Next week sees the release of the very cool-looking Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, an action game where you play as a badass pirate warrior with amnesia. While figuring out what’s up with your memories (hell yeah), you spend your time fighting giant monsters (hell yeah!) inflicted by a mysterious feathery illness (hell yeah!!!), and have to– Ah, dammit, it’s another Soulslike? Seriously?

To be clear, I haven’t played Wuchang Fallen Feathers yet, but the genre it’s ostensibly part of is emblematic of a gaming trend that’s gone on for far too long: There are too many Soulslikes! Largely inspired by FromSoftware’s Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls, these action-adventure games tend to put a heavy focus on blocking, parrying, and dodging attacks, and love to throw a challenging boss fight in your path. Often, they are moody in tone. More often, they make me moody.

The genre has been around in some capacity for about a decade, but I first noticed it reached a saturation point in 2022, following the release of SteelRising. Developed by........

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