, enhancing texture quality in low-resolution areas and improving asset details in some regions. Balance adjustments will include fixing the speed at which Wuchang gets back up after knockdowns, improving enemy and boss AI, corralling the “exploration pressure” of some areas, and reducing the number of some traps (and their damage).

Leenzee is also improving the compensation for players who didn’t receive pre-order bonuses, including three headgear items for Standard and Deluxe Edition owners. The latter will also receive three additional Deluxe costume sets and four weapons in addition to the previously confirmed outfit. Stay tuned for more details when the update goes live.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is available for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. Check out our review, where we gave it an eight out of ten.

What about Battlefield 6, which rumors state is going for the same price? At least Microsoft took the hint and reduced The Outer Worlds 2 to $70, which feels more like it’s trying not to cannibalize sales through Game Pass. Then there’s the Borderlands 4 fiasco (the “Randy Pitchford fiasco” is too wide-ranging), which also ended up costing $70 but only for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC – Switch 2 is still up in the air, and that can’t be good news.

Even with the cancellation of high-profile projects across the industry and the continued gold rush into the Death Valley of live service, it’s truly rich to see some games demand such high prices and then demand some more through microtransactions, Season Passes, early access incentives, and whatnot.

However, 2025 has offered surprises in other areas, namely in the space that many would consider “double A.” It all truly began with Clair Obscur: Expedition. We were far from truly understanding its depths, only seeing a star-studded cast with gorgeous visuals. To hear that it would cost $49.99 was shocking. The 30-plus hours for the story seemed about right, but then the developer hit us with the “as much side content for our completionist Expeditioners.”

Post-launch, it’s still one of the highest-rated games of the year, selling millions in days. And that’s not including the number who played it through Game Pass. Of course, other releases, like The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered, based as it was on an already available game, reinforced that the $49.99 price was no joke. The base game with all its DLC and expansions for $49.99, including all the new bells and whistles, felt like a steal given the hundreds of hours it could provide (and that’s before factoring in mods). It recently hit nine million players and is the second-best-selling game of the year in the United States, despite being available on Game Pass. Credit the name recognition all you’d like, it’s still noteworthy.

In that same vein, we have Wuchang: Fallen Feathers. Once again, $49.99. No Season Pass or microtransactions. About 40 to 60 hours long on average to complete (though there have been players clearing the story in much less time). Think back to all the other double-A Souls-likes that launched over the years – very few managed to offer this much at such a price tag and provide a fun experience to match.

And make no mistake – there is a lot to like about Wuchang. The Dark Souls-like exploration gives way to organically discovering useful items and challenging fights, not to mention extensive freedom to tackle the game as you choose. While it features stat scaling weapons, leveling up is tied to a skill tree, which governs almost everything. You could opt into more survival with Manna Vase charges and additional healing, or forego it entirely in favor of damage. Stat upgrades are important, but there are plenty of other viable choices, like weapon masteries, which ensure all weapons within a singular category remain upgraded at all times.

Outside of the potential build crafting with all the different unique weapons and spells, which is easy to experiment with since respeccing is free, Wuchang is packed with side quests that influence the main narrative, leading to different endings. Even the boss fights are incredibly solid, and being able to let loose with your combos, weaving in dodges and Swift Draw strikes for more damage, feels great.

The whole Madness mechanic is also ingenious because it can be leveraged in many different ways. Use it as a damage boost as you continuously attempt to the same boss, take it as a challenge while playing through the game due to the increased damage received, or build into it for a completely unique playstyle on top of your current build. Among many other things, it adds another layer of mastery to the experience while creating some much-needed friction.

And before you say it – yes, Wuchang isn’t perfect. Even with all its fun mechanics, it’s still taking many cues from other titles like Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty and Dark Souls. Then there’s the PC performance, which has resulted in a “Mostly Negative” rating on Steam at this time. Leenzee Games released a new patch, introducing a low-latency mode while also optimizing VRAM on lower-end GPUs and fixing crashes. It also has a “more extensive patch” in the works that will arrive in the coming days.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers managed nearly 132,000 peak concurrent Steam players at launch, which is pretty impressive despite its technical issues. And while it’s received some fairly negative reviews, the overall impression from critics ranges in the mid-70s at this time – a respectable total.

Even if that doesn’t earn it any Game of the Year nominations, it’s still the continuation of a trend that I hope persists in the coming years. Game developers with smaller teams (at least relative to the gargantuan efforts of major publishers) and focused creative visions, delivering a product and asking an extremely fair price. It wouldn’t have been strange at all to see Wuchang retailing for $60, given the amount of content and years of work that’s gone into it. Yet, here we are, and it’s still available on Game Pass for those who aren’t sure if they want to drop that much.

Granted, publishers aren’t exactly rushing to embrace the same pricing model or even develop games within that same scope. 2K’s Mafia: The Old Country is one exception, and right now, it feels more like the exception to the rule rather than building an initiative for similar efforts. In the same vein, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 on the PS5, which launched last year at the same price on Xbox Series X/S and PC, and despite overall positive impressions, still received criticism for its relatively short runtime.

Whether this pricing model is in direct response to the current state of the industry or not, it’s a positive sign. It represents creators utilizing their available resources and committing to more focused game design, especially with unique artistic direction and music. Despite Wuchang deriving so much from other titles, it’s still done things that its Souls-like competitors didn’t even consider for years and years. If that will be its lasting legacy, then so be it, though there is plenty more to like.

There’s still a way to go before it can please everyone, especially on PC. However, if Wuchang: Fallen Feathers and the many other $50 (and below) titles released this year prove anything, it’s that there’s still room for entertaining games with dozens of hours of content at fair prices.

This feature expresses a personal viewpoint. Readers are encouraged to make their own decisions about the game based on personal preferences and boundaries.

Of course, if you take a look at Steam, the user reviews will tell a different story. Only 28 percent of the currently 12,479 reviews give it a thumbs-up, resulting in a “Mostly Negative” rating on PC. It’s worth noting that much of this is due to performance issues and optimization. Leenzee has addressed the same, noting that it’s “confident in the game’s performance within our recommended spec”, but it’s working on optimization and should release a patch “as soon as we can.”

And while it’s justified to bring attention to Wuchang’s performance troubles, it’s also a shame because it really does deliver on its combat promises. Not only that, but it improves in so many areas that other Souls-like titles fail to even consider.

The first is in its general approach to build crafting. Compared to Dark Souls 3 or even Elden Ring, the 25 or so unique weapons across five categories and 40 spells may feel underwhelming by comparison. And while they scale with certain stats, like other Souls-likes, there are no restrictions when it comes to deciding your build. If you want to rock a melee-only approach, spells-only or some hybrid playstyle, go ahead, but you’ll quickly discover that some are better suited to your build than others.

One-handed swords are ideal for spellcasting, especially if you get something like the Astral Blade, which can passively regenerate Skyborn Might (the resource used for weapon skills and spells). However, longswords like Flamebringer are better for those who want to deal damage (and build up status effects) while having defensive options like Sword Counter. Even within the same category, each weapon feels unique to use thanks to its varied skills (and how it develops via weapon discipline).

And thankfully, it’s only the start of Wuchang’s combat loop, because you also have Swift Draw. You can equip two weapons and switch between them at any time, which isn’t all that unique in this genre, but Swift Draw adds a unique layer of depth. Upon use, the switched weapon unleashes its skill, and the combo keeps going. Since Skyborn Might regenerates on perfect dodges, you can have occasions where you’re weaving in and out of enemy attacks to build it up, then comboing and activating Swift Draw to pile on the damage. Even better if you counter an attack with a longsword and then switch to dual blades to slash through an enemy multiple times on Swift Draw, then swap back for more defense.

Alongside skills that increase damage resistance and the damage dealt by Swift Draw, there’s suddenly a whole range of potentially deadly combos to unleash on enemies. It encourages playing around with all the different weapons and finding the right combination – or even one that’s unbelievably broken.

Of course, if this were any other Souls-like, of which FromSoftware’s titles are no exception, your first thought would be trepidation. Experimenting with different weapons after pooling all those resources into the current set-up? It’s usually not the best idea, depending on where you are in the game. Elden Ring is good about offering a plethora of materials and making respecs relatively easier, but it’s still a big hassle to suddenly change your entire build.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers easily solves this in two ways. First, respeccing is completely free. You can completely reset everything unlocked in the skill tree and choose a completely different route without any charge. Second, it introduces weapon masteries. Unlike other Souls-likes where you need to invest materials to upgrade a weapon and make it viable, weapon mastery requires investing skill points. Voila, your weapon (or weapons) of choice are now upgraded.

The best part is that it applies to all weapons in that category. Pour enough points into longsword mastery to raise your weapon to +10, and all longswords are suddenly +10. So if you want to play around with a specific longsword that you just found but are worried about pouring resources into it, Wuchang effectively bypasses that hurdle. Furthermore, it encourages speccing into other weapon masteries so you can figure them into your builds with minimal fuss. Read online about a particularly broken weapon combo, and your spear/greataxe set-up isn’t cutting it (literally and figuratively)? Wuchang has you covered.

All this would be enough, but Leenzee adds another interesting dimension to its Souls-like formula with the Madness mechanic. Dying in these types of games usually results in the loss of all your unspent currency, but in Wuchang, you only lose a portion, which can be retrieved from the spot where you died. However, your Madness grows and keeps growing as you slay more humans, increasing the damage dealt. It also increases your damage received, and the amount of currency lost also goes up. When you’re over 90 percent Madness, an Inner Demon can spawn after you die and failing to defeat it results in losing all your currency. But emerge victorious, and your Madness resets.

And if you don’t want it to reset? That’s also fine, because many of the skills provide benefits at higher Madness tiers, from increased damage resistance and attack interruption on Swift Draw to recovering a small amount of health. On the one hand, it’s perfect for receiving an advantage after all those deaths to a boss, especially if you know their movesets but are lacking in the damage department. However, it’s not for free, and one mistake could spell the end if you’re not careful (even if there are ways to provide more room for error). For a game that focuses on aggression, whether you’re squaring up to deflect or dodge attacks, it’s a great mechanic and offers an extensive amount of depth to keep things interesting. Of course, if the Madness mechanic is too harsh, plenty of options are available to reduce it.

There are other areas where Wuchang: Fallen Feathers makes an impact, whether it’s the art direction and music or the emphasis on exploration, which yield some solid rewards. Granted, it’s not taking too many risks when it comes to the Souls-like loop of defeating a boss, running through a location and wiping out enemies, leveling up and then fighting the next boss, but it does a lot to make the formula feel fresh.

Despite its various problems on PC, Wuchang has crossed 131,000 peak concurrent Steam players at this time of writing. Not bad for a title that’s also available on Game Pass, and it offers some hope that more will appreciate everything unique it has to offer after its optimization has been sorted out. In the meantime, if you’re on the fence and thinking about something akin to Dark Souls or Black Myth: Wukong but wouldn’t mind something in between, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is worth looking into.

This feature expresses a personal viewpoint. Readers are encouraged to make their own decisions about the game based on personal preferences and boundaries.

Among the key issues addressed with the update are optimisations for VRAM usage for lower-end GPUs, where graphics cards with 8 GB or less VRAM will now be able to benefit from memory-saving optimisations across texture and quality levels. Players with higher VRAM will only see these optimisations when their texture quality is set to Low, however.

Low Latency Mode has also been changed, now being available to use as a manual toggle rather than being enabled by default with no options to change it. These stability primarily revolve around reducing crashes and stuttering that might be caused by players not having enough VRAM.

The update also fixes a potential crash that could happen right after the studio’s logo is shown when the game starts. A bug that caused some finisher animations to produce stutters has also been fixed. There are also a few balance adjustments, primarily reducing the number of landmines and having their damage adjusted in the game’s second chapter.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is available on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. For more details about the game, check out our review. And in the meantime, also check out our guide listing important things that the game doesn’t tell you. Since its release, the game has seen an immense level of popularity, topping 130,000 peak concurrent players on PC alone.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers Patch 1.3 notes:

Performance Related Optimizations

• Low Latency Mode is now a manual toggle in the Options menu. It will no longer be enabled by default.
• Supersampling resolution limits have been adjusted on select GPU models to prevent unintended performance degradation.

VRAM optimization for lower-end GPUs:

• For GPUs with 8GB or less VRAM, memory-saving optimization is now applied across all texture quality levels.
• For GPUs with more than 8GB VRAM, this optimization applies only when texture quality is set to Low.
• These changes improve stability and reduce crashes or stuttering caused by insufficient video memory.

Bug Fixes & Stability Improvements

• Fixed a crash that could occur immediately after the company logo during game startup.
• Resolved execution stutter affecting select hardware configurations during finisher animations.
• Fixed issues related to both the Standard Edition and Deluxe Edition – after the patch update, players of both versions will receive the correct content rewards. Players who have already purchased the Deluxe Edition package will need to log in again and claim the reward at the donation box located in Reverent Temple.
• All Wuchang: Fallen Feathers Steam owners will receive the Original Soundtrack DLC for free as compensation.

Gameplay Balance Adjustments

Chapter 2 – Landmine Encounter Rebalancing:

• Reduced the number of landmines and adjusted their damage output to create a more fair and enjoyable challenge.

Prioritize Weapon Masteries in the Skill Tree

Like any good Souls-like, Wuchang will make you want to experiment with all the different weapons, finding the right one that suits you (or helps in clearing the next battle). You can freely respec in the Skill Tree, but what about upgrading the weapons and the materials that go into them? How can you possibly be efficient? Thankfully, Wuchang has a little something called Weapon Mastery. Head to the skill tree for a weapon type’s mastery and invest points to upgrade it to the maximum possible damage. Best of all, since these skill nodes influence weapon type rather than a specific armament, they will apply to all weapons in that category. Don’t like the Lashing Whip longsword and go back to something else? Maybe equip two weapons of the same type without worrying about upgrading each of them? Then this is the way. It’s also ideal if you want to specialize in two different weapon types (which you’ll want to do to leverage Wuchang’s strongest mechanics).

Death, Its Consequences and How Madness Ties in

Dying in Wuchang isn’t the end – in fact, it’s the step to more damage via Madness, but for everything that’s gained, something must be lost. When you die at low Madness, only some Red Mercury – the default currency in the world – is lost upon death, though you can always return to the same spot and retrieve it. However, as your Madness increases, the amount of Red Mercury dropped increases significantly, to the point where you could lose it all. High Madness also causes your Inner Demon to emerge, and only by defeating it can you claim the Red Mercury. Oh, and dying causes your Madness to increase, so if you’re carrying a lot of Red Mercury at high Madness, maybe assess the next situation before going all Leroy Jenkins.

How to Reduce Your Madness (In-Game)

Madness lets you deal more damage, but also increases the damage received, which can be good or bad depending on your playstyle. Regardless, there are multiple ways to mitigate it and return to a baseline state to cause the Madness to retreat. Killing Feathered enemies and certain bosses also reduces it. Defeating your Inner Demon will also completely remove Madness, though beware – if you lose, all your dropped Red Mercury will be wiped out.

Best Skills When Embracing the Madness

Madness is a lot like gravity, and given the risk vs. reward nature of Madness, it only makes sense that it would have some powerful associated skills. Swift Resilience will greatly reduce the damage taken when performing Swift Draws and even makes them much more difficult to interrupt, while Steel Resolve grants a stack of Skyborn Might when you deflect. Both require being above 50 percent Madness, though obviously, you need weapons that can deflect to take advantage of the latter. Regardless, these are only two skills which allow leveraging Madness in incredibly strong ways, so it’s best to experiment and find out just how.

Look for Golden Chests to Upgrade the Manna Vase

Everything in Wuchang, whether it’s your skills, masteries or stat upgrades, goes back to the skill tree, and you’ll need multiple different currencies, materials and skill points to unlock certain nodes. This also goes for Manna Capacity, which increases the amount of charges in your Manna Vase, the de facto Estus Flask for Wuchang. Since you only start with three uses, it’s a good idea to upgrade that as soon as possible, but you’ll need a special material called Forgotten Remembrance. Keep an eye out for Golden Chests throughout the Land of Shu to find them. They may require venturing off the beaten path, but the payoff is worth it.

Collect Aurum Feathers for Random Temporary Buffs

Another thing to watch for is birds – like regular birds, not the bird-like foes attempting to kill you. These birds have gold-tinged feathers and can perch in some pretty obvious spots. Killing them grants an Aurum Feather, a consumable that briefly increases your max health, max stamina, or all damage dealt. The effect received is completely random, but given how easy they are to obtain, it’s well worth it. Just don’t count on farming them, since they seemingly don’t respawn alongside foes when resting.

Beware (and Seek) The Red Eyes

If you’ve played Dark Souls or Bloodborne, the foes with red eyes should always be a concern. They have more health, deal more damage, and can be genuinely more annoying to deal with. However, they also drop pretty hefty amounts of Red Mercury, so you could tackle them early for a quick boost or return later to pad your earnings. Either way, don’t completely ignore or forget about them, even if they trounce you the first couple of times.

Swift Draw: Advantages and Recommended Skills

There are many unique Souls-like mechanics out there, and for Wuchang, it’s Swift Draw. Triggered while switching weapons, Swift Draw utilizes Skyborn Might and is essentially an attack, which lets you keep the combo going. But on top of all this, it also unleashes the weapon’s skill, so weaving it into certain combos can be good depending on the effects. You need to unlock it first with the Swift Resilience skill, but if you’re into high Madness builds, it’s worth getting Conversion as well. While above 50 percent Madness, it makes Swift Draw attacks stronger and even more so when above 90 percent Madness. It also restores a small amount of health if the Swift Draw connects on an enemy, which should help with the increased damage received from Madness.

Quickly Locating Important NPCs

Not everyone in the Land of Shu is out to get you. Several NPCs can be interacted with, whether it’s traders with weapons, armor and items or characters that will dole out side quests (some even impacting the main narrative). If you’re having a hard time keeping track of them all,  check the teleport option. The NPC’s face will show up next to a previously visited location, which helps narrow down where you need to go.

Blue Interactables, Emotes and Free Items

You may spot these strange glowing blue points while exploring, and interacting with them doesn’t seem to do anything. However, they provide a line of dialogue that seemingly hints at…something that needs to be done. As it turns out, if you select the appropriate emote, then they’ll grant you a free item like Candied Haws, a consumable that increases Stamina recovery speed and maximum health for a brief period. Pay attention to what the dialogue says, choose the corresponding emote, and profit.

Many of the criticisms focus on performance, with stuttering and lag plaguing even those who exceed the recommended requirements. A few reviews also mention inconsistent hit detection, enemies easily staggering the player with attacks, and whatnot. There are some positive impressions regarding the setting and boss fights, but they’re few and far between on Steam at the moment.

Critics are more positive, as Wuchang: Fallen Feathers currently has a 75 Metascore based on 66 reviews. You can read our review, where we gave it an eight, to learn more about our thoughts.

Alongside PC, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is also available for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

Along with mysteriously losing her memories, Wuchang is suffering from the Feathering disease and seeks a cure. Of course, this ties into the Chisel in her possession and taking down multiple cursed foes within the land. Fallen Feathers leverages a stamina bar and death penalty like other Souls-like titles, while featuring 25 unique weapons and 40 spells.

However, it also includes weapon switching and Madness, the latter increasing as Wuchang dies, increasing her damage dealt and received. It can also result in an Inner Demon that must be defeated to recover all her dropped currency. For more details on Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, check out our review. We gave it an eight out of ten.

It’s looking like weapon variety is going to be front and center in Wuchang: Fallen Feathers. Roughly how many different weapon types will the game feature, and how significantly will they impact one’s play style?

Currently, the game has a total of 5 weapon modules, such as long spears, double swords, axes, etc. Each module contains several different weapons. In addition to individual weapons, “Wuchang” created a shared resource system that combines the main and auxiliary weapons together. Different weapons have unique ways of accumulating feathers. Feathers are not just skill consumables, players can also consume feathers to quickly switch weapons and seamlessly release skills. Different weapon skills consume different types of feather. The number of feather capped at 5, and you can combine them to create a 3 + 2, 4 + 1, or 11111 powerful combo. Wuchang encourages players to form and master their own skill set by adding some combinations to it.

With Wuchang: Fallen Feathers set to feature multiple endings, can you give us an idea of how many different possible endings there are in the game, and how significantly they can vary based on players’ actions throughout a playthrough?

The side quests will affect the main story. Currently, there are more than 3 endings, and they are completely different endings, indicating the completely different fates of Wuchang.

What has your approach to level design been in Wuchang: Fallen Feathers? How open-ended will the levels be, and how much will the game encourage exploration, optional content, and rewards based on such content?

We designed the game map according to the design ideas of Dark Souls 1. We hope that players can pay more attention to the landmark buildings in the scene, the roads and terrain in the game, rather than searching by looking at the map. In this way, when players find shortcuts and routes in the game, they can get the sense of surprise brought by exploration.

Co-op can often be a crucial part of the experience in Soulslikes. Will Wuchang: Fallen Feathers feature such multiplayer options?

There is multiplayer features in Wuchang: Fallen Feathers.

How significantly will locations and environments differ from each other in terms of both design and their aesthetic?

As mentioned, the map design of the game is designed according to the idea of ​​​​Dark Soul 1. All large maps are seamlessly connected, and what you see is what you get. The game encourages players to understand the stories of all characters and explore the map, which will generate rewards, and all the player’s behaviors and choices will affect the main and branch lines and ultimately affect the ending.

Roughly how long will an average playthrough of the game be?

About 40 ~ 60 hours on average.

Game Science’s Black Myth Wukong stands out in this regard, with its unique take on a Chinese classic working well within the genre’s trappings to provide an experience that was both visually resplendent and technically sound from a gameplay perspective. And now, developer Leenzee has stepped up to the plate, with Wuchang: Fallen Feathers bringing another title based on the late Ming Dynasty but with terrifying twists.

While early previews of the game showcase a gameplay loop that is as frenetic as other Soulslike titles, and an assortment of weapons, gear, and mechanics that seek to build on its tenets, there’s something about the upcoming title that seems to set it apart from its peers.

With its release just over a week away, we take a look at the possibility of Wuchang: Fallen Feathers rising to the very top of our favorite Soulslikes, and examine why it makes us believe that it has what it takes to make a name for itself in this competitive space. 

It’s hard not to draw parallels between Wuchang’s predicament that forms the premise of the game’s story and Bloodborne, a Soulslike that continues to dominate discourse around the genre. Both the Hunter and Wuchang are stricken by a deadly disease, and are forced to seek out a cure by taking on hordes of deadly enemies and bosses.

However, Yharnam’s dark and gloomy streets make way for a world that’s deeply rooted in the Ming Dynasty’s penchant for visual flair and color, making Wuchang’s adventure one that makes the most of current-gen hardware to bring the Three Kingdoms to life. Yes, there are caves in which the atmosphere is as terrifying as the creatures that inhabit them. But they are contrasted with beautiful plains, villages, and other environments that the lands of Shu bring to life.

Leenzee’s decision to emulate Game Science’s switch from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5 has likely paid off, allowing its take on an action RPG to shine in terms of its visual fidelity. However, that switch has also allowed the studio to craft a combat loop that, on the surface, seems very polished. Enemy attacks and animations are perfectly telegraphed while Wuchang’s moves flow seamlessly from one to another.

That balance between visual fidelity and a solid gameplay loop is our first reason to be very optimistic about Wuchang’s chances when her adventures are pitted against the best of the best in the Soulslike genre.

Our second reason for liking what we’ve seen so far of Wuchang’s adventures is how Leenzee seems to have nailed a balance between its narrative and combat. While we certainly cannot predict if her personality is as charming as one would expect from a swashbuckling pirate, or if she is going to remain a mute protagonist who lets her weapons do the talking, Leenzee might have struck gold by integrating the game’s narrative into its combat system.

At the center of it all is the Feathering disease, which is not only eating away at Wuchang’s life expectancy, but is also transforming the world around her. It is presumably the cause of several of the incredible enemy designs we have seen in various showcases of the game. But it also creates an interesting reason for the game’s combat to be as frenetic as it is, giving Wuchang a reason to go all out against her foes while channeling her inner demons to gain an extra edge by any means necessary.

Take the Skyborn Might mechanic, for example. By staying aggressive and keeping the pressure on her opponents through perfectly timed dodges and parries, Wuchang generates the ability to unleash her weapons’ true potential, and bring any who oppose her quest to their knees. With weapons skills and discipline skills being tied to Skyborn Might, Wuchang’s narrative desperation is perfectly translated to Fallen Feather’s gameplay loop.

And then there’s Madness. Wuchang’s inner demons manifest as a red mark on her neck, allowing players to track its progress via an interesting visual touch instead of another bar to fill somewhere on the game’s HUD. It allows her to belt out more damage as it increases at the cost of her defence, creating a sort of balancing act that had us thinking fondly about the Posture System in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.

However, Madness isn’t just restricted to desperate battles against overwhelmingly powerful enemies. It creeps into Fallen Feather’s very design, allowing the game to take a truly unique and very exciting approach to how it handles death in the game. In contrast to the familiar trend of resurrecting a nearby bonfire (sorry, Shrine), dying when Wuchang’s Madness is active leaves behind an evil doppelganger of herself that she must then defeat in order to regain her lost XP.

In an interesting twist to Elden Ring’s Mimic Tear, this doppelganger is likely a perfect reflection of Wuchang’s equipped gear and abilities, making it a formidable foe that forces players to consider the potential risks and rewards of using Madness to gain an edge against a touch opponent, as opposed to the Mimic Tear being a helpful clone that makes fights easier.

Wuchang’s desperation is directly tied to how she uses the skills at her disposal while in combat, and reflects a very insightful approach to how Fallen Feathers has approached its narrative and gameplay as a cohesive whole, instead of its story being an afterthought that simply exists to push its protagonist from one area of its world to another – a tendency that many other Soulslikes have been guilty of in the past.

Fallen Feathers has our attention for another reason. It seamlessly integrates excellent mechanics from other Soulslikes into its gameplay loop while managing to stand apart on its own.

We touched upon how Skyborn Might reminded us of the Posture System in Sekiro. However, Wuchang brings a more expanded arsenal to the battlefield when compared to the one-armed Wolf who relied on his trusty katana and a few techniques to fight his battles. With five weapon types at her disposal, and the ability to swap between two equippable weapons mid-combo, Wuchang displays a fighting style that other Soulslike protagonists can only dream of.

With the ability to weave in spells along with unleashing her weapon’s best moves when she has accrued enough Might, Wuchang seems primed to raise the bar of what protagonists in future Soulslikes can do, bringing style and substance to every swing of her sword, or thrust of her spear.

The game’s elaborate Skill Tree is another ace up its sleeve, allowing players a lot of freedom to mix and match between various weapons, spells, and abilities in a way that earns its RPG label. We cannot wait to use a spear and dual blades to inflict multiple DPS elemental damage types to hapless enemies, seamlessly switching between the two based on our proximity to said enemies. And that’s just one idea for a build, making us wonder what other skilled players can come up with once they embark on Wuchang’s trek through Shu.

The option to equip gear that directly influences your playstyle while having a transmogrification feature active is another feather (yes, we said it) in Wuchang’s cap while being able to switch things up without any cost to the player makes Leenzee’s upcoming title an absolute treat for players who like to keep changing their builds based on the task at hand and the tools they have at their disposal.

It’s clear that the Chinese developer has keenly observed what has worked in other games in the Soulslike genre and what could be improved, adding layers to its title that elevate the experience it aims to present while remaining grounded in the genre’s roots – a balance that other developers have tried and failed to strike.

Examining how Fallen Feathers draws inspiration from its predecessors might lead its detractors to the accusation that it is a derivative take on other Soulslike titles, merely repackaging excellent mechanics and making them seem new. However, we believe that there’s enough meat on the bones of its gameplay systems to justify those inclusions.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers has a lot of potential to be a title that we keep coming back to long after we roll the credits on what seems like a very exciting adventure. We cannot wait to see how Bai Wuchang manages to cheat her seemingly unavoidable fate, and perhaps dive back into a potential New Game Plus to experience a different ending to the tale. 

But for now, all we can do is wait until the game drops on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and Windows later this month. 

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

The minimum requirements include an Intel Core i5-8400 or AMD Ryzen 5 1600, 16 GB RAM and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB) or an AMD Radeon RX 580 (8 GB). Recommended requirements encompass a Core i7-9700 or Ryzen 5 5500, 16 GB of RAM, and a GeForce RTX 2070, a Radeon RX 5700 XT or an Intel Arc A750.

All of these requirements are with Nvidia DLSS or AMD FSR enabled. Unfortunately, Leenzee didn’t specify the resolution, frame rates and quality settings, nor did it outline the hardware necessary for 4K. Stay tuned for updates on that in the coming days.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers launches on July 24^th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC, and it will also be available on day one for Game Pass. Check out our feature for everything you should know before buying.