Wo Long 2: Wings of Ember feels like a blast from the past thanks to its fast, stylish, and satisfying action

Wo Long 2: Wings of Ember feels like a massive step up from its predecessor, purely from a combat standpoint.

<![CDATA[ <article> <p><em>Wo Long 2: Wings of Ember</em> feels like a massive step up from its predecessor, purely from a combat standpoint. With a large variety of weapons to use, several character and weapon abilities to unlock, and armor to find while exploring, there's so much to look forward to at launch.</p><p>I played a demo of Koei Tecmo's upcoming title via the Xbox booth at <a href="https://www.techradar.com/gaming/techradar-gaming-best-of-gamescom-2026-awards">Gamescom 2026</a>, and was left thrilled by just how approachable <em>Wo Long 2: Wings of Ember</em> feels. As a soulslike, it can certainly be punishing, especially when fighting foes above your character's level.</p><p>However, Koei Tecmo has given players more than enough ways to battle, with different deflect combinations, standard blocking, and smooth movement for evading in and out of danger zones during combat.</p><p>Using the new nunchucks weapon felt like I was stepping into Bruce Lee's shoes, easily flying through standard enemies and deflecting their unblockable attacks. The finishers and overall speed of combat are very much PlayStation 2-esque, almost reminiscent of the stylish combos and animations in Capcom's <em>God Hand</em>.</p><p>Enemies often spam unblockable attacks, but the great thing is the attack patterns are very well designed, as they're easy to react to without unfair or nearly indecipherable movements — which is an issue I've had with most soulslike games over the years.</p><figure class="van-image-figure inline-layout" data-bordeaux-image-check ><div class='image-full-width-wrapper'><div class='image-widthsetter' style="max-width:2560px;"><p class="vanilla-image-block" style="padding-top:56.25%;"><img id="FWN732uV7LJFpGjBEVbjr9" name="EMBARGOED UNTIL September 16 2AM BST Wo Long 2: Wings of Ember" alt="Custom female character wielding weapon in Wo Long 2: Wings of Ember" src="https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/FWN732uV7LJFpGjBEVbjr9-1920-80.png" mos="" align="middle" fullscreen="" width="2560" height="1440" attribution="" endorsement="" class="inline"></p></div></div><figcaption itemprop="caption description" class=" inline-layout"><span class="credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder">(Image credit: Koei Tecmo)</span></figcaption></figure><p>Similar to many soulslike games, though, <em>Wo Long 2: Wings of Ember</em> encourages players to build a build that caters to a specific play style, specifically based on which weapon one decides to use. </p><p>Levelling up different elements like wood, fire, water, earth, or metal virtues increased specific base character stats, element abilities, and ultimately improved proficiency with particular weapons. </p><p>Since I used wooden nunchucks throughout my playtime, I chose to upgrade the wood virtue, which aided me with more damage against enemies.</p><div class="looped-video"><video class="lazyload-in-view lazyloading" data-src="https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/EFPvRfxKqcYfQhPvFBdUfK/WL2WOE%2016%20by%209.mp4" autoplay loop muted playsinline src="https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/EFPvRfxKqcYfQhPvFBdUfK/WL2WOE%2016%20by%209.mp4"></video></div><p><strong>If you're fast enough at deflecting, </strong><em><strong>Wo Long 2: Wings of Ember</strong></em><strong> features some of the most satisfying back-and-forth combat against regular enemies and mini-bosses, and that's right up my alley.</strong> (<em>Video Credit: Koei Tecmo</em>)</p><p><em>Wo Long 2: Wings of Ember</em> carries the levelling system from its predecessor and builds upon it, but the additional aspects to combat elevate it to a far more exciting level. </p><p>I never finished the first entry, <em>Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty</em>, but I was already very impressed by its fast-flowing gameplay and accessibility, which Koei Tecmo looks to be doubling down on in this sequel.</p><p>Story sequences were kept short in my preview, but honestly, gameplay is where the focus is with Koei Tecmo's upcoming entry. If my short demo is anything to go by, I can only expect <em>Wo Long 2: Wings of Ember</em> to deliver for stylish combat fanatics like me when it launches early in 2027 on <a href="https://www.techradar.com/reviews/ps5">PS5</a>, <a href="https://www.techradar.com/reviews/xbox-series-x">Xbox Series X</a>, <a href="https://www.techradar.com/reviews/xbox-series-s">Xbox Series S</a>, <a href="https://www.techradar.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendo-switch-2-review">Nintendo Switch 2</a>, and PC.</p> </article> ]]>