Wo Long

At the beginning of the game, players can create and customize their own player avatar, and choose from one of five "phases". Players can also choose from one of five "Divine Beasts" including the Qilin, Baihu, Qinglong, Zhuque and Xuanwu. Beasts can assist players during combat, or provide passive perks to players through "Divine Beast Resonance". Like Nioh, the game is largely linear. As players progress in the game, they will encounter Battle Flags scattered throughout the world. Players can use them to save their game, or use "Genuine Qi", the game's form of experience, to upgrade their characters and unlock new abilities. The game also features a cooperative multiplayer mode, in which players can summon a friend to help out during combat. A nameless soldier must fight against monsters and demons in a dark fantasy version of the Three Kingdoms period. On October 26, 2021, during a development stream celebrating the 40th anniversary of Koei Tecmo president and CEO Kou Shibusawa's career, it was announced that Team Ninja were currently developing a new action game based on Luo Guanzhong's 14th-century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Polygon enjoyed the morale system, writing that it was "an inventive spin on the Soulslike formula, as it indicates how challenging a particular match will likely be from afar — without you having to die multiple, needless deaths by plunging headfirst into random encounters".Rock Paper Shotgun liked how it made Nioh's overwhelmed complexity manageable, "Wo Long untangles a lot of Nioh's woes, streamlining things to make the act of ticking off missions not only a joy, but a joy that doesn't threaten entire brain collapse".Eurogamer praised the setting, but critcized the overgenerous loot system, seeing it as a "leftover" from Nioh.