Leenzee's stunning Soulslike, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, was arguably one of 2025's most anticipated games, but even though it received a decent amount of praise from critics, its recent launch was fairly troubled. On Steam, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers has earned a measly user score of 31%, with most reviews citing poor optimization as a key issue with the title. While Wuchang's overall quality hasn't been criticized that much, many players have stated that they have been unable to run the game at a high resolution or a stable frame rate, due to technical problems involving Unreal Engine 5.
Despite its optimization issues, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers has proven to be an incredibly popular game. Wuchang had over 130,000 concurrent players on Steam during its launch day, and it was among the top 15 best-selling games on the Valve-owned storefront. Leenzee and publisher 505 Games haven't provided any specific sales data for Wuchang yet, but it seems that the game is doing quite well across all platforms, perhaps even better than expected for most AA Soulslikes. That said, some aspects of the title, aside from its technical stability, have not resonated with all players, especially those who aren't as fond of old-school Soulslikes.
Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is Being Review Bombed
Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is already being review-bombed on Steam, despite strong sales.
Wuchang: Fallen Feathers' Approach to Level Design is Bound to Divide Players
Wuchang: Fallen Feathers Takes Inspiration from Older Soulslikes
Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is a pretty modernized game in a lot of ways. It's a more approachable Soulslike compared to titles like Nioh, and its combat systems, while mechanically complex, are not so obtuse that they can't be mastered by newcomers to the genre. However, one of Wuchang's core components, its level design, takes a lot of inspiration from older FromSoftware Soulslikes, such as Dark Souls and Bloodborne. The design choices that Leenzee has made for this specific element of the game have added a lot to its overall level of difficulty.
Wuchang's Levels are Mostly Linear, With Dangers Lurking Around Every Corner
Unlike the immensely successful Elden Ring, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is not an open-world video game. Instead, it has mostly linear levels, though they are not completely mission-based. The world of Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, despite being somewhat sectioned-off, is wholly interconnected. As they progress through the game, players can visit previously accessed areas by unlocking shortcuts hidden in the surrounding environments. Additionally, they can go off the beaten path and explore some of the optional locations in each of Wuchang's levels.
Scattered throughout the levels of Wuchang: Fallen Feathers are places known as shrines. These shrines are essentially the game's equivalent to the bonfires in the Dark Souls trilogy, and they allow players to save and fast-travel between locations, among other things. In addition to shrines, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers' levels are filled with something a lot more sinister: hidden traps. Out of nowhere, players can sometimes be attacked by enemies that are hidden in the environments, or get killed by landmines and falling droplets of poison that are concealed in every corner. Although things like this are common in most Soulslikes, Wuchang features a lot more of these traps than usual.
Fans Will Love or Hate Wuchang's Level Design Depending On Their Preferences
Determining whether the level design in Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is good or not is a matter of personal preference. Players who prefer open-world action games and like progressing through difficult levels at their own pace are probably going to be aggravated by the design decisions that Leenzee has made. Those who enjoy the more traditional, linear approach to level design that FromSoftware pioneered in the early Dark Souls games, however, can likely find a lot to love about Wuchang's levels and use of exploration. Regardless of one's opinion on this matter, it's at least commendable that Leenzee came up with a clear vision for this aspect of Wuchang: Fallen Feathers and decided to stick with it to the end.
Wuchang: Fallen Feathers
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 76 /100 Critics Rec: 70%
- Released
- July 24, 2025
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence, In-Game Purchases
- Developer(s)
- Leenzee
- Publisher(s)
- 505 Games
WHERE TO PLAY
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 5
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG, Soulslike, Hack and Slash
