There is something slightly strange about reviewing a game we already reviewed. I usually don’t look at our old reviews before jotting down my own thoughts, but I did this time. Why? I’ll get to that in a bit. Back in 2024, Michiel took Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty for a spin on PlayStation 5 and came away rather happy with it. He praised the combat, enjoyed the deflection system, and argued that its slightly more linear approach might actually make it a good alternative for people who love games like Dark Souls and Elden Ring, but don’t necessarily have a spare eighty hours lying around. He gave it an 8/10. Case closed? Well, not quite, because I’m not really reviewing the same version of Wo Long. Shall we jump in?
The Complete Edition has now arrived on Nintendo Switch 2, bringing the original game and its three major expansions to Nintendo’s latest hardware. And after games such as Lies of P already demonstrated how comfortably Soulslikes can fit onto the system, while even Elden Ring has made the jump surprisingly well, the bar for these ports has become considerably higher. That creates an interesting problem for Wo Long because, underneath this version, there is still the game Michiel enjoyed. You can feel it almost immediately. Unfortunately, you can also frequently feel the Nintendo Switch 2 version getting in the way. You can find his review right here:
Review: Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty
Returning to a fallen dynasty
For those who missed Wo Long the first time around, Team NINJA takes the familiar Soulslike structure and moves it into one of the most famous periods of Chinese history. Or, perhaps more accurately, just before it. The game begins towards the end of the Later Han Dynasty, before the emergence of the Three Kingdoms. Real historical figures and events are mixed with a much darker fantasy interpretation of China, where demons inspired by Chinese folklore roam the land and concepts such as Qi, martial arts, Wizardry Spells and Divine Beasts become part of your arsenal. As a historian, that’s easily one of the things I appreciate most about Wo Long. There are countless Souls-like games set in European medieval fantasy. Apparently, castles, swamps, and people wearing suspiciously large amounts of armor are mandatory somewhere in the genre’s terms and conditions. Luckily, Wo Long immediately feels different. Its interpretation of the Three Kingdoms period gives the game a cultural identity that isn’t simply painted over the familiar Soulslike structure. Famous warriors become characters you can fight alongside, mythology bleeds into historical conflict, and Chinese martial arts influence the way combat looks and feels. Of course, don’t start citing Wo Long in your history paper; I mean, the demons might raise some questions. But as historical fantasy, I enjoyed how it uses recognizable people, beliefs, and imagery as a foundation before happily throwing monsters into the equation.
Different history, familiar suffering
The basic rhythm will be familiar to anyone who has spent time with a Soulslike. You move through relatively linear battlefields, defeat enemies, discover shortcuts, and eventually encounter something considerably larger than you that would very much like you to stop existing. Battle Flags fulfill the familiar checkpoint role, restoring you while also bringing regular enemies back into the world. Exploring beyond the obvious path lets you find additional flags and increase your Fortitude, which feeds directly into one of Wo Long’s more interesting systems: Morale. Rather than making every encounter entirely dependent on permanent character levels, Morale creates a form of temporary progression within each mission. You begin at zero and build it by fighting successfully, while enemies have Morale levels of their own. The difference affects the amount of punishment both sides can dish out, meaning that challenging something several ranks above you can be a very educational experience, although usually a brief one. You should see Morale as short-term growth specific to each mission, with Fortitude essentially creating a floor below which Morale cannot fall. It encourages exploration without turning every optional path into another collectible hunt. Finding those flags isn’t merely about getting a completion percentage; you’re making the upcoming fights more manageable, and I still like that idea, because it gives Wo Long something recognizably its own.
Please hit me
Combat is where I most clearly understood why Michiel liked the original. Deflection is incredibly important. You can dodge and block, of course, but sooner or later you need to learn how to meet an enemy’s attack at exactly the right moment. A successful deflect shifts the Spirit system in your favor and damages the enemy’s Spirit at the same time. Particularly dangerous Critical Blows can’t simply be blocked either, so getting that timing right can save your ass and immediately give you an opportunity to fight back. Wo Long encourages you to stay close to enemies and take those risks. Eventually, you see a giant demon winding up an attack and think: “Go on then, give me your best shot.” Pull off the deflect and it feels fantastic. Miss it and you might immediately regret being such a smartass. Weapons and Martial Arts give you different options once you’ve created an opening, while Wizardry brings the Five Phases into combat. Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water interact with each other, so there’s more going on than simply picking the spell with the prettiest explosion. I liked seeing those Chinese influences extend into the magic system as well. There’s a lot to enjoy once you get used to how Wo Long fights, which made it even more annoying whenever the Switch 2 version couldn’t keep up.
A Soulslike needs good timing
Timing is everything in Wo Long, so technical problems can become particularly annoying here. You’re constantly reading attacks and trying to respond within a very small window. During those moments I want to look at the enemy’s sword, not wonder whether the image in front of me is keeping up. Unfortunately, that happened more often than I wanted on Nintendo Switch 2. I had high hopes when I booted up this Complete Edition, especially because you can choose between options that prioritise graphical fidelity or frame rate. Neither completely fixed my problems. The frame rate can still struggle when fights get busy, and that’s difficult to ignore in a game where a badly timed deflect can get you killed. A little hitch while I’m exploring usually makes me shrug. I honestly don’t care that much about these things. A little hitch while I’m trying to deflect something the size of a small apartment building tends to produce a different vocabulary, which I won’t reproduce for our younger readers.
Wo Long certainly isn’t unplayable on Switch 2. I just had moments where a death left me wondering whether I had screwed up or the game had. That’s not a question I want to ask in a Soulslike. I’m perfectly capable of dying through my own stupidity, thank you very much. Sadly, performance isn’t the only compromise. Wo Long was never the prettiest game in the genre, but I still like its environments, armour, creatures and exaggerated version of ancient China. On Switch 2, some of that detail takes a hit. Prioritising performance can make the image noticeably softer, especially in busier environments and around characters. Normally, I’d happily accept that if it gave me smoother combat. Give me fewer leaves. Remove a shrub. Please sacrifice a decorative rock to the performance gods. I don’t care. Just make the sword fight smooth. That’s the frustrating part here. Cutting back the visuals would be perfectly fine for me if the performance option fixed my main complaint, and it doesn’t completely do that. So I’m left with a softer image and still occasionally wishing the combat ran better.
The Switch 2 also isn’t in that early period anymore where I’m impressed simply because somebody managed to squeeze a demanding game onto it. We’ve already played some ambitious ports on this machine, including Soulslikes, so my expectations have changed. Lies of P showed me that this type of game can work very well on the hardware, and Elden Ring has since made the jump too. Of course I don’t expect my Switch 2 to suddenly become a PS5 when I put it in the dock. There are going to be compromises. I can accept lower resolutions, fewer visual details and other cuts if that’s what a portable version needs. With Wo Long, I simply wish those sacrifices resulted in steadier combat, because that’s the one thing I really don’t want to worry about when a giant demon is swinging a weapon at my head.
The Complete part?
And before I go completely sour on this release, you certainly aren’t getting a barebones package. This is the Complete Edition, so the base campaign comes with Battle of Zhongyuan, Conqueror of Jiangdong and Upheaval in Jingxiang, plus the Thousand-Mile Journey endgame content. That’s a lot of Wo Long in one package, especially if you’re playing it for the first time, like me. The extra content also adds more to an already pretty broad combat system, with plenty of weapons, equipment, Martial Arts and character upgrades to mess around with. Wo Long also has a habit of throwing loot at you like it’s trying to empty an entire warehouse into your inventory. Apparently every soldier in ancient China carried three pairs of trousers and four nearly identical swords. Historical accuracy remains under investigation; I’ll consult one of my old study mates. Content-wise, though, this version is absolutely complete. My problems are all about how the game performs on Switch 2, not about anything being missing.
I also ended up liking the setting more than I expected. The Three Kingdoms have appeared in so many games by now that Koei Tecmo has probably made sure most of us could name half the cast in our sleep, but Wo Long still has a fun take on the period. It mixes Chinese history with horror, throws mythological creatures into familiar conflicts and lets famous warriors fight alongside you. That interested me more than yet another dark fantasy Soulslike with a castle that looks suspiciously familiar. The story itself didn’t stick with me quite as much. Michiel said something similar in our original review: he liked the presentation and the variety of locations, but didn’t expect the narrative to stay with him for very long. I ended up in roughly the same place. I was more interested in the world around the story than in the story itself, and unfortunately the Switch 2 version doesn’t always show that world at its best.
Conclusion
There is still a very good game inside Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty Complete Edition. We already reviewed that game before, and after finally playing it myself, I can see why Michiel enjoyed it. The combat is satisfying, I loved its mix of Chinese history and folklore, and newcomers get the base game and all of its additional content in one package. I just wish I could recommend the Switch 2 version as easily. The softer image wouldn’t bother me much if combat ran smoothly all the time, but that wasn’t my experience. In a game where one badly timed deflect can get you killed, those technical problems became difficult to ignore. We’ve already seen demanding games make the jump to Switch 2 with better results, so I’m not willing to give Wo Long a free pass simply because I can now play it on a handheld. So yes Wo Long is good, I just don’t think this is a particularly good version of Wo Long. Chinese history gave us plenty of fallen dynasties, but this particular fall is mostly technical.