Once again, the discourse around a promising action game has been hijacked not by its gameplay, music, or setting, but by debates over its main character’s appearance.
Following the July 24 release of Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, Soulslike players rejoiced at the arrival of yet another competent action game to join the repertoire. Wuchang: Fallen Feathers may not rival genre greats like Lies of P (or, well, most of the FromSoftware catalog), but it is mechanically sound. Wuchang: Fallen Feathers has an interesting setting, it tries to do something different with the Soulslike formula through unique mechanics, and it even has a decent implementation of a skill tree for Soulslike progression. But the discussion online isn’t about the game’s bona fides. No, instead, fans and detractors both have dedicated their energies to arguing about Bai Wuchang, the conventionally attractive protagonist of Fallen Feathers.
The small but vocal contingents of the “this game is goonerslop” crowd and the “finally real gaming is back” crowd spent the days leading up to Wuchang’s release arguing on social media. This discussion has continued even after the release, and watching all of it unfold has only reminded me of Stellar Blade, one of the standout Soulslikes of 2024.
Image: Shift Up/Sony Interactive Entertainment
Korean developer Shift Up initially revealed Stellar Blade as Project EVE, immediately catching the eye of potential fans in part with the design of its main character. She was stylish and sexy, and people were excited to have another character of this archetype joining the likes of Nier: Automata’s and Bayonetta’s titular characters.
Of course, across various media, sex symbol characters are nothing new. However, speaking as a fan of Stellar Blade’s themes — not to mention the mood set by Keiichi Okabe’s fantastic score, and the captivating yet overwhelming feel of isolation and loneliness throughout — it’s disappointing to see that even a year past its release, the conversation around Stellar Blade remains dominated by its character’s appearance. This conversation itself distracts from aspects that make the game such a gem.
Image: Leenzee/505 Games
Stellar Blade’s marketing campaign leaned into Eve, emphasizing Eve’s physique. The developer drew a lot of attention to the design, publicizing how it worked with Korean model Shin Jae-eun as a base for the character. Stellar Blade director Hyung-Tae Kim is also on the record stating how they paid extra attention to Eve’s backside because that’s what the player would see most of the time. Of course, the studio can make the game it wants to make, and even beyond the numbers — Stellar Blade currently has an 81 on Metacritic and has sold more than 3 million copies across PlayStation 5 and Windows PC — Eve has resonated with fans. At the same time, though, it’s a fair criticism to say Shift Up should’ve put extra attention toward fleshing out Stellar Blade’s weaker aspects, such as its story.
When Leenzee Games initially revealed Wuchang: Fallen Feathers in 2021, it portrayed a female warrior in historical attire, and unfortunately, the crowd went mild. A Reddit thread from the time was highly critical of the game’s Souls-inspired design, criticizing how its animations appeared directly ripped from Dark Souls.
However, as time went on, the discussion shifted as the developers of Wuchang progressively made Bai more “appealing,” citing Stellar Blade as a clear inspiration. With this change, feedback from some reactionaries pivoted away from the game’s mechanics, vibe, and feel, and instead focused on how the game would allegedly receive lower review scores because Bai wore more revealing outfits.
Unfortunately, that’s exactly what played out in response to XboxEra’s Wuchang review, which listed the phrase “gooner-approved” as both a pro and a con — an obvious joke that provoked predictable reactions from some social media personalities. Now that the game is in the hands of players, its Metacritic score paints the picture of a game that’s….fine. And yes, having played, Wuchang doesn’t feel entirely realized in many aspects of its design. It tries hard to imitate the greatness found in a game like Sekiro or Lies of P, and lacks the polish of its competitors — but hey, the protagonist has jiggle physics on her butt.
It’s still early in Wuchang’s life cycle, and conversations around major video games can turn on a dime. You can see the tide start to change around Stellar Blade, for instance. Former PlayStation CEO Shuhei Yoshida said, “The biggest reason for Stellar Blade’s success is its combat.” The director of Stellar Blade, meanwhile, while defending the studio’s design choices, has also acknowledged areas in which the game fell short (namely its story).
The developers of Wuchang have been tight-lipped about the conversation bubbling up around their game — a wise move from a business perspective, seeing as this discourse is potentially alerting people to a game they may or may not have heard of otherwise. But Leenzee has an opportunity here to address criticism about the game through rolling out updates that align it more with the initial vision for with Wuchang: Fallen Feathers. If Wuchang wants to be remembered for more than its protagonist’s appearance, the developers need to prove that style doesn’t have to come at the expense of substance.
