Wo Long 2: Wings Of Ember Big Hands-On Preview

Wo Long 2: Wings Of Ember Preview - A Stunning World With Messy Combat Published Oct 22, 2026, 9:00 PM EDT Sam Woods is TheGamer’s Senior Reporter. He’s been in games journalism since 2020 and has undertaken a variety of roles in that time. These have included roles such as SEO Editor, Managing Editor at DualShockers, and Global Head of Gaming, and he's also been seen on the BBC. He was promoted to the Senior Reporter position in 2025 following a series of high-quality reports and exclusives for TheGamer. Since 2020, Sam has written over 3,000 articles and specializes in telling the stories of the people behind the games. He’s interviewed the biggest game directors, some of the industry’s top talents, told the stories of how indie games came to be, and spoken to players about what really makes them tick. He’s also interviewed some of the world’s biggest musical artists to find out how the medium has inspired their work, and TV and Film actors about their roles in video game adaptations. He even hosted a PAX panel in 2021 and made a documentary in 2024 surrounding the creation of a Disney game. Alongside this, Sam focuses on breaking news. He got the scoop on Perfect Dark’s cancellation, provided context on some AI drama, and revealed that Lady Dimitrescu’s actress would love to step back into the character’s giant shoes. These articles have been picked up by the biggest gaming sites, including IGN, GameSpot, and PC Gamer. He also loves to dive into the numbers behind the games. Sam’s journey in games journalism has taken him all over the world. He’s covered Gamescom in Germany, Summer Game Fest in Los Angeles, and Tokyo Game Show in Japan, each on three occasions. He’s been learning Japanese since 2024 with the intention of identifying and translating Japanese-language news and bringing it to English-language audiences first, something he’s done countless times. Sam’s first review was 2020’s Battletoads reboot, and he’s since reviewed games in The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario, and Pokemon franchises. Wo Long 2: Wings of Ember has an unenviable task - following in Phantom Blade Zero’s impressive footsteps. Having just previewed Phantom Blade Zero for the fourth time, falling in love with it all over again, I flew to France to check out Wo Long 2. As you might expect, the two games share many distinct similarities, leaving me with complicated feelings as I played my way through two hours of Koei Tecmo’s Three Kingdoms-inspired ARPG. You can check them out below. A Beautiful World, And A Mightily Confusing Combat System For context, I never played Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty. It was a game on my radar, but one that fell victim to my ever-growing backlog. The preview began with a 30-minute presentation on the game and its many, many different mechanics. This is typically unusual for this type of preview, but it felt very warranted. Why I mention this will become clear. As I booted up the game, I was thrust partway through Wings of Ember. A massive battle was underway, and I had to navigate a range of enemy outposts before crossing a mountain cursed by Demonic Qi. Structurally, I vibed with it. The layout flowed well, the environment looked fantastic, I loved the Three Kingdoms setting, and the mix of human and monstrous foes was great. Hopping from shipwreck to shipwreck and taking down small squads of enemies was satisfying, and although Wings of Ember’s combat system was confusing early on, I managed to mash my way through. The sequel’s Soulslike elements are evident right away. Enemies respawned when I died or rested at Battle Flags; I lost my Qi (Wo Long’s currency) on death and could collect it from where I last died when I revived, and I could unlock shortcuts to streamline future runs. Parrying is also key, and it’s a brutally hard game. All hallmarks of a great soulslike, but that didn’t stop me from feeling that its combat was far too convoluted. .ll hallmarks of a great soulslike, but that didn’t stop me from feeling that its combat was far too convoluted That is why I mentioned my lack of Wo Long experience; maybe I’d have enjoyed it more if I'd spent time with the first game. Maybe things would have felt natural, and I’d have entered the flow state a game like this requires. The need for a detailed mechanical breakdown before the preview makes me question that. The meat and bones of Wings of Ruin’s combat is martial arts. You have a light attack and a heavy attack, and can pull off combos using both. It’s slick and satisfying, but there's so much extra to juggle that it made me feel like I’d never perfect anything, and that made my preview difficult. Alongside my regular attacks, I could unlock, level up, and use a range of elemental Wizardry Spells. Some of these spells were strong against certain enemies; others were far less effective. I could summon and manifest a giant Divine Beast, a tide-turning transformation that, when triggered, gave me bestial strength and abilities. Throw in ranged combat, a heavy emphasis on parrying, and new Insight Skills that let you combine R1 with your skill/ability buttons to use a range of new, slightly more powerful abilities, and things got confusing pretty quickly I consider myself a soulslike connoisseur. I’ve beaten Bloodborne multiple times, have the Platinum Trophy in Elden Ring, and consider Lies of P an all-time favorite, but this amalgamation of mechanics in Wings of Ruin made the game feel unnecessarily difficult, and took away from the beauty of what it was trying to create— at least in the two hours I played. It’s here where I really drew the comparison between Wo Long and Phantom Blade Zero. Both share a mythological wuxia style and are deep action-RPGs, but the combat feels miles apart. While Wo Long tries to fit as many mechanics together as possible, Phantom Blade Zero follows the mantra that simplicity is key. It’s still complex, and the fights are tough as nails, but it understands that the beauty is in the combat itself, and satisfying combat doesn’t need to try too much. Perhaps I’m being a little harsh on Wo Long. The basics of combat feel fantastic; the problem is, they layer in too much that makes it confusing. With more time or a history with the series, I could well have felt very differently, but this environment isn’t always conducive to that, and it’d be disingenuous to say that I felt everything worked. I was, however, a sucker for the world Koei Tecmo was building, and I want to give it a fair shake, so I will pick it up when it comes out. I’m just hoping my concerns were more a case of “get gud” and that it’s as overstuffed as my first impressions made me feel. Released 2027 Developer(s) Team Ninja Publisher(s) Koei Tecmo Multiplayer Online Co-Op Genre(s) Action, RPG, Soulslike