familiar fare for ‘Elden Ring’ fans

Blockbuster games tend to inspire a wave of copycat titles. Thanks to the success of Hidetaka Miyazaki’s all-conquering Elden Ring, ‘soulslike’ games are all the rage right now. Common features include dark fantasy storytelling, gritty sword-based combat and a sparse checkpoint system. Their most notorious trait? A brutal difficulty level that uses death as a teaching tool.

The latest addition to this crowded genre is Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, which provides a refined, if unapologetically generic, take on the formula.

Like any good soulslike game, we’re introduced to our protagonist Wuchang as she wakes from a foggy dream on the floor of a small cave. Emerging into the lands of Shu, a fantastical reimagining of the late Ming dynasty, there’s little time for backstory before she must set off on a violent quest. See, Wuchang has contracted the ‘Feathering Disease’ which has caused blue feathers to burst from her left arm and sees nearly every non-player character attack her on sight.

Compared to Elden Ring’s chaotic open world, Fallen Feathers is refreshingly focused. The world of Shu unfolds intricately and progression feels like following a line of knotted string. Scratching a path through the labyrinthine mercury mine where a wrong turn can see you plunging to your death feels intense and that’s before you stumble out into dark graveyards strewn with living corpses that grasp at you from every angle. It’s familiar, fantastical stuff.

Fallen Feathers isn’t just a cheap copy of what’s come before though. Leaning into Chinese mythology with dragon-imprinted gold armour, shining red palaces and images of Buddha carved into cliff faces, the cursed land is rich and colourful. The combat has also been given a clever refresh. While it’s rooted in the typical slash and roll rhythm, Fallen Feathers brings compelling new additions to battles including a range of special attacks and spells that can be unleashed after dodging enemy attacks.

There’s also a sleek, deliberate range of weapons to choose from and the branching skill tree, changeable anytime with no penalty, lets you mix things up according to your strengths. The short sword path leads to more magic, the halberd will result in increased health.

Of course, there is a range of hideous enemies to slay. A molten iron-clawed bug is easier to kill with a heavier weapon and a corrupted tree-like creature demands a barrage of magical fireballs. While difficulty varies – the latter continues the soulslike tradition of immobile bosses being ludicrously easy to dispatch – these beasts provide an intense but fair challenge. Their attack patterns are far more legible than the flailing, unpredictable monstrosities found throughout Elden Ring.

Other notable spins on the souls formula include a demon warrior spawning in the spot where you die and the developers’ own cruel take on ‘mimic chests’. Fallen Feathers provides an unapologetic iteration, not a revolution. But done well, sometimes more of the same is enough.

‘Wuchang: Fallen Feathers’ is released on July 24 for PC, PlayStation and Xbox