There's always a cause for concern when you think you've hit a wall early on in a game, or in the case of Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, at the end of what's meant to be its tutorial mission. Thrown straight into the thick of China's turbulent Three Kingdoms era during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, you find yourself up against one of its formidable leaders, whose strength has been enhanced by a cursed elixir. Surely this is meant to be a trick boss you're supposed to lose against, like in Sekiro? Or there must be an easy exploit right under your nose, as with Dark Souls' Taurus Demon? Fortunately, after almost an hour of struggle, I realised it was the latter, the price for turning on Chinese audio for authenticity but failing to read the subtitles during the thick of battle.
It's a rather cruel first hurdle to put in front of you, perhaps characteristic of Team Ninja's "masocore" sensibilities, but almost an anomaly to the rest of the marathon ahead of you. In leaving behind the Nioh series set in Sengoku-era Japan, the studio introduces new mechanics and features that actually make Wo Long one of the most approachable Soulslikes I've played in years, without simply sticking it in easy mode.
Koei Tecmo is no stranger to the Three Kingdoms era, having spent two decades hacking and slashing through this historical timeline in the Dynasty Warriors series. The translation from musou to Soulslike comes with a dark fantasy angle as this mysterious elixir is turning all exposed to it into demonic creatures, including the warlords fighting to acquire its power for themselves. Given the numerous larger than life heroes that have virtually been mythologised not just in the musou games but countless other Chinese adaptations, it seems fitting that these figures should also fight alongside you. If you played Nioh 2, you might remember being occasionally accompanied by an AI-controlled companion in several missions. In Wo Long, this is almost the default, where an ally (sometimes two) will accompany you from a mission's start to its concluding boss fight, while you can also summon another from your accruing roster.