MeinMMO editor Karsten Scholz has thoroughly played WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers on Steam with great pleasure and only afterwards realized that the Soulslike is sitting at just 50 percent positive on Steam. Anyone who is misled by this misses out on a really great game in the style of Dark Souls.
What makes a good Soulslike? The term is well-known for describing games that follow the formula established by FromSoftware with Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls and has been refined ever since.
A good Soulslike orients itself to this formula and the strengths of Dark Souls and Co., but also finds its own identity. For me personally, the most important factors are:
- a powerful, responsive third-person combat system with active blocks and parries, as well as counters and weak point attacks (e.g., from behind), that feel satisfying
- well-designed world sections that reward exploration and are cleverly interconnected (e.g., by shortcuts to distant “bonfires”)
- varied and challenging boss fights that remain memorable due to the battleground, music, and special mechanics
- a motivating character progression that allows for different play styles and builds to be experimented with
- a player experience that is as perfectly aligned to a difficulty level as possible, influenced by optional factors such as certain builds, summonable helpers, and the like
- optional challenges targeted specifically at experienced Souls players
Some of my favorite Soulslikes so far that managed to embody many of these factors particularly well (and are not from FromSoftware) include Lies of P, the Nioh series, both Lords of the Fallen, the “The Surge” series, and – as lighter variants of the Soulslike genre – both Star Wars Jedi titles Survivor and Fallen Order.
Poorly rated newcomer surpasses all
My new favorite game from this Soulslike genre, which is not from FromSoftware, is WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers released on July 24, 2025, but that may surprise some who have only seen the current rating of the game on Steam. Only 50 percent of the over 38,300 reviews are positive.
What you need to know about the negative reviews:
- The first wave of criticism and purchase warnings emerged because the game was grappling with severe performance issues. In the meantime, the developers delivered several updates, and at least for me, there were zero problems on my PC; the performance was smooth, and there were no noticeable bugs, input lag, or crashes.
- Various current negative reviews, on the other hand, refer to the developers having made small adjustments to NPC behavior and the story lately, causing some human bosses to no longer be able to be defeated definitively. Personally, I didn’t notice any of the points mentioned in the reviews negatively.
The gameplay qualities of WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers, on the other hand, receive little criticism. On the contrary. Many players in positive reviews express that they are having a great time with the Soulslike and even rate it as “Game of the Year”.
I can’t completely agree with that – the RPG genre this year has been too strong with hits like Clair Obscure: Expedition 33 or Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 -, but I must say: WUCHANG is great and from my perspective is even the currently best Soulslike not made by FromSoftware.
Better well copied than poorly reinvented
The greatest highlight of WUCHANG in my view is the world design. The way the individual sections are interconnected and how much one can actually discover while exploring does not have to hide behind the best of the best (like a Dark Souls). Here, all the Soulslikes mentioned above pale in comparison.
However, you can also notice in some boss designs that WUCHANG took a lot of inspiration from the competition regarding certain attack maneuvers. This can be criticized, but it takes place at such a high level that I still had a lot of fun in many of the battles.
The staging is also sometimes absolutely stunning. For example, on the way to the final boss, a piece of music plays that perfectly underscores the atmosphere of the area and should give some goosebumps.
Maximum freedom
The fact that I had so much fun in the (boss) battles is also because I was able to build a character in WUCHANG that perfectly reflects my preferred play style: putting the enemy under aggressive pressure with two blades and quick attacks. Thanks to strong lifesteal synergy, I could even “tank” some bosses like that.
Another plus point (that many other Soulslikes should take note of in WUCHANG): The progression system for the various weapons is structured flexibly with its large talent tree, allowing you to easily respec and try out a wide variety of play styles. Colleague Ody has already praised this extensively in his play report.
To top it all off, WUCHANG has found a – for my personal feeling – wonderful balance regarding difficulty. The game is not a walk in the park and is always pleasantly challenging, but never unfairly hard.
The penalties for dying are not as harsh as in many other Souls games, as you are allowed to keep part of the experience points you’ve farmed. And there is often a quickly reachable resurrection point near the boss arena.
That was something that the developers of Lies of P did not manage as well at launch in my opinion. There was significantly greater frustration potential, which the devs eventually resolved – rather inelegantly, but effectively – with the introduction of new difficulty levels. This enhances newcomer friendliness but gives points off in the Soulslike rating.
Don’t let the numbers fool you
Long story short: Anyone who only looks at the current numbers on Steam, for example, and is deterred by them is missing out on what I believe is the best Soulslike on the market that is not made by FromSoftware.
If in doubt, simply subscribe to a month of Game Pass and secure access to WUCHANG. My playthrough took about 35 hours, so you won’t face a giant chunk like Elden Ring.
Have you played WUCHANG already and have a personal conclusion? If you’re looking for more Soulslikes that are inspired by Dark Souls and are worth a look, make sure to check here: Here are the current 15 best alternatives to Dark Souls that are not made by FromSoftware
