Chinese soulslike Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is getting a sequel, set to be developed by a new studio helmed by the first game’s director. Rather than original studio Lenzee, the new Wuchang entry’s being made by Indolphinity – or the Chengdu Recursive Dolphin Technology Company – and published by 505 Games.

The news has been announced by Indolphinity and 505 in a press release, with the latter’s parent company Digital Bros having bought the IP rights to Wuchang from Leenzee for around €4.6 million back in April. Indolphinity’s founder is Xia Siyuan, who was the director of the first Wuchang game at Lenzee and who reportedly left that studio earlier this year, making a sequel look unlikely at that point.

“We are delighted to embark once again on a deep collaboration with 505 Games under our new studio banner, Indolphinity,” Siyuan said in the release. “As a homegrown development team made up of Chinese creators, we have always believed that a rich cultural heritage is the essence of our games and their competitive strength. 505 Games’s respect for the creative process and its genuine understanding of developers’ needs are perfectly in tune with our own values, and this shared vision gives us confidence in the long-term future of the series.”

Digital Bros co-CEO Raffi Galante added that the publishers “strongly believe in Wuchang as a long-term global franchise” and aim “to safeguard and amplify the original creative vision” while “preserving the cultural authenticity of the IP” by “keeping its creative heart in China”.

As for the sort of tale the sequel will tell, Siyuan only teased that it’ll be “an entirely new chapter of Wuchang’s story that is deeply rooted in the Eastern soil…” Despite rocky PC performance around launch, our resident soulsliker Jeremy dug Fallen Feathers.

“Covering a Soulslike as a lone guides writer is always a daunting affair, but it helps when the game in question is actually very good,” he wrote in his advent calendar entry on it. “While Wuchang: Fallen Feathers has achieved notoriety for a number of things, including its heroine’s revealing outfits and a post-launch patch that altered aspects of the game to appease Mainland China audiences, what remains is some of the best level design I’ve encountered.

“Take the opening village, for instance, with its myriad corridors and alleyways, all of which lead to hidden rooftops and shortcuts that wonderfully loop back to the central temple hub. It’s an inspiring piece of interlaid architecture, replete with so many branching paths that unfold yet form a beautiful whole, kind of like an intricate tangram puzzle. Most of Wuchang’s levels follow this lead, and it brings back memories not just of the first Dark Souls, but also the feeling of encountering that design for the first time.”

He also mentioned that he’d be down for a sequel, so excuse me while I politely knock on the door to the guides room of the treehouse to make sure he’s seen this news.