Team Ninja seems to be the only studio willing to challenge FromSoftware. After having to rebuild itself from the ashes after the loss of its leader, Todonobu Itagaki, they made a rough game, but a very interesting one, following Dark Souls‘ formula: Nioh. Since then they haven’t stopped iterating and making different versions of the formula, much more attached to the Action RPG. More dynamic and much more focused on stats, as well as on much faster and more violent combat.
All of this culminated at the beginning of this year with the excellent Nioh 3, an outstanding game that, while it excelled mechanically, fell short in its approach to the open world. With very large areas and side missions, where it worked best was in closed environments and linear missions. Showing that its strength lay elsewhere. But Wo Long 2: Wings of Ember seems to want to show that that doesn’t mean Team Ninja can’t do it well. And they do so with a demo you can try and that has made a great first impression.
A dramatic and spectacular combat system
If there was one thing Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty stood out for, it was the dynamism of its combat. Frenetic and based on constant movement, making counterattacks as important as moving out of the way of enemies, it was a game that didn’t want us to wait for enemies to act: it wanted us to make our move first. That continues here, but it’s been reinforced thanks to the focus moves.
If we press the R1 trigger, we enter a focus state where all our moves are enhanced. Blocks, dodges, attacks, parries; everything becomes much more powerful and immediate. In exchange, our posture bar, which keeps our rivals from knocking us out, doesn’t recover when we perform these moves correctly, which adds a new layer of risk-reward that was previously absent from the game.
This is Team Ninja’s way of encouraging much more aggressive and stylish play. Where in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty it was sometimes possible to fall into two extremes—or parry everything or dodge everything, taking advantage of both cases to punish the enemy only after making sure it’s safe—, Wo Long 2: Wings of Ember wants to make sure we have a much more aggressive and showier style. That we’re constantly on the attack and pressuring our rivals, not giving them even a second of breathing room. Something that was already the optimal way to play the first one, but that wasn’t encouraged in the same way through the mechanics.
All of this is also reinforced by the addition of martial arts and spells that, besides reinforcing the game’s clear wuxia tone, emphasize that more aggressive touch. Add to that a clear emphasis on aerial combat, since now it’s tremendously easy to send our enemies flying through the air, the game has become even more spectacular and dramatic than it already was. Bringing it even closer to its inspirations.
A game built around its world
Though where the Wo Long 2: Wings of Ember demo stands out most is in its environments. A vast open world that most resembles Elden Ring. Both because of how vast its world is and because of the unexpected encounters or because it forces us to keep moving from one place to another in an constantly unpredictable way.
And it works. In part, because there’s always something interesting to do. Whether it’s an interesting encounter, a weapon to get, or some new area to explore, there’s always something to discover when we stray from the main path. Especially because Wo Long 2: Wings of Ember departs from what FromSoftware did in its most acclaimed game so far. Here we can’t go straight to our objective without taking a beating.
Bringing back the honor system from the first installment, we’ll have to explore, defeat enemies, and fulfill objectives to improve our honor and our maximum honor. That way, enemies that were impossible before will now be much more manageable. making tougher challenges feel manageable. But that makes the game’s system work both for those who want to explore every last nook and cranny and those who want a much more complex game: those who want the former will be rewarded with an easier game and a gentler difficulty curve, and the latter will find a more difficult experience, one that pulls no punches, offering a purer action experience.
In that sense, Wo Long 2: Wings of Ember may well be everything Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty promised, but fell a little short of. It still remains to be seen what it offers when it finally comes out March 4, 2027, but this demo will still be available for a few days: until September 30. So take the opportunity to play it if you’re curious, because it promises a lot for Action RPG fans.
