


This is achieved firstly by the ‘Spirit Gauge’, which is for all intents and purposes the game’s stamina system. Taking a leaf of the aforementioned Sekiro’s book, (which will be a running theme) things are decidedly more distilled this time around gone is the ‘Ki Pulse’, weapon stances, and associated skill trees that featured predominantly in its forbearer Nioh, and instead they have been replaced by a system that demands that you play on the front foot, aim to deflect incoming attacks, gain abilities, and break the enemy’s poise to gain the upper hand.

Aside from taking place during the Chinese Three Kingdoms era rather than Sengoku era Japan, this is true to a large extent, which is slightly to its detriment, but what’s core to Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty’s own identity is undoubtedly the changes made to its combat.
