GamesRadar has an interesting new feature for Wuchang: Fallen Feathers that brings out a special aspect of the game’s premise and overall design.
As explained by director Xia Siyuan, the game isn’t just based on any general China setting, or any popular historical backdrop, such as the Romance of the Three Kingdoms or the Journey to the West. Siyuan has taken inspiration from his home province of Sichuan, which also happens to be the province where developer Leenzee is based.
Leenzee may hope to replicate the success of their peers like Game Science and miHoyo, but their background isn’t from free-to-play mobile and PC. They were previously part of the game industry involved with outsourcing, and as a result they worked with and learned from Western studios. Among other things, they learned Unreal prior to their big debut.
Make no mistake, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is unmistakably Sichuan in its flavor. The game is set strictly in the 17th century, in the latter years of the Ming Dynasty. Siyuan reveals that Wuchang herself has a disease that matches up the milieu she lives in, filled with famines and plagues.
She has what is called the Feathering Disease, and while Siyuan is light on details, he hints at inspiration towards an immortal feathered being in Taoist mythology referred to as the Xian.
This Feathering Disease is what gives Wuchang her powers, called the Skyborn Might. And this is where get into the game mechanics, as Skyborn Might manifests in a skill tree which she can freely level up in the course of playing the game, and also by collecting Red Mercury. She can also move her skill points around freely at any time, so yes, this game will enable you to respec women.
Her default weapon, a heavy giant longsword or changdao named Cloudfrost’s Edge, is too heavy to use to parry, so you will have to get by with dodges and timing charged attacks FromSoftware style. But you can earn the skill to learn to parry with Cloudfrost’s Edge down the line.
Furthermore, other weapons will allow you to parry by default, and will enable you to use other skills and abilities. In this way, Leenzee wants to encourage you to experiment and find your own way in beating the game.
The Feathering Disease also has a dark side that isn’t helpful to Wuchang. It manifests itself in the form of a skulking presence referred to as the Inner Demon. Every time you die, you have to fight the Inner Demon to win back the Red Mercury you just dropped.
But there’s more to it. Because even though Wuchang’s Taoist faith enables her reincarnation, as long as she has the Feathering Disease, she slowly loses her sanity every time she comes back. As Siyuan puts it, expect to be a completely unhinged Wuchang by the time you get to the ending.
The Sichuan influence pervades other aspects of the game, such as its real world analogue locations, or the Chuanju opera aesthetic of level boss Dhutanga. But we’re sure Leenzee is eager to share more about Wuchang’s lore in the coming months.
