Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is the latest major Soulslike game from Team Ninja. Taking a slew of inspiration from titles like Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and Elden Ring, Wo Long thrusts you into an unforgiving world where mastery is earned through patience, exploration, and combat intuition.
Those new to the Soulslike experience might be in for a rough ride right out of the gates. Even veterans of this particular spice of gaming needn’t feel bad if the rich and detailed mechanics come across overbearing. Whichever camp you come from, here are several things you are bound to do when embarking on Wo Long’s punishing journey.
10 Die On The First Boss
It wouldn’t be a Soulslike without clashing you against a challenging first boss. Wo Long attempts to wall your progress with its first boss, Zhang Liang, and he’s far from a pushover. And, unlike many Soulslike first boss encounters, you must defeat him to progress.
With the game expecting you to take in a lot of information regarding its many UI’s and gameplay mechanics from the moment you start, dying to the first boss will be common play, making those that accomplish this early feat thirsty for more.
9 Not Completing Training
After dying a bunch from the first boss, you are taunted with a hint box that instructs you to engage in the game's training mode. This isn’t a difficulty setting, but rather a separately located tutorial that is relatively easy to miss.
You must travel to it via a battle flag, and most of the game's combat systems are explained, pitting you against spawning demons. It's well worth visiting to understand the combat system better, but the extra steps it takes to get there make the game tutorial highly missable.
8 Playing It Like It’s A Soulslike
Gamers who have conquered Sekiro won’t be able to ignore the similarities between it and Wo Long, as well as notice how many mechanics are borrowed from FromSoftware’s tried and tested gameplay formula. This familiar ground can make players emulate tactics and expectations more suitable to a Soulslike – for better or worse.
Wo Long stands on its twin blades and carves out its own identity wholly inspired by said gameplay formula. The combat is frenetic, the narrative is more linear, and it adheres to a stage-based design over open world. It can be tricky but try going into Wo Long on its own accord.
7 Get Overwhelmed By The Stats
Lovers of deep, micro-managerial stats will dance gleefully at Team Ninja’s extremely rich handling of number crunching. The vast array of numerical vantages associated with every piece of loot is startling, which can cause quite a few brains to itch.
Thankfully, a streamlined experience can be just as fulfilling if a player picks loot with numbers higher than they currently have. However, with so many percentages to consider, overwhelming decisions regarding loot stats are commonplace.
6 Overlook The Decorate Feature
It’s always a welcoming sight to play an RPG, looking exactly how you want to look. Fashion is always a talking point regarding adventure, and Wo Long triples down when it comes to character customization. You can choose to decorate yourself to look like you're wearing any piece of equipment without substituting the stats. The feature, however, isn’t easy to find.
First, you must talk to Zhu Xia, the blacksmith. Then, you can choose to decorate and begin your transformation. Character appearance might not be on everyone’s mind when it comes to progressing in Wo Long, but for those with style, getting to that option can be overlooked.
5 Forgetting To Use Tiger Seals
The majority of stages will start you with a trusted, AI-controlled companion. They will certainly take the edge off of all combat encounters and are generally useful. A fair few stages in, and the game will make you fly solo unless you use a tiger seal to call upon reinforcements.
You become so used to starting a stage with a companion that the need to summon more disappears. Therefore, the idea of using tiger seals gets pushed further to the back of the mind. You either stick with whoever joins you at the start of the level or go lone wolf.
4 Getting Rid Of Loot
Wo Long can turn into a bit of a hoarding sim. Loot is abundant, and you’ll often finish a battlefield carrying a plethora of identical swords, spears, and crossbows. For you to not feel like a walking armory, you’ll be ditching quite a lot of loot regularly.
The sheer amount of loot means you’ll easily rack up a high amount of useless equipment. Getting rid of it will become second nature, and with so many ways to lighten the load, you should keep those pockets squeaky clean until the next battlefield, at least.
3 Taking Fall Damage
Whilst the majority of battlefields (Wo Long’s version of levels) don’t feature towering heights, fall damage is a thing. It can catch players off guard to notice a chunk of life disappears after dropping down from somewhere. Luckily, there is a solution to avoiding damage.
A loading screen hint will teach you to use the dodge button just before you hit the ground. This will negate all fall damage, which is a bit of a beginner's trap. But knowledge is power, so have fun falling safely.
2 Not Revisiting Older Areas
You’re never overtly encouraged to go back to older stages during gameplay. In fact, it’s a mechanic that you actively must seek out to realize you can visit the older areas. Moreover, these areas now have sub-battle fields to complete.
Any time you feel vastly underpowered, a quick visit to an older location might be just the decision you need to power up. However, this might not come naturally, considering the game barely hints at doing it.
1 Not Using Accolade Points
A vengeance system is used in Wo Long with satisfying results. Some enemies will have a faint purple glow near their morale level, which means that killing them will avenge some hapless souls that lost their lives to it. Avenging will earn you accolade points, but, like many systems in Wo Long, where to use those points is not so obvious.
You’ll have to frequent the Hidden Village, the safe hub area of the game. There, you’ll need to talk to Zuo Ci (multiple times) to access a feature where accolade points can be spent. You can buy emotes, as well as pay into a strange, lootbox-esque system that will randomly give you a piece of equipment; its rarity depends on how much you spend.