Review: Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty Complete Edition (Switch 2)

The Switch 2 bringing Nintendo up to par with the other latest-gen consoles has also brought many previously inaccessible games to Nintendo players. A fairly recent example of this is Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty Complete Edition. And although it has its strengths, it also illustrates that not all games are ported equally.

Developed by Team Ninja, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty was originally released for PC and consoles in 2023. It’s set in a fantasy version of the Later Han Dynasty in 184 AD China, a perfect period for stunning locales and cool outfits. It’s also a perfect period for violence, but the way that violence is handled is what helps the game stand apart from its peers.

After creating your character’s physical appearance from a rather robust set of options, you get to make your choice of close-range attacks. This is key, because Wo Long doesn’t let you just hack and slash your way through the game. The core gameplay requires you to get very good very quickly at dodging and countering enemy attacks.

Enemies have a morale gauge, and you can’t do much damage to them without first lowering said morale. This is done by deflecting and dodging enemy attacks with perfectly timed button taps, then finding the opportunity to strike out yourself. Those strikes aren’t terribly effective, but they build up your spirit gauge until you’re able to unleash a spirit attack for more severe damage.

As you’d expect, the linear stages send numerous grunts at you to help you hone your skills. I thought I was doing OK with them after a while, but no; when I reached the first boss, I was instantly shamed. That was bad enough, but there’s a catch here that makes the battles simultaneously thrilling and infuriating. When you die in a fight, you lose your morale points and half your genuine Qi (experience points). To get them back, you have to fight and defeat whoever (or whatever) killed you. The problem is that that enemy’s morale has increased by defeating you, making the battle harder to win the second time! You don’t have to get your revenge right away, but if you die before doing so, you lose your morale and experience forever.

Thankfully, this doesn’t fully apply to bosses. Against them, you regain your morale and Qi simply by challenging them again.

You’re also not completely alone in your quest. You can play co-op in 2-3 player wireless and 2-5 player online. You also have access to Divine Beasts that can be called in for assistance. There are 13 to choose from with the included DLC, providing for some pretty cool action and plenty of ways to optimize their use.

Optimization ends up being the focus of the game, really. The story is not much to talk about, serving only to push you down the highly linear levels, which in turn serve only to place you in combat situations. That’s all fine for games that focus on action, but the importance of that action is eclipsed by the numerous options for character optimization. I spent nearly as much time fiddling with gear and skills and control tutorials as I did with actual gameplay. I had no choice, really; there were numerous moments where the game seemed to purposely illustrate I was not ready for what’s ahead, and I’m going to have to get things figured out to continue.

So, the struggle is not just real, it’s part of the experience, and it does make your eventual victories all the more satisfying. But the Switch 2 system struggles, too; Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is not very well optimized for the hardware. Framerates often drop and the action stutters during combat, which is a major issue in a game that focuses on timing. You can optimize framerates in the settings, but this leads to a blurrier, darker experience that impacts your ability to read an enemy’s movements. So, neither the performance nor visual modes really do the player any favors.

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty Complete Edition sets out to accomplish some really big things on the Switch 2. And in some cases, it succeeds. The bosses are epic, the combat is slick when it works, and the game provides some really exciting moments. But too much goes wrong between all of that for me to give it a full recommendation. I was more frustrated than thrilled. I don’t mind that when the frustration stems from my skills, but it mainly stemmed from the port in this instance. On Switch 2, it’s best to just let this fallen dynasty lie.