Wuchang: Fallen Feathers Rockets Past 114K Players on Steam, But Review Bombing Clouds the Launch

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers on Steam is only 20% positive (Image Credit: 505 Games)

Lenzee Games’ long-awaited Souls-like, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, finally launched today — and the numbers are in. The game has already amassed a massive player base on Steam, but the early excitement is being overshadowed by waves of negative reviews.

Impressive Steam Debut, With a Harsh Catch

In just a few hours since its global release, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers has surged to a peak of 114,132 concurrent players on Steam, as per SteamDB. That puts the title in the same breath as other heavy-hitters in the Souls-like genre when it comes to raw launch interest.

However, while the player count skyrocketed, the Steam user review score has plummeted just as fast. As of the time of writing, only 20% of reviews are positive, placing the game under the dreaded "Overwhelmingly Negative" category on Valve’s platform.

Players Are Slamming Performance Issues

The primary reason for this backlash? Widespread technical issues, particularly related to Unreal Engine 5 performance.

More than 13,000 negative reviews have poured in, many pointing fingers at poor optimization. Players report stutters, crashes, poor frame rates, and general instability — even on rigs that should theoretically be more than capable of handling the game.

One frustrated reviewer summed it up, saying:

"UE5 games are a hit or miss when it comes to performance, and in this case, it’s a miss unfortunately."

Another added:

"Why are we not optimizing these games properly and promoting frame generation or upscaling to fix the issue?"

Even many of the “positive” reviews appear to be half-joking, giving the game credit mostly for its character design or aesthetic, not the gameplay or performance.

Despite the Steam backlash, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers isn’t being universally panned. In fact, critical reception has been largely favorable, with a Metascore of 76 for PC at the time of writing.

If you’ve somehow missed the buzz, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is a dark action RPG set during the late Ming Dynasty, developed by Lenzee Games. The story unfolds in the fictional land of Shu, where a strange plague transforms people into horrific monsters.

You play as Wuchang, a pirate warrior stricken with amnesia and a mysterious affliction known as Feathering. As you travel through the corrupted empire, you’ll collect skills from fallen enemies and evolve your combat techniques using a rare resource called Red Mercury.

Combat in Wuchang is deeply customizable — players can enchant weapons and develop distinct fighting styles. The game promises deep lore, grueling boss battles, and a wide variety of character builds. It’s clearly inspired by the Souls formula, but brings its own cultural flavor and narrative approach.

The game is now available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC (via Steam, Epic Games Store, and Microsoft Store) as well as Xbox Game Pass.

It does not currently support last-gen consoles or the Nintendo Switch.