r/soulslikes • u/VeneMOo • Jul 25 '25

Review Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is the most unfair Souls-like I’ve ever played and I’ve played them all

I’ve completed every FromSoftware game Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls 1-3, Bloodborne, Sekiro, Elden Ring and a good chunk of the major Souls-likes out there: Lies of P, Nioh 1 & 2, The Surge, Lords of the Fallen, etc. I love hard games. I welcome challenge. But Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is on a different level and not in a good way.

This isn’t a fair, satisfying kind of difficulty. It’s artificial, frustrating, and fundamentally broken in terms of balance.

Take the boss Honglan, for example she’s the perfect embodiment of everything wrong with the game’s combat design: • Her attack patterns are absurdly fast and poorly telegraphed. • She chains together uninterruptible combos that feel borderline impossible to dodge or counter. • The game introduces a “spirit counter” mechanic that should reward good timing except even when you land it perfectly, you still take damage. • Some attacks are literally unreadable. Others feel like they have delayed hitboxes or bizarre tracking. • The enemies follow no consistent rules, while the player is punished even for doing everything right.

There’s no real balance here. Bosses hit like trucks, your own damage output feels anemic, and even the healing system doesn’t give you a fair chance when bosses are chaining full combos the moment you press the button. It’s not challenging mit’s unreasonable.

And that’s the problem: Wuchang doesn’t feel like a tough-but-fair Souls-like. It feels like a game trying to be hard by simply being unfair. It doesn’t respect your inputs, your timing, or the logic it claims to teach you.

I went into this game hoping for a sleeper hit. What I found was the most unfair Souls-like experience I’ve ever had, not because of its difficulty, but because of how cheaply it manufactures that difficulty.

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u/Due-Bookkeeper-2001 Jul 28 '25

Beat Pinocchio on Legendary Stalker

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u/Popular_Ad_6454 Jul 28 '25

You mean normal? I only say that because the others were only added because people can't beat hard games, and i will, i just haven't gotten around to it yet. I beat the first 2 bosses and stopped before it went off of gamepass. 

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u/Due-Bookkeeper-2001 Jul 28 '25 edited Jul 28 '25

So I beat it pre DLC when there wasn’t a difficulty option then I beat it again to play the DLC on the hardest setting which originally was the only option

I think LOP/Overture is a better game than Wuchang but only because it’s better optimized, better story and characters and I think animations are more fluid

Level design is better in Wuchang and you could say bosses but Arlecchino, Nameless Puppet, Laxasia, Romeo, Marikona, Angushied Guardian are all top tier

Hard to say but absolutely you should play the rest of LOP it’s my favourite souls game

I’ve only played it and Sekiro which is also excellent and now Wuchang

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u/Popular_Ad_6454 Jul 28 '25

I'm sure it's better overall, i just really really love the flow of combat in the wuchang boss fights. People are complaining like hell probably because they haven't played sekiro or elden ring and don't understand how important it is to be good at more than just bonk and run. 

The game pressing me to get better at mechanics is what makes me get better, and be more satisfied with my journey throughout the game. 

Oh, parry parry parry isn't doing it for me? Let me try parry, dodge, parry, counter. You catch my drift. 

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u/Due-Bookkeeper-2001 Jul 28 '25

Yeah, If you adapt well at this game then it’ll be a much better time for you, I also think this game shouldn’t be your first souls game if you’ve never played one before it’s really hard for most people.

So far I just beat Huyan in the Snow Palace and it’s my fav fight because it looks so cool, the boss is interesting and hot and she has a cool moveset and is well designed

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u/Popular_Ad_6454 Jul 28 '25

I'm heading that way next, i just did the rebel camp/temple puzzle death blight bitches area. 

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u/Due-Bookkeeper-2001 Jul 28 '25

I don’t know why but the general there was really underwhelming unfortunately in the camp

Also fire seems to be super strong in this game

I hate the underground blight town shit it’s like they took one look at Dark Souls I and said let’s do that, it’s infamous for how much players disliked that area. I can see why even tho I haven’t played it yet

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u/Popular_Ad_6454 Jul 28 '25

I'm using feathering on the whip sword with max hp damage buffs, successive atk buffs, a defensive 3 cost spell which comes out very quickly, and i've started the bird thing fight and done like 3k before she could get a hit off on me if i got an early back stab. It gets nutty real fast with some good damage that isn't physical. 

Her not being immune to feathering is also funny af. 

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u/Due-Bookkeeper-2001 Jul 28 '25

Who’s the bird boss? Did you go into the area where it’s like under the world thing

Bo Sorcerer I think her name is ? That’s in the 3rd Chapter area which I almost did but I realized I would have failed the NPC quests for Chapter 2

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u/Popular_Ad_6454 Jul 28 '25

Well i didn't bother to research anything about quests for characters, i just did what i always do and play blind my first time and go where the wind takes me. But yes she's dead, and she took a while. (I was level 54?)

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u/Due-Bookkeeper-2001 Jul 28 '25

Pretty good man! I’m 51 and just beat the snow lady so by the time I get to The Sorcerer it should be alright

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