Wo Long 2: Wings of Ember Demo Impressions
I think I liked 2023’s Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty a little more than some. Team NINJA’s action RPG — set in the later years of the Han dynasty — was dense with mechanics and challenge. It introduced a few new ideas into ARPG combat, like the morale system and the way spirit powered special attacks. Not due until March 2027, a demo of Wo Long 2: Winds of Ember is now available. It took me by surprise, and I was excited to see what Team NINJA had in store.
Open Fields Forever
Big picture, one of Wo Long 2: Winds of Ember’s biggest changes is the move to an open field/open world design. Obviously heavily influenced by the developer’s own Nioh 3, the world is an impressive, interconnected place to explore. From open battlefields to catacombs to temples, the environments in the demo were interesting to play around in.
In addition to exploration, the shift to an open world design seriously impacts movement. Wo Long 2: Winds of Ember has a newly found focus on acrobatic moves like wall running, jumping and aeriel attacks and parries. The world is a multi-layed, vertical playground and already, movement is pretty well dialed in. A lot of Wo Long 2: Winds of Ember’s moveset, attacks and defensive moves are airborne. It literally adds a new way of approaching enemy strengths and weaknesses.
Like the first game, Wo Long 2: Winds of Ember can be incredibly challenging, but having an open field design means it’s much easier to return to less difficult areas and grind for experience and leveling. I have no idea how big the full game is, but the demo zones were engaging to explore and felt pretty dense with stuff to do and enemies to fight.
Mixing It Up
The heart of Wo Long 2: Winds of Ember is its combat systems. Experience with the first game helps, but Wo Long 2: Winds of Ember is still a little lacking in coherent onboarding. In any case, the basics are familiar from standard ARPGs: strong and light attacks, dodges (including aerial versions), blocks and parries and perfect blocks, etc. Just as in the first game, there’s no stamina. It’s replaced by positive and negative spirit, meaning that successful attacks and deflections help power up your special attacks and magic.
Also returning — and likewise not well explained — is the Morale system. In large measure, Morale is tied into the open field design. Battlefields are discrete zones with a separate Morale level. Raising flags lowers enemy Morale, and capturing camps raise player Morale permanently. It’s often critical to scour a new zone for battle flag locations to help mitigate difficulty. There’s also the ability to summon NPC allies, which frankly might need a nerf before launch.
Overall, Wo Long 2: Winds of Ember has all the combat complexity of a game like Nioh 3. Its integration of different elements into weapons and powers adds another consideration to gear and moving through the leveling process.
Not Quite Shiny
Wo Long 2: Winds of Ember has a pretty strong identity when it comes to combat, different enough from other Team NINJA games to make it stand out. That’s no small assignment, given the absolute firehose of excellent ARPGs in the past few years. If there’s one area in which Wo Long 2: Winds of Ember disappoints, it’s the presentation. The game simply looks a bit behind the curve graphically. Despite having a very good character creator, overall character faces, lip syncing and especially voice acting aren’t up to the level of many recent games. However, Wo Long 2: Winds of Ember is several months away from release. It’s hard to know if the vocal performances are final.
Like the first game, Wo Long 2: Winds of Ember focuses on sometimes punishing combat, but this time there are even more tools at the player’s disposal. The open field design seems to fit well, and the emphasis on fluid movement really pays off. I can’t wait until March and the release of the full game.
***Impressions based on the public demo***
