(Image courtesy of SteamDB. “‘Where Winds Meet’ exemplifies the wuxia genre.”)
Rosalie Pineda
Connector Staff
“Where Winds Meet” has garnered a large fanbase just days after its release, and for good reason. This free-to-play, open-world wuxia ARPG just dropped on Nov. 14, offering an impressive range of gameplay, from fighting bosses and designing an avatar, to building a home base and playing with friends online.
The wuxia setting for this kind of game is quite novel in the global space. Players take control of a jianghu, a wanderer that explores tenth-century China and fights with superhuman martial arts. From there, the path the jianghu takes is up to the player.
Visually, the game is impressive. Many of the environments are a delight to the eyes, feeling fresh and alive. The game rewards exploration by hiding little secrets throughout the world.
Character customization is varied, although certain hair colors and outfits are locked behind the in-game store and gacha system. The jianghu’s face is extremely adjustable, and many players have already posted cool and amusing designs to the online gallery, replicating celebrities like Michael Jackson in-game.
The combat is fluid and customizable, complete with a skill tree and branching paths. Players can upgrade gear and collect materials from the overworld. Players can even engage in debates with NPCs. Depending on the choices players make, NPCs can be a new friend or foe.
Another strong point is the sound design. Not only does the soundtrack perfectly capture the ancient aesthetic with traditional instruments, but the studio took care to include a fun variety of sound effects that add a layer of life to the world.
This extends beyond crunching grass and flowing water. For instance, on the PS5 version, performing the eavesdropping function causes whispered dialogue to sound directly out of the controller’s speaker. Little details like that demonstrate how much thought was put into this part of the game.
Still, every game comes with issues. People have encountered problems navigating the UI, especially on the console. Figuring out the menu can be overwhelming, and sometimes button prompts are unclear or just nonexistent, so hopefully future patches address these problems.
There have also been bugs with the voice acting or dialogue prompts, although Everstone Studio has been steadily rolling out fixes for these. The English dub overall is good, but the Mandarin voice acting is especially immersive.
There’s also the cosmetics gacha. The gacha system in this game is much more complicated than an average gacha game. It’s also important to note that the gacha is not required to experience the full game, since it is purely pulling for cosmetics. No player can overpower the other by spending money.
Light spenders are suggested to do some quick research to figure out how to make the most of their budget, as there are ways to get store currency at a discount, or even for free in the overworld. Players who are completely uninterested in spending money will find it more difficult to save up for pulls, but it is doable with some patience.
People who enjoy games like “Breath of the Wild”, “Elden Ring”, “Witcher 3”, “Genshin Impact”, “Wuthering Waves”, “Final Fantasy XIV” and even “Infinity Nikki” will no doubt find something to enjoy here.
“Where Winds Meet” is an incredibly ambitious game with so much to offer. A review based on just several hours of gameplay can only scratch the surface of this enormous, on-going project. For anyone interested, the game is free to download for PC, PS5 and from the Epic Games Store.
Grade: A
