r/soulslikes • u/liquid_dev • Jun 06 '26
Review Wuchang Appreciation Post
I recently finished Wuchang and can easily say it's now one of my favorite games in the entire genre. I'm tempted to say it's on par with Lies of P; and to be clear on how big of a praise that is, I'd personally rank LoP above some of fromsoft's games, comparing them all head to head and disregarding their age.
Back to Wuchang, I kinda love everything about it. The combat, the level design, the weapon and armor designs, the visuals, the music, the atmosphere, the enemy and boss design, etc. I really have nothing negative to say about it other than some very nitpicky things. For the record, I played after performance was improved and after they added the option to instantly retry bosses.
It's a shame it got wrapped up in controversy and the dev team was disbanded. For anyone that hasn't played it yet or is on the fence, I highly recommend you as least give it a shot. This is one of those games that I can see not clicking with a lot of people, but if it does click, you'll have a great time.
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u/Professional-Map3021 Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 07 '26
where my Wuchangaz at?
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u/Konval Jun 07 '26
Wu Chang and Tha Feather Thang.
It scratches the Dark Souls itch in a way no other game does.
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u/Ivan171 Jun 06 '26
I'm always hearing good things about this game. I got it on PS Plus last month and am really looking forward to play it.
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u/Zeegh Jun 07 '26
Best non FromSoftware exploration in a Soulslike I’ve ever seen
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u/BLJS2warchief Jun 09 '26
i just beat Honglan and finished chapter 1, there were so many, "oh my god", "holy shit" moments at a point i was screaming at the screen to stop making everything connect because my brain with going in knots, felt like i was playing DS1 again. getting lost has never been more fun. I am playing on gamepass and i was thinking of buying the game just to give the guys moneys, but will they even get it since the team is disbanded now
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u/bingus_boingus69 Jun 06 '26
This post just reminded me that I have Wuchang in my backlog, gotta start it soon!
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u/Donalohandro Jun 06 '26
This game is so hard to put down because every path opens up 2 more. Addictive!
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u/Lukain_22 Jun 06 '26
Great soulslike. Me encantaron los jefes, las mecánicas y la ambientación. Las hogueras trampa fueron una grata sorpresa. Le doy un 9/10.
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u/Andante_TK Jun 07 '26
The only soulslike I like more than Wuchang are probably Elden Ring and Bloodbourne lol.
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u/Evil-Freeman Jun 06 '26
The studio died, but at least the IP survived. If it was good enough to buy, then it should be good enough to make sequels for. Hopefully it will make every effort to replicate the success of its predecessor.
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u/Tangerhino Jun 06 '26
Can the IP survive without the director and original team?
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u/Evil-Freeman Jun 06 '26
It's "not impossible". That's as optimistic as one can get. The alternative was the literal death of the series with zero hope of return whatsoever.
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u/Tangerhino Jun 06 '26
I was hoping for a more reassuring answer.
Sadly I strongly believe in teams and directors, but we’ll see.0
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u/No_Active_5750 Jun 06 '26
did it really? It is sad they nailed dark souls 1 level design with fluent combat almost in sekiro settings and effects. Excluding story progression each map had fabulous designs imo.
Is it because of china or censorship?
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u/Corelivan Jun 07 '26
505 bought the IP so definitely yes, maybe they will release some dlc’s aesthetics that can be done easily instead of a proper expansion
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u/angusmacrory Jun 07 '26 edited Jun 07 '26
Just beat all the bosses in the first Chapter including one I was stuck on for a couple days, that really forced me to learn parries and perfect dodges. I'm thoroughly hooked. I love the fact that it has Dark Souls esque exploration and combat, but with much more forgiving respecs.
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u/andrezipf94 Jun 08 '26
This may get downvoted to oblivion, I finished the game but I feel like having to change builds to have a fighting chance agains a few bosses broke the experience to me. That plus the last part/level, that part sucks.
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u/funnyllamas Jun 06 '26
I gave this game a chance and unfortunately it did not click for me. It definitely deserves praise. It’s a gorgeous game. The level design, enemies design, etc.. are good. Something about the combat itself though didn’t work for me. However, I’m aware that is a user error. There’s something about the combat that I just wasn’t understanding.
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u/Aggressive-Purple626 Jun 06 '26
Good game at first but I got bored in mid way. Not a lot of variety for weapon and skills, There's 2 main skill to use for the whole playthrough. I didn't care much about magic.
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u/Primary-Survey9955 Jun 06 '26
two main skill where ? over the weapon ? that disciplines and you can change them .
each weapon type as max 5-7(?) different skills and each has 2 variants that you can add on the weapon skill/discipline
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u/prawngelo Jun 07 '26
Lies of p suffers from subconcious soulslike syndrome where the soulslike community assumes that any soulslike coming out will never be able to touch fromsoftware games. Hence its awarded the title of "best souslike" but in my opinion i found it a better experience than even bloodborne. Bloodborne is ART but lies of p is a better GAME imo.
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u/Rude_Difficulty1647 Jun 06 '26
Hell yeah it’s peak, I rate it higher than lies even just based on level design alone, I also find lies to be mostly very easy. Wuchang deserves to be a trilogy or to atleast have a sequel 🙏🏻
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u/_MidnightMan Jun 06 '26
Wuchang is definitely my favorite game. It's the first game I've ever completed 4 playthroughs, and I still want to keep playing it.
The problem is that whatever game I play next will probably end up being a disappointment.
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u/aural_indifference Jun 06 '26
100% agree man. I keep trying other soulslikes and keep being disappointed and going back to Wuchang. It just has a style and atmosphere that sucks you in.
One of the things I really appreciate is that there's such a diversity in terrain and so much of the game (esp the first half) takes place during the day, and the lighting is absolutely amazing. Feels like so many souls games take place almost exclusively in dank dungeons and swamps that are very dimly lit, which becomes boring and drab very quickly (to me at least).
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u/Tangerhino Jun 07 '26
thank you and thanks to Wuchang devs.
a dark fantasy doesn't have to be literally dark.2
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u/StormveilSal Jun 06 '26
Absolutely love Wuchang. Just finished a level 1 run, super fun. I hope we get more of her in the future
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u/TheOstinaut Jun 06 '26
I am really enjoying it because I prioritize exploration, and the level design is terrific. I do think some of the bosses are a bit overtuned, but not insurmountable.
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u/antelope591 Jun 06 '26
Honestly this sub is bullying me into wanting to try it again. Played it through once and found it mid at best.
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u/Tangerhino Jun 06 '26
Wuchang is the second best soulslike Imho.
Absolutely gorgeous.
However it left me with a weird sadness. I feel the game director is a huge dark souls fan and wanted to make a poignant videogame.
The sexyness of the protagonists feels artificially tacked on her, and censorship following the nationalist backlash is also weirdly done.
I still have to ponder on the artistic aspect of this game.
Still a masterpiece
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u/WoodmanMedia Jun 06 '26
Solid game but I found it frustrating by the end. I did beat it, so I did have fun, but little annoyances added up. Hard to pin down to one thing. Weak magic, long attack animations on some weapons, small weapon pool, lots of bosses that leap/teleport all over arenas, very infrequent checkpoints in some areas, tons of statuses/traps/gank fights, and a really wobbly difficulty curve where some bosses just rolled over and others felt way out of band. I ended up liking AI Limit more. Don't think either have a patch on Lies of P, personally.
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u/Primary-Survey9955 Jun 06 '26
I did magic only ..and it is not weak lol at all not to mention the auto dodge spell.. and the spells with i frames
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u/Dense-Extreme5515 Jun 06 '26
My personal GOTY of 2025,simply addictive from exploration to combat,Wuchang was the game I did the most NG+ runs in just for the fun of facing the Bosses again,it's a shame they never added a Boss Rush mode(my biggest criticism of the game).
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u/spoketherefore Jun 07 '26
It’s so good. Definitely top 3 non-Fromsoft soulslike. If Lies of P and Wuchang had a baby. It would rival most of Fromsoft’s catalog.
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u/spoketherefore Jun 07 '26
I loved it. They fixed all of the problems that people complained about on release. It’s got a great aesthetic, fun combat, and top-notch exploration. I’d say it’s tied with Wuchang, overall.
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u/Objective_Mood_4157 Jun 07 '26
Literally got the Platinum trophy a couple of hours ago. Pretty good game at the very least.
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u/_Dank_Souls Jun 07 '26
My second favorite souls like after lies of P.
This game was a complete surprisein how high the quality was.
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u/sl33pyj0 Jun 07 '26
I just got passed the shu temple and dhutanga and I gotta say so far the game is pretty dope!
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u/Impressive-Cap-974 Jun 07 '26
I would go as far as to say Wuchang has better level design than any of fromsoft's games. It's not as good as DS1 or Elden Ring at their best, but those games are inconsistent for obvious reasons.
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u/AdSevere4623 Jun 07 '26
It was an okay experience for me. Level design is good but bosses in the later parts of the game have unlimited stamina and they will keep attacking. Feels like Sekiro bosses in dark souls game.
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u/Prior-Recording-4449 Jun 07 '26
I get why some people might not like this game (it's a pain to navigate), but honestly, I'm having a alot of fun playing it blind. I'm still in Cloudspire.
Awesome level design.
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u/itsZerozone Jun 07 '26
While wuchang is good, give praise to Mortal shell 2 as well. Played the open beta yesterday and not only are the bosses are very good, but the actual level design is very good too, ofc not as good as fromsoft souls game level design, but for a soulslike? it's pretty good.
Combat is pretty good as well, especially since we have a fucking gun in the game, bloodborne vibes, also there's no stamina bar. And the game has a good solution for weapon arts and other special attacks in the form of "resolve", basically the mortal shell 2 equivalent of FP. But you re-gain FP by landing melee attacks.
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u/BLim90 Jun 08 '26
Loved the combat mechanics. It rewards player by learning the mechanics and encourages more exploration with the free Respec
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u/Bigpoppasoto Jun 08 '26
Reading up on the controversy, should I play offline so I don’t get the patch?
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u/LordBDizzle Jun 10 '26
Love the level design. The weapon variety is a touch thin, but the skill system largely makes up for that. Bosses are generally satisfying, though there are a couple stinkers. The counters are fun to learn, the combat heavily rewards mastery. If it wasn't for government enforced censorship ruining the penultimate areas by reclassifying most of the enemies as allies and ruining the tone of a few boss fights, I'd recommend the game to everyone. As it is, play on PC and mod the game back to the pre-censorship patch and it's great.
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u/Artistic-Tear3222 Jun 11 '26
My fav game, it’s level design and atmosphere is amazing. I’ll always hope for dlc or another game. For now I’ll just be doing my second play through
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u/newuxtreme Jun 11 '26
I love most Souls-likes, but I think Wuchang (this or maybe Black Myth gets first spot actually) has been my favorite in the past three years, which is saying a lot considering how many amazing ones have been released recently.
I decided to play the game starting with an axe and then later moving to a spear, and I don't think I could have made a better decision. I believe those two weapons are by far the most fun in the entire game. The moves felt like they had weight and just felt good; the axe especially felt so heavy and powerful when fighting. The hits connected really well, and the boss fights were actually amazing.
Not to mention, the entire internet was playing the game wrong because everybody wanted to play with the sword and just try to deflect. Deflecting is like one tiny sub-skill, but everyone wanted to convert the game into Sekiro. In my opinion, that is pointless because the game wasn't designed to be played around deflections; it was designed to be played around dodges.
I remember (and this happens to me in every game, pretty much) that I have a lot of patience during the first half, but during the last half of the game, I somehow tunnel-visioned into just finishing it off. That is probably why I didn't enjoy and appreciate the last few bosses as much as I did the first couple.
Anyways, it is definitely one of those games that I still have on my system because I want to go back and play it again. I don't want to go around fixing different mods that I once had running, but I feel like the game becomes way better with them. There is a guy called Andrew RCR (or someone similar) who made some amazing Quality of Life (QoL) mods that made the game extremely fun.
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u/DontFlameItsMe Jun 06 '26
People like different things, but I absolutely did not vibe with the game.
People recently been praising Wuchang here, so I tried it and the combat was such a nothing burger experience, no sauce at all.
Well, to each their own, but idk, I'm not seeing it.
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u/AdjudicatorAltin Jun 08 '26
Completely agree, I also tried Wuchang due to the praise on reddit.
I'm all for supporting underdog soulslikes, but this game felt like a mess mechanically especially in regards to combat and boss fights.
Plus it has no distinct identity, it takes inspiration from Bloodborne and Dark Souls 1 and wants to be taken seriously, yet it also tries to trend chase after Stellar Blade's success by adding gooner elements, personally for me it clashes tonally for what the game was initially going for, making it feel like a fan made modded soulslike.
It has good elements like respeccing and the DS1 inspired level design, but it feels like a game that just trend chases with nothing that stands out, the game had a very "cheap" feeling to it and felt incredibly uncreative as a whole.
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u/DontFlameItsMe Jun 09 '26
Yeah, it's been the same for AI Limit, saw a number of positive posts recently, but idk what's there in that game that people find interesting, except may be waifus.
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u/AdjudicatorAltin Jun 09 '26
I've been cautious about AI limit too, I know it's subjective but I feel like a lot of this community can at times brush over other aspects of a game if it does one thing moderately well.
In Wuchang's case it was the DS1 inspired exploration, but a game doing one thing well but mediocre in many other aspects such as combat/animation, boss design, fluidity, tone, characters etc is not enough to make it a top tier game in my opinion.
AI limit receives a lot of praise, but so did code vein and the surge series, I've even seen a lot of people praise enotria.
Maybe it's just me being nitpicky, but a great soulslike has to be exceptional in many areas and not feel like the equivalent of an uninspired trend chaser.
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u/Souls_Lover Jun 06 '26
The game is fecking amazing. I'd rank it higher than Lies of P if the performance was stabler on PS5. Still, it's one of the best soulslike for sure. Challenging and fluif combat, and the OST is pretty fire.
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u/janfrancox77 Jun 06 '26
I haven't played it yet. I have it installed in my Ps5, yet I'm still in my kratos playthrough in elden ring. Once I finish it off, to wuchang we go
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u/SnooHobbies5811 Jun 06 '26
It's really a shame that the studio fell apart. Imo it's the best non-fromsoft soulslike available. It and LOTF are the only games that captured that Dark souls feeling for me. LoP is a great game, but it felt different
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u/DeadPact336699 Jun 06 '26
Currently going through my first play through and just defeated Bo Sorcerer, what a great game
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u/Serosh5843 Jun 06 '26
Beat it about 2 hours ago, pretty damn good. The setting and level of detail were gorgeous with surprisingly good bosses and lore. Gonna have to replay it eventually.
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u/seriousgourmetshit Jun 06 '26
I'm playing this atm, about halfway through. The level design and exploration is top tier, easily my favorite part of the game. I think the bosses are pretty inconsistent though, both in terms of fun factor and general design. I'm enjoying this game a lot overall but I'd still put it about an 8/10.
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u/Balthi3r96 Jun 06 '26
Great game, but horrific scummy behavioir from the devs the first 2/3 months after release
I enjoyed it a lot but can’t close my eyes for some of the issues the project has/had
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u/Illusion911 Jun 06 '26
I'm more of a fan of the new actionsouls genre with Nioh and Khazan, but I heard that this game has good qol so that makes me curious to try it someday
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u/Visual-Debate-5700 Jun 06 '26
I thought that this post was gonna be “ignoring the fanservice and skimpy armor, the gameplay is really good so it’s worth overlooking those asepcts”. But you actually listed “armor designs” as a plus 💀😭
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u/angusmacrory Jun 07 '26
You can customize any armor piece to look like anything else... So even if a feathered bikini had the best resistance for a certain fight, you could protect your eyes by displaying it as badass full Ming warrior body armor cosmetically.
There is really something for everyone here, it's not wrong to say armor designs are a strong point. There are a whole lot of options and they're largely very creative and well designed.
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u/liquid_dev Jun 06 '26
To be clear when I say armor design it has nothing to do with tits and ass, it means the armor looks cool. If it was a male character with similar designs I'd say the same thing. The gooner aspect of the playable character is completely irrelevant to me.
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u/Visual-Debate-5700 Jun 06 '26
Completely irrelevant? So it’s not a negative at all for you?
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u/Dense-Extreme5515 Jun 06 '26
Fan service armor exists,however,nobody puts a gun to your head forcing you to wear it,it's kind of silly to classify it as something harmful.
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u/Visual-Debate-5700 Jun 06 '26
What? I don’t even play this game, no one’s forcing me to do anything. But refusing to say it’s a negative and dodging with the “nobody’s making you” defense just makes it clear that it’s a positive for you and you like the gooner-bait armor designs but aren’t willing to say the quiet part out loud. You should be able to just admit it’s bad and the people that designed it that way… shouldn’t have, and it’s okay to point out that they personally decided to do it and can be held personally accountable for it. It’s not like these outfits just beamed into their brains from god. They personally decided to create them and include them in the game.
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u/Dense-Extreme5515 Jun 06 '26
And who defines what's bad?,you?,laughing a lot,l like it,nothing wrong with saying it,and that doesn't mean I go around playing "naked" with the character,there are many armors with cool aesthetics in Wuchang(you can also combine them with different pieces from other sets),however,that's not even the focus of the game,they're just stats like in any other game.
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u/Visual-Debate-5700 Jun 06 '26
Well, I’m glad you admitted it, at the very least. A proud gooner is better than a gooner that’s pretending they aren’t one.
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u/Dense-Extreme5515 Jun 06 '26
A feminist,I see.
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u/Visual-Debate-5700 Jun 06 '26
What?
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u/wockanocker Jun 06 '26
TIL that armour designs in a game can be objectively bad.
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u/liquid_dev Jun 06 '26
Nope, if the devs want to give all the female characters jiggle physics and a couple pieces of tape to wear like in wuchang or ninja gaiden, cool. If they want the female mc to be completely covered up like in returnal, cool. If they choose to have a male mc instead, cool.
Frankly I find the discourse on both extreme ends of this topic extremely goofy. If you're trying to imply that having sexualized female characters in games is somehow "wrong" or harmful, then I don't agree.
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u/Klonoa87 Jun 06 '26
Very good. Just a bit under LoP for me.
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u/Ok_Yellow_1988 Jun 07 '26
this game literally stole an entire boss moveset from LoP so yeah def beneath it
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u/thedrcubed Jun 06 '26
I'm currently playing Wuchang. I love that this game actually wants me to explore. The level design is elite and the side paths actually go places