Wuchang: Fallen Feathers has finally launched, and it’s come out in a big way.
A Big Achievement An Hour In
SteamDB’s logs reveal that Wuchang: Fallen Feathers peaked with 114,132 concurrent players, an hour after it launched on Steam. We usually have to wait a few days before game companies confirm how much their games sold, so this data is a convenient early indication of how successful a game has been.
But What Do The Reviews Say?
This lines up interestingly with how Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is doing with critics. On MetaCritic, it has received metascores of 75 on PlayStation 5, 76 on PC, and 83 on Xbox Series X|S. On OpenCritic, it has received a Top Critic Average of 75, with 71 % of critics recommending it. Finally, on Steam it has an Overwhelmingly Negative Customer Review Score, comprising 2,692 out of 6,605 reviews.
The individual reviews paint an interesting picture as well. In spite of the bad reviews, there’s no consensus among critics that it’s just a bad game. Some outlets are giving it reviews in the range 90s range. The lowest of reviews goes down to the 40s, but most reviews orbit around the 70s to the 80s.
The lowest of reviews complain about its performance and technical issues. But even there, reviewers don’t seem to agree. The highest rated reviews don’t mention these issues, which could mean that some gamers didn’t notice or did not feel they affected their experience.
There’s also discord on whether Wuchang: Fallen Feathers has good or bad game design. Depending on the review you read, it has either made a brilliant spin on the Dark Souls formula, or it does not innovate enough.
Why Did Wuchang: Fallen Feathers Get This Many Players At Launch?
There’s an obvious theory that could explain why Wuchang: Fallen Feathers had so many Steam players at launch. They may have picked up a lot of Chinese gamers, just like Black Myth Wukong. We will be able to corroborate that in a few days, but it hints on how Chinese game developers going global can still rely on their local fans.
But we think most gamers will remember Wuchang: Fallen Feathers as one of many projects that benefited from a Game Pass deal. We do think games should not have to be GOTY contenders to justify getting these deals. If they find their fans, and can make those fans happy, that should be enough.
You can watch Wuchang: Fallen Feathers’ launch trailer here.
