Wuchang: Fallen Feathers preview – More than a Black Myth: Wukong clone

For that reason, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, from Chengdu-based studio Leenzee, has piqued the attention of many players, all with one question on their minds: Can Wuchang: Fallen Feathers replicate Wukong's flyaway success?

If my experience with it is any indication, I certainly don't see why not.

A few weeks ago, I made my way to a bar in north London to sit down with Wuchang for a whirlwind three-hour preview, and it's safe to say that I was impressed.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers tells the story of Bai Wuchang, a Ming dynasty pirate struck by a strange affliction which has caused feathers to sprout from her body. Suffering from amnesia, she sets out into a world beset by the disease, turning average people into mindless monsters.

I won't comment too much on the story, as three hours is certainly not enough time to fully appreciate it, but the concept definitely caught my attention.

Chinese mythology is, at least in my opinion, fascinating, so give me a game that has me careening through grand temples, meeting historical figures and Three Kingdoms-inspired characters, and I'm a happy man.

If you liked the setting of Black Myth: Wukong, then you are certain to find plenty to love here, as well.

But mythology is about all Wuchang and Wukong have in common, because once we hit combat, they diverge significantly.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is a soulslike. Not a kind-of-a-soulslike-but-not-really soulslike, a label which was readily foisted upon Black Myth: Wukong. This is a proper soulslike, with varied weapon types, weapon and stat upgrades, dodge rolls, parries and, of course, tough bosses.

It’s not the kind of game that lends itself to a mere three-hour preview. Imagine being dumped into Elden Ring and told you have three hours to see and do as much as you can before having to write up your thoughts on it – most people would do well just to get past Margit.

And I won't lie - initially, I hated the combat. It was too slow in comparison to Black Myth: Wukong, but too imprecise in comparison to the perfectly telegraphed bosses of FromSoftware's titles. It just didn't feel right.

But I persevered, and once I came to my first boss, all the pieces fell into place. I stopped trying to play this game like all the games I've played before, and played to Wuchang's strengths, and once I did, combat was a blast.

Wuchang is not so much a game about dodging and striking as it is about positioning.

Enemies often attack too fast for you to dodge repeatedly, rapidly wearing out your stamina bar.

Instead, Wuchang asks you to think about where you are in relation to your enemy. You have abilities that allow you to close the distance quickly, so in many instances, your best bet is to kite around your enemy, using spacing to bait them into an attack before quickly closing in and capitalising on their mistake.

This is especially true when the game introduces a kind of backstab mechanic. If you can pull off a power attack on the enemy's back, it stuns them, allowing you to pull off a powerful critical hit.

It's a surprisingly unique mechanic – I haven't come across another soulslike that puts as much stock into this specific means of posture breaking, but it works.

I will say, however, that once I got the hang of it, the early game bosses I faced were perhaps a bit too easy to beat.

The full 180 degrees behind your enemy appears to be fair game when it comes to stunning them with power attacks, resulting in several times where I only had to hit them from the side to completely stun them – but hey, you control the buttons you press, I suppose.

Once the combat had clicked for me, all I wanted was more boss fights, and thankfully, Wuchang was more than happy to provide.

The arenas I saw were simple but gorgeous, and the bosses themselves offered a nice blend of mechanics. They were tough (when I avoided trying to cheese them), but they never felt insurmountable. Every death was my own fault, and every fight I felt closer to beating them.

As I approached the end of my time with the first section, I really only had one complaint about the combat: It could really do with a parry. Anyone who read my Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 or Doom: The Dark Ages reviews will know how much of a parry fiend I am.

First section complete, we were moved on to a special section later in the game, billed as a kind of skill checkpoint – Wuchang's Genichiro, if you will – and you will never guess what mechanic was introduced.

That's right! A stealth sect-- parry!

All my prayers were answered, and while I sadly didn’t have enough time nor enough skill to overcome this boss in those dwindling minutes, I had seen pretty much everything I needed to see.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers may be a Chinese-made action game centred around the country's mythology, but calling it 'the next Wukong' is not only reductive, but wrong.

Wuchang is its own game, with its own approach to combat, story, setting and more.

Will it manage to replicate Wukong's commercial success? Who's to say? What I do know, however, is that Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is shaping up to be just as good as Sun Wukong's blockbuster adventure.

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