Over the past decade or so, the soulslike genre has evolved from challenging yet stilted into a varied beast of its own. Through titles like Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and Elden Ring, the formula has been flipped and refined from its dark fantasy roots, leading to lots of expression within the genre. While studio FromSoftware has rightfully been crowned the king of the genre, which makes sense as they practically invented it, plenty of other developers have drawn inspiration from them and produced equally intriguing titles. This leads us to the newest soulslike of 2025, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, created by developer Leenzee. While the soulslike genre remains competitive, with big name titles like Elden Ring Nightreign making a major splash this year, Wuchang proves that the traditional formula still works.
Amnesia Strikes Again
Wuchang: Fallen Feathers stands out in the genre with a handful of unique features and gameplay concepts, but still, most aspects of the game remain familiar to longtime genre fans. This is most obvious in the storytelling, which centers around Bai Wuchang, a deadly pirate suffering from amnesia.
Upon waking up, you discover that the surrounding region is afflicted with a deadly, mind-bending plague known as Feathering Disease. Worse yet, Wuchang herself suffers from Feathering, with her entire arm covered in telltale signs of infection, but she finds strength in the disease rather than suffering. Loosely guided by a handful of characters, you set out across the ruined lands of Ming dynasty era China, searching for the ancient demon responsible for bringing about the Feathering.
On first glance, Wuchang sticks very close to the traditional soulslike formula, as you make your way through a handful of starting zones, defeating enemies and discovering a bit of loot along the way. Shrines act as beacons of safety amid the chaos, much like the bonfires of Dark Souls, and you’ll accrue “Red Mercury” as you kill enemies, which you can use to level up your character. As expected, when you die, you lose your Red Mercury, and must battle back to the place where you died in order to retrieve them. However, this is where the real differences begin to arise.
Not Your Average Souls
Wuchang: Fallen Feathers often feels more in line with Sekiro than it does Dark Souls, and this is most clear in how it handles death. Each time you perish, you gain a bit of “madness”, which cannot be removed without some work. Once you hit certain thresholds of madness, namely 50% and 90% full, Wuchang will gain some buffs, but also become more vulnerable in the process. These buffs and others can be earned through leveling up, as the game contains an expansive skill tree, focusing on a handful of weapon types.
Wuchang can wield two weapons in her loadout, which include the likes of longswords, one-handed swords, spears, axes, and more. As you spend Red Mercury to level up, you can enhance your weapons and Wuchang through various buffs, like extra health, stamina, and enhanced moves. However, unlike other games in the genre, Wuchang encourages experimentation by letting you reset your points whenever possible. You can be 20 hours deep in the game and find a new weapon, immediately swap around your skill points, and try out the fresh gear with little to no penalty.
With several twisting paths and multiple endings, it seems like Wuchang is also designed for multiple playthroughs, making its mystique all the more appealing. The game maintains a fast pace and fun nature, balancing challenge with reward, with only a handful of difficulty spikes to speak of. Overall, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers takes what works in the genre and tries to add a bit of its own flavor, highlight gameplay experimentation, fast swordplay, and some cool magic abilities to boot. Additionally, where other soulslike games have become more sprawling and open world, Wuchang is comfortable being somewhat linear and contained, and it’s all the better for it. Like other games in the genre, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers will not be for everyone, but if you consider yourself a fan of exciting action and fantasy, it’s worth checking out and stands alongside other great games like Lies of P as a soulslike that gets very close to the quality of FromSoftware’s iconic titles.
