This new Game Pass title leans into the worst tendencies of Soulslikes

There's no denying that FromSoftware has been one of the most influential game developers of the past decade.

While action games ten years ago were likely to emulate the gameplay of God of War or Batman: Arkham Asylum, nowadays, Soulslike is the de facto style of gameplay for new action franchises.

Games like Wuchang: Fallen Feathers follow the Soulslike formula closely. Unfortunately, I think many Soulslikes, including this one, do so to a fault.

If a Soulslike's combat and bosses are just a little worse than FromSoftware's, then I typically feel like I'm in for a miserable time when playing.

While Wuchang: Fallen Feathers intrigued me, it unfortunately encountered almost all the pitfalls of my least favorite Soulslikes.

While genre fanatics who are ready to "get good" at a difficult title to grind away at learning, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers was definitely not one of the rare Soulslikes that could win me over.

What makes for a good Soulslike?

And what Wuchang: Fallen Feathers does well

An emphasis on stamina management, combat that forces players to dodge even more than they attack, and ridiculously difficult bosses define the Souls formula that FromSoftware pioneered.

I understand the undeniable impact the Souls franchise has had, and like that, FromSoftware has inspired developers to offer their takes on the formula.

Although I didn't end up loving Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, there are things I like about it.

That includes its premise, which sees players slowly regain their memories after waking up with a disease called the Feathering, which typically corrupts people's minds.

Players have to fight off "Madness" as they play, and are punished if they don't keep their madness in check.

The added ruffle of having to fight a demon mini-boss to get my red mercury (this game's version of Souls) back added some freshness to the typically repetitive nature of Soulslike.

I also appreciate Wuchang: Fallen Feather's attempt at being a more Bloodborne-like, dodge-centric Soulslike with its Skyborn Might system, which rewards players with the energy to pull off fancy special moves if they dodge an enemy attack at the last second.

At its core, I believe Wuchang: Fallen Feathers understands what works about Soulslike, and that's why it emulates the approach so closely. Unfortunately, I feel that it also flies a little too close to the sun.

Soulslikes struggle to match the originals

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers leans into my least favorite aspects of the Souls formula

I tend to take for granted how refined the combat, world, and boss design in a game like Elden Ring is compared to the competition.

That becomes really apparent when I play Soulslikes such as this one, where the bosses are so relentless that I never feel like I have time to learn attack patterns or the best strategies to take an enemy down before I'm dead.

With no animation canceling or co-op multiplayer systems to take some of the stress off my back, I constantly felt like I was hitting my head against a brick wall from the game's first boss onward.

Even as I continued to partake in the same fights over and over, I never really felt like I was getting better at Wuchang: Fallen Feathers.

Looking back, I've noticed the Soulslikes I think the most fondly of, like Another Crab's Treasure or Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, play differently enough from FromSoftware's works that I can appreciate them on their own merits.

Ones like Wuchang: Fallen Feathers which, hew much closer to FromSoftware's formula, often don't work for me, because they feel like an inferior product to better games I've played.

If you're a fan of Soulslike games, that's probably okay for you.

However, due to the inherent design philosophies of the Soulslike formula, struggling with a Soulslike means you're in for a gameplay experience where you're struggling and dying more than anything else.

And to me, the payoff of getting to keep playing Wuchang: Fallen Feathers just wasn't worth it. I've played it for a couple of hours, and don't really feel the urge to return to it anytime soon.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers prioritizes challenge over fun

And that's not the kind of Soulslike I tend to love

I'm not sure Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is a bad game, or even necessarily a bad Soulslike. It's just a derivative of the genre enough where there's not much of a reason for me to go out of my way to recommend it.

If you enjoy Bloodborne-style Soulslikes and adore FromSoftware's bosses when they are at their hardest, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers provides more than enough of a challenge to keep you occupied.

When I play video games, I tend to prioritize wanting to have fun over wanting to be challenged. If a game isn't fun, I'm probably going to stop playing it .

FromSoftware has found a way to wonderfully balance those two things, but whether or not a Soulslike will do the same is always a shot in the dark for me.

In Wuchang: Fallen Feather's case, it was too imbalanced and did not work out for me.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers launches for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X on July 24. It's available as part of the Xbox Game Pass catalog.

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