Imagine a fantasy version of Ming dynasty China, suffering from a plague that slowly mutates infectees into avian-like creatures. Toss in a femme fatale named after the Chinese gods of death, more hard-as-nails enemies than you can shake a guandao at, and Soulslike vibes imitating the greats, and occasionally even surpassing them. This is Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, a game I loved – warts and all – purely on the strength of its level design.
Wuchang: Fallen Feathers was a big game for me professionally this year, as it arrived during a period when Ollie was off and it was just myself covering for the guides team. I’d initially anticipated that Wuchang would be a mid-sized release at best, probably worthy of a few guides here and there but nothing too big. It ended up turning into a much larger project, with a slew of pieces written by yours truly – especially our boss guide – helping drive traffic for much of late July and August.
Covering a Soulslike as a lone guides writer is always a daunting affair, but it helps when the game in question is actually very good. While Wuchang: Fallen Feathers has achieved notoriety for a number of things, including its heroine’s revealing outfits and a post-launch patch that altered aspects of the game to appease Mainland China audiences, what remains is some of the best level design I’ve encountered.
Take the opening village, for instance, with its myriad corridors and alleyways, all of which lead to hidden rooftops and shortcuts that wonderfully loop back to the central temple hub. It’s an inspiring piece of interlaid architecture, replete with so many branching paths that unfold yet form a beautiful whole, kind of like an intricate tangram puzzle. Most of Wuchang’s levels follow this lead, and it brings back memories not just of the first Dark Souls, but also the feeling of encountering that design for the first time.
Not all of Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is as expertly crafted. Prior to patches, developers Leenzee seemed intent on undermining Wuchang’s well-made levels with malicious “gotcha” moments. Imagine constant landmines hidden in the snowy bandit lair, and a few too many foes popping out from dungeon corridors to shank you. Its bosses were also unbalanced, ranging from the notorious Commander Honglan, who served as a wall in the early game, to the final boss – who can actually be wrecked in a single hit via a magic build if you know what you’re doing.
That said, Soulslikes do this sort of nonsense regularly. Really, they’re the only modern titles to channel the “I’ve got to beat this bastard game” I felt playing the NES as a kid, and Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is a fine example of Chinese developers studying from the greats, putting their own spin on the material, and occasionally going beyond their inspiration. I’m looking forward to seeing a sequel soon – and while it would be nice to have more guides staff on deck to cover it when it drops, I’m sure it’ll be good enough for me to want to push through solo.
Head over to the RPS Advent Calendar 2025 to open another door!