Fallen Feathers Mod Reverses Story Changes

A modder has released a fix for PC players of Wuchang: Fallen Feathers who were dissatisfied with the recent Patch 1.5 updates.

Last month, Leenzee Games assured players that numerous performance and optimization problems affecting the game since release would be resolved. While Patch 1.5 tackled many of these issues, it also introduced extensive and unannounced alterations to enemy behavior, dialogue, and story elements.

As previously detailed, before this patch, players could target and eliminate specific passive human NPCs found in the game world. Killing these characters impacted the protagonist's "madness" stat. Post-patch, however, these NPCs are no longer targetable or killable, removing that specific interaction with the madness system. Furthermore, boss encounters now conclude by exhausting the foe into submission rather than delivering a killing blow.

Unsurprisingly, the community reaction has been largely negative, with many players voicing their frustration on Steam's forums and in user reviews. Shortly after the patch's release, a modder created a modification that completely reverts all 1.5 changes—both good and bad—back to the game's version 1.4.1 state.

"Wuchang 1.5 significantly weakens the gameplay experience. Most late-game bosses, NPCs, and enemies now merely exhaust instead of dying, offering trivial dialogue instead of the original story-progressing conversations," the modder stated. "In essence, patch 1.5 has damaged the game's narrative depth and immersive quality."

The mod's creator acknowledged it is a "fairly complex mod that modifies game files." Since it also removes some quality-of-life improvements from Patch 1.5, they directed players who wish to keep those QoL features while reverting the story changes to additional standalone mods such as Fast Vertical Traversal, Improved Recovery, and Fast Item Pick Up.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is a Soulslike action RPG set in the Shu region during the chaotic final years of the Ming Dynasty. Players assume the role of a mysterious warrior suffering from a grotesque feather-borne illness, unraveling hidden conspiracies and fighting supernatural threats in a crumbling ancient empire.

IGN's review of Wuchang: Fallen Feathers awarded it an 8/10, praising it as "another great soulslike to add to the ever-growing genre, boasting excellent combat, superb level design, a fantastic skill tree, and intimidating bosses. Be prepared, though, for occasional sharp difficulty swings and a reliance on somewhat cheap ambush encounters."