Wuchang: Fallen Feathers [PlayStation 5] | REVIEW

The Souls-like genre has become increasingly crowded over the years, with new entries appearing on a near-monthly basis in different shapes and forms. Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, the debut title from the team at Leenzee, is the latest release in the genre, and it treads through some familiar territory. However, what starts as a slightly derivative take on a Souls-like slowly evolves into a nuanced and deeply satisfying action RPG that, despite a few technical and design flaws, certainly earns its place amongst its critically-acclaimed peers.

Check out some screenshots down below:

Set in a dark fantasy reimagining of late Ming Dynasty China, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers leans heavily on its atmosphere and world-building across its storytelling. Players take on the role of Wuchang, a pirate-turned-warrior afflicted with a condition called ‘Feathering’, which transforms humans into grotesque monstrosities. From the opening, the narrative delivery follows the Souls-like tradition: opaque, fragmented, and reliant on environmental storytelling, vague NPC dialogue, and scattered lore notes. It’s something I’ve grown fond of within the genre, but for those unfamiliar, don’t expect to be too invested in the tale unless you’re willing to dig deep.

During my early hour or so of Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, it felt like a fairly standard experience as far as the genre goes. There’s stamina management, predictable enemy placement, familiar item use, and basic melee combat where you can string together combos and defensive manoeuvres – if you’re familiar with others Souls-likes, it’s easy to get into the groove of things.

However, things begin to open up meaningfully a few hours in, when the game starts to reveal its own identity through deeper mechanics and some of its own unique ideas. At the heart of Wuchang: Fallen Feathers’ combat is Skyborn Might, a special resource that powers many of the game’s advanced abilities, from weapon-specific arts to powerful spells. This meter is replenished through perfectly timed dodges and successful melee attacks, making combat feel both reactive and strategic where you have to pick your moments carefully in order to be more effective in battle. And if you’re not a fan of parrying? You’re in luck – Wuchang: Fallen Feathers emphasizes dodging as the core of its rhythm, with this choice setting it apart subtly but effectively from its more parry-centric peers.

“While technical hiccups and a sometimes overly familiar structure hold it back from true greatness, it remains a rewarding and engaging journey for fans of the genre – one that’s well worth enduring a few rough edges to experience.“

Players can adopt a wide range of playstyles thanks to an impressive arsenal of weapons – including longswords, spears, dual blades, and axes – each with their own special abilities tied to a vast and flexible skill tree known as the Impetus Repository. Character progression is highly customizable, and players are free to re-spec at any time, encouraging experimentation as you progress through the game and better understand your skillset (or what you might need to do to best a particularly tricky foe). The depth is commendable, with plenty of room for melee builds, magic-focused builds, or even a hybrid approaches that combine both together. It’s rewarding and complements the combat to ensure it remains satisfyingly strategic throughout.

Adding to the game’s uniqueness is the Madness mechanic, a high-risk, high-reward system that increases your power but also your vulnerability. Madness builds as you die and kill certain types of enemies, and once it reaches a threshold, it can spawn a demon holding your lost experience. While not essential to beat the game, Madness adds a subtle layer of tension and optional strategy for players willing to engage with it. The system could benefit from clearer communication as it’s easy to overlook without reading deeper into its nuances, but when you do figure things out, it brings a very unique hook to Wuchang: Fallen Feathers that certainly helps set it apart from similar releases in the genre. It can be guilty of being a familiar experience, but things like this show that it has its fair share of its own ideas too.

Much like a lot of the game, level design in Wuchang is classic Souls-like, with branching paths, hidden areas, looping shortcuts, and secret bosses to be discovered. The environments range from forests and temples to decaying towns and corrupted ruins, and while these settings are competently executed, they rarely surprise – even if I was a big fan of the Asian-theming of the world. It’s rewarding to explore though, with plenty of items, side quests, and narrative threads hidden off the main path that will reward those who take the time to venture across every nook and cranny.

Check out some screenshots down below:

Oh, and the enemy and boss design? It’s great, with some brilliant encounters to face off against. This can often make-or-break a Souls-like, but Wuchang: Fallen Feathers delivers with some varied mob encounters when exploring the world and stellar boss showdowns where the finer details of the game’s combat mechanics are fully shown off.

Unfortunately, whilst Wuchang: Fallen Feathers has plenty of strengths, it does come with some iffy technical issues too. Performance on the PlayStation 5 leaves much to be desired, and whilst players can choose between Quality, Balanced, and Performance modes, none of these configurations seem to offer a stable, wholly satisfying experience. Screen tearing, blurry textures, and occasional frame drops are common, and facial details in particular often look muddy or oddly rendered. It’s a shame because there’s a really attractive world to be seen and the gameplay mechanics are slick, but it doesn’t always deliver on the technical side. It’s by no means unplayable at all (I got through it just fine), but they’re noticeable flaws in what is otherwise a very enjoyable experience.

Developer: Leenzee
Publisher: 505 Games
Platform(s): PlayStation 5 (Reviewed), Xbox Series X|S, PC
Website: https://wuchanggame.com/