On December 27, Everstone Studio, with the support of giant NetEase, launched an open beta test of a new, rather interesting and exciting action RPG with an open world called Where Winds Meet in the Chinese region . During this time, I managed to study most of the available content, and in this material we will see what the game is like, superficially analyzing its key features.
Basic information
Let’s start, as always, with the basics.
- The global version is scheduled to be released sometime in 2025.
- The game will be available on PC, consoles and mobile devices.
- Free-2-Play was chosen as the distribution model.
- There is an online component, read about it in a separate section
- It is being developed on an engine called Messiah, which is NetEase’s own development.
- In terms of graphics, I think the game looks pretty good, and that’s with the fact that some high quality presets aren’t available yet. Although some textures clearly need some improvement.
- In terms of optimization, I haven’t noticed any serious problems. My FPS drops significantly only in a couple of areas of the main city.
- The PC version has three clients of 60, 100 and 120 gigabytes (the latter is not yet available). I have not found any official information on the difference between them, but based on my experience, it is most likely the textures, the larger the client, the higher the quality.
- The developers chose the Wuxia genre as the main theme. Simply put, you will have to plunge into the atmosphere of Ancient China, filled with all sorts of mystical things, martial arts masters who can fly on swords and run at breakneck speed, demonic practices, sects that teach one of the types of martial arts, etc.
- The game mixes a huge number of systems and mechanics from various more or less popular genres, for example, there are a couple of soulslike mechanics.
- And finally, the game has a ton of different content for every taste, so you’ll definitely have something to do. Some of the content is tailored for co-op.
Online component
The online component of Where Winds Meet is expressed as follows:
- You can explore the world with friends (up to 5 people), who must be invited in advance.
- Using a special interface, you can submit an application for a random player to join the world.
- At any time, you can switch between personal and shared worlds. In the shared world, some things from the personal world are missing, but you will still see other players and can take part in special cooperative world activities (once per day).
- About half of the game’s key activities are designed for cooperative play, both PvE and PvP options (read more about them in the content section). Of course, there is an automatic player selection system to simplify their play.
In addition to the above, there are a couple of online mechanics from soulslike projects, at least they are most often found there. Due to the fact that the game requires a constant connection to the Internet, the following works even in your world, and I do not know if it is possible to completely turn off the display of certain things.
- Players can leave messages in almost all areas of the world – they can attach not only text, but also a screenshot. For example, you can leave a solution to a puzzle, indicate that loot is located nearby, or, as is standard practice, point out something that is not there.
- Messages can be commented on and liked.
- If a message bothers you, you can remove it by disliking it.
- You will occasionally see red mushrooms, indicating that a player has died there – unfortunately, unlike in the Dark Souls series, there is no red ghost emerging from the mushroom to indicate how exactly the player died.
- Near some bosses there are special yellow messages and yellow messages with a golden bird – the first allows you to temporarily summon a player, and the second – for a fee, summon an NPC. Both will help you defeat the boss, after which they will disappear. Although, to be honest, I only tested the player summoning once, while all NPCs were unavailable.
Donat
Since the developers somehow need to make money from a free game, Where Winds Meet has several donation systems:
- Gacha is arranged according to the following scheme:
- Contains two banners, temporary and permanent. Each of them has a pretty funny activation animation.
- Both banners allow you to obtain various cosmetic items.
- Each banner requires its own spins.
- A small number of gacha spins can be obtained from all kinds of game content.
- The temporary banner contains the most rewards, and when reaching X spins, a fixed additional reward is given (there are 6 in total).
- Donat shop – allows you to purchase the following:
- Donate currency.
- Various decorations for the character.
- Skins for weapons.
- An alternate color for the abilities of a specific weapon archetype.
- Mount skins.
- A standard subscription that gradually gives out donation currency over 30 days.
- Coupons for changing appearance and name.
- Gacha-twists for different banners.
- Battle Pass – is structured in a fairly standard way.
- Divided into a free and paid rewards strip.
- Contains 100 ranks, after rank 50 they only give out special currency for a special store.
- Ranks are increased by filling the experience bar. Experience is awarded for completing various daily, weekly and one-time tasks.
- In a special store you can buy decorations for your character and chests with various resources for character development.
- The developers have stuffed the most useful items for character development into the free bar.
Character
You begin your immersion in the game by creating your alter ego using a fairly simple editor:
- Allows you to select male or female gender.
- Next, you choose the type of appearance – fantasy-beautiful or, so to speak, realistic.
- After that, you start playing with the appearance settings. Unfortunately, there are no body settings, and you can only change everything related to the head.
- You can also use a special album to select appearances that other players have come up with.
Energy
Unfortunately, the game has an energy system and it works according to the following, fairly standard scheme:
- Required to receive the main reward from various PvE activities.
- Most require 20 energy units. Fortunately, there is a system that allows you to spend 40 or 60 energy and immediately get a double / triple reward.
- Restores itself, every 9 minutes you get 1 unit.
- The maximum you can accumulate is 500 energy, and if I calculated correctly, it will take about 3 days.
- You can restore it with the help of special pills, each gives 60 units of energy. The pill can be purchased for a donation and received as a reward for game activities \ events.
- Unfortunately, once the cap is reached, excess energy is not converted into additional energy.
Breakthrough
Starting from character level 10, every X levels you need to make a breakthrough, thus you move to a new level of the world and open the possibility of further character development. This system is arranged as follows:
- At the time of writing, there are only 11 levels, which I will refer to as layers from now on.
- Up to a certain layer, you make a breakthrough every 10 character levels, and then every 5 levels.
- Up to a certain layer, the breakthrough is accompanied by a simple test, which takes place in a separate location. In it, in the specified time, you need to destroy 3 waves of enemies in turn. And after this layer, for some reason, you skip the test and immediately go to the next layer.
- After moving to a new layer, the following happens:
- The maximum possible character level is increased.
- The maximum possible energy reserve increases; I haven’t seen it above 500 yet.
- Some basic characteristics are increased.
- The difficulty of all enemies in the open world is increased.
- Improved quality of rewards from open world activities.
- New opportunities become available. For example, on the 4th layer the already mentioned opportunity to get a double reward, while spending 40 energy, opens up, and on the 7th – a triple one.
- If desired, you can return to the previous layer, thereby reducing the difficulty of opponents in the open world. You can lower the level or return back once every 24 hours.
The biggest downside of this system is the standard timegate for many Chinese MMOs, which will most likely be present at the release of the global version. First, to move to the next layer, all players will have to wait 1 day of real time, then 3 days, etc. For example, at the time of writing, to move to layer 7, you need to wait a whole week, and for this reason I cannot continue to go through the story, since the next quest requires a character level of 56, and the ceiling of layer 7 is 55.
World
The world in Where Winds Meet is huge, completely open and almost seamless, as you will only see the standard loading screen when you go to a completely separate location, switch between single and multiplayer mode, and activate fast travel points. It is worth noting right away that you can explore the world of the game in three different modes – with a huge number of marks / hints, with a minimum number of marks / hints and without hints at all.At the time of writing, there are only 2 large regions available, the first contains 3 locations, and the second 4, with the fourth added quite recently (January 9), along with the first major update. Each location contains a huge amount of secondary content, and you can explore the lands both horizontally and vertically. Simply put, if you see a mountain in the distance, there is a 90% chance you will be able to climb it.
There are several ways to move around the world. Some of the options below will cost a certain amount of stamina or consume it when activated.
- Using fast travel points.
- On foot, walking or running.
- On horseback.
- Using basic qing gong – running on walls, triple jump, dash in the air.
- With the help of advanced qing gong – accelerated running, during which you can perform powerful jumps, accelerated running on walls and a special colorful flight with the help of weapons (an example in the second video below).
- You can swim in the water, and in some areas you can even dive underwater.
Advanced Qinggong can only be used after receiving a special region token (each region has its own), which is given as a reward for reaching level 4 of region closure.
Battle
I can describe the combat system as moderately interesting and complex. It consists of the following:
- A character can simultaneously use a bow and two fighting styles with a specific weapon archetype tied to it.
- Each fighting style has its own basic attack, a power attack that can be charged by holding a button, a normal and special ability, and a single move to switch between fighting styles.
- After activating a boost attack or special ability, some stamina is consumed.
- There is a stealth and instant kill system.
- In addition to weapons, you can use various mystical techniques. You can place up to 8 of them on the quick access panel, and special energy is spent on their use. By the way, if you watched the movie “Kung Fu Showdown”, then in the game you will find the familiar toad and sound technique (using a huge bell).
- You can use various auxiliary items to enhance your weapons.
- Health can be restored through certain combat styles or consumable potions. Potions in the game are structured almost like Estus in Soulslike games, but with a slight difference.
- The potion takes time to use, as the character physically drinks it.
- Potions can be purchased or crafted in unlimited quantities, after which they are placed in the healer’s bag.
- The bag’s capacity is limited and initially you can only put 1 potion in it.
- You can replenish potions in your bag by visiting a teleport point, a resurrection checkpoint, or after death.
- Almost all enemy attacks can be blocked, but you will only receive a portion of the damage.
- Almost all enemy attacks can be parried by pressing the appropriate button at the very last moment. Fortunately, parrying interrupts almost all character actions, which is why it can be instantly activated.
- You can use the dash to dodge enemy attacks, and if you do it at the very last moment, you will perform a perfect dodge. Each dash consumes stamina.
- Some enemies have a vulnerability to a certain damage element.
- Enemy attacks are accompanied by special indicators: yellow – these are enhanced attacks, red – these are special ones. The latter cause huge damage.
- Some enemies have multiple HP bars, indicated by red dots.
- Some enemies’ attacks have debuffs. When you take damage, a bar appears and once it’s full, the debuff effect is activated.
- Below the HP bar of your character, opponents and other players (in PvP) is a balance bar.
- The balance bar takes damage from normal attacks and parries, the latter of which deals much more damage than the former.
- If it ends, the enemy will be immobilized for a short time and you can perform a finishing move that deals massive damage to HP.
In PvP you can perform a finishing move, but there is no immobilization effect.
Based on my experience, I can say one thing: in more or less difficult PvE content, the battle process often comes down to the active use of parrying and dodging, and not just silencing the enemy with a single button. In addition, some bosses are much easier to kill through parrying and then finishing off, rather than trying to dodge and then deal damage. The video below is an example of a battle with a simple boss, and in the first post on the forum – a battle with bosses on higher difficulty.
Fighting styles and weapons
As I mentioned, the game has combat styles that are tied to a specific weapon archetype. Several styles can be tied to the same archetype.
- One-handed swords – two styles. One deals pure damage and allows you to attach a shield to the character, and the second attaches a DOT in the form of bleeding.
- Dual Swords – One style that deals damage.
- Spear – Three styles. The first revolves around control, the second – gaining and using combo points, and the third – allows you to aggro your opponents.
- Shenbiao is a single style that deals damage.
- Modao is a fighting style that revolves around defense and heavy strikes.
- The Combat Umbrella is a ranged weapon with two styles. The first deals damage, while the second is capable of healing and resurrecting fallen players.
- The Fan is a ranged weapon with two styles. The first deals damage, and the second is capable of healing and resurrecting fallen players.
Apparently, in the future, the developers plan to add even more fighting styles, or rather, they already exist in the game, but only the opponents use them. For example, a fist style, using mechanical dolls, a style using fog and, I think, I saw a fighting style using musical instruments.
Initially, only two fighting styles are available, during the course of the game you are given a third to choose from, and all the others must be opened in the following ways:
- You can join a sect that practices this style – first you will have to find the sect and then complete a small quest.
You can secretly learn the movements from a master of the style – the process is implemented through a game using stealth. An example is in the album below.
Equipment
The character’s equipment consists of the following elements:
- Two weapon archetypes.
- Two weapon accessories – increase damage.
- Armor (head, body, arms, legs) – increases maximum HP and defense.
- Luke.
- Bow Accessory – Enhances the bow.
Of course, it is divided by grade into blue, purple and gold (unfortunately, the latter only starts to drop from layer 9). It also has set properties for 2 and 4 items from one set.
Cosmetic items
Unfortunately, equipment does not affect the appearance of your character at all, as this role is played by cosmetic items. They can be obtained as a reward for some in-game activities, but the most beautiful options (although this is a matter of taste) or options with animation effects can only be obtained for donations (directly or through gacha).
Cosmetic items are divided into the following categories:
- Body suits – 63 options, some can be painted.
- Hairstyles – 72 options, some can be dyed.
- Head decorations (hats) – 23 options.
- Head decorations (ears) – 10 options.
- Head decorations (various) – 12 options.
- Face decorations – 31 options.
- Back decorations – 5 options.
- Body jewelry – 67 options.
Character development
The character development process revolves around the following aspects.
Character level up
The very first and simplest aspect is to level up and become stronger. Fortunately, even though there is a time limit, when you reach the layer level cap, you can continue to accumulate experience, which will gradually return after the cap is increased.
Weapon Level Up
Each weapon archetype can be leveled up, but the archetype level cannot be higher than the character’s level. When leveling up, the following happens:
- You increase the damage of all abilities.
- Every X levels you unlock special passive bonuses or improve the ones you already have. Each archetype has 4 bonuses in total.
Improving equipment
Each piece of equipment can be upgraded in the following ways:
- Improve the item itself, thereby enhancing its basic properties.
- Add additional effects to an item.
- At first, you can add only 2 effects to objects, and then as many as 5.
- Once activated, you add a random effect with a random strength of that effect. In simple terms, it might roll, say, “attack +1%” or “attack +3%”.
Passives
You can install up to 4 passives on your character, which allows you to enhance a specific weapon archetype or the character itself.
- Initially, only one slot for passives is available, and the rest need to be opened.
- There are 32 passives in the game and they are divided by grade into blue, purple and gold.
- Passives are opened by studying the instructions, what you can buy from the merchant, get as a reward for activity, etc. The main thing is to understand how exactly to get it.
- Each passive has its own small development tree, consisting of 6 nodes, which enhance the effects of the passive itself.
Techniques
- In total, the game has 18 combat techniques and 5, so to speak, peaceful ones, which in most cases you use to interact with activities or the world itself.
- Techniques are unlocked using the same mechanics as passives.
- All combat techniques and several peaceful ones can be improved.
Skill tree
The game has as many as three rather extensive skill trees, which allow you to enhance the characteristics of the character and open up new possibilities. For example, with their help you open additional slots for techniques, increase the maximum reserve of stamina, partially open advanced qing gong, improve quicktime parry, etc.
The trees are as follows:
- One for points that are awarded for completing certain game activities.
- One for the special resources of the first region. Each special resource of the region has its own special method of collection.
- One for the special resources of the second region.
Armory
In the armory, you can put the equipment you don’t need and get some of its bonuses – damage, HP and energy bonus. However, the most useful thing is that you can switch the damage bonus from the usual to a certain element.
Potions
With the help of special resources from the open world, the bag of potions can be improved.
- There are 13 levels of improvements in total.
- As you upgrade, you increase the capacity of your bag, unlock the ability to purchase more advanced potions, improve the potion’s effectiveness, and add additional effects.
Guilds
The game has a guild system, which I honestly didn’t quite understand, so I’ll describe the main points:
- Guilds are divided into 3 types – combat, trade, research.
- Each guild has its own small hideout, located in a separate area. If desired, you can visit the hideout of another guild.
- Every week, the guild updates its list of weekly tasks. By completing them, you receive guild points, special currency, and personal contribution.
- Special currency can be exchanged for various cosmetic items.
- Guild points can be spent on unlocking and upgrading special passives.
PvE content
World activities
The huge open world is filled with a huge number of activities and things.
- Quests (more details in the section below).
- Various mini-games (more details in the section below).
- Small camps of enemies guarding one chest.
- Enemy outposts – they can be closed aggressively, by killing everyone and everything, or peacefully, by providing assistance to the specified NPC.
- World bosses – you meet them at the very end of special quests.
- Faction Leaders are more challenging world bosses.
- Hidden caves – in these you basically need to figure out how to get to the end and loot the chest.
- Various oor things that you can discover.
- Cats – if you pet a cat once, you will receive a reward.
Most of the things from the list above can be tracked using the dedicated region closure interface.
Quests
Divided into 4 types (the translation is not accurate at all).
- Plot.
- Fragments.
- Adventures.
- Study.
Of all of them, I especially want to note the second type, since often during their passage you explore abandoned ruins, underground catacombs, forgotten tombs, solve various puzzles and fight bosses. In the album below is just an example of a couple of such quests.
Mini-games
List of mini games I came across:
- Fishing competition.
- Archery competition.
- Duel with NPC – you can’t use potions in it.
- NPC Healing – works on the principle of a card game, where you attack and defend yourself using cards. Your task is to remove the HP of the disease.
- Drunk Darts.
- Debate.
- Cat Test – you need to complete a certain test, they are quite varied.
- Repeat the melody.
- Locked chests – in some you just need to pick the lock, and in others you need to perform special actions.
- Guarded chests – in some cases they need to be opened using peaceful remote collection technology, and in others, without being seen by the guards patrolling the area.
- Some old Chinese board games.
Trials
Single player mode, where you have to fight world bosses or faction leaders (hereinafter I will simply call them bosses).
- Each boss has 4 difficulty levels – easy, medium, hard and nightmare.
- The first 3 difficulty levels are available immediately, and the nightmare one opens after you complete the rest.
- Almost all bosses have a pre-made set of equipment attached to them – two fighting styles, 8 techniques and 4 passives. If you want, you can use it instead of your own set.
- Each boss has three special rewards attached to them, which are given out once you complete a specified number of challenges. For example, 2\5\8 or 3\7\9.
- Each boss has its own set of challenges, which are listed below the reward progress bar.
Coop Outposts
The first group activity, which is launched from a separate interface and is designed for a group of 5 players (there is an auto-selection). When starting the auto-selection, you must first select a role – DD, healer, tank (roles are based on combat styles).
- Here you will have to clear 5 outposts one by one.
- A clearout involves killing a specified number of enemies, after which a final enemy (elite or boss) appears.
- After killing the final enemy, a chest with a reward and a sword to move on to the next outpost appears.
- Opening the chest costs energy.
Coop bosses
The second group activity, which is launched from a separate interface and is designed for a group of 5 players (there is an auto-selection).
- Here you have to defeat a certain world boss or kill two bosses in turn.
- After killing the boss, a chest appears with a reward in the form of a small pillar of light.
- Opening the chest costs energy.
- Coop bosses and faction leaders have a special skill tree with various passives. You get points for it by completing challenges during the battle with the boss / leader.
Coop faction leaders
The third group activity, which is launched from a separate interface and is designed for a group of 10 players (there is an automatic selection of players).
- Here you will have to fight with two faction leaders, after killing the first one, a timer will be activated until the start of the second one.
- After killing each leader, a chest appears containing a reward in the form of a small pillar of light.
- You don’t need energy to open the chest, but you can still get a reward from each leader once a week.
PvP content
There is much less PvP content in the game than PvE and to some extent it is much simpler. PvP has a separate skill tree tied to it.
Arenas
- They take place in a separate small location and are divided into 4 types: 1 on 1, 2 on 2, 3 on 3, 5 on 5.
- Each type has its own rating, which increases after filling the experience bar.
- You gain rating experience when you win and lose it when you lose.
- If you lose enough experience, your rating will go down.
- I’m not sure if there is a user equalization system in the game.
Royal battle
Oddly enough, this mode is present in the game, and it works according to the following, quite standard scheme:
- Designed for 50 players.
- You can apply either individually or in a group.
- Before the match starts, all participants choose which section of the map they want to spawn in. Each section can spawn up to 10 participants.
- Once the match starts, you start looking for equipment – weapons, armor, vehicles, etc.
- Equipment just lies on the ground, falls out of containers, enemies, bosses, etc.
- As the match progresses, the available safe area gradually decreases, and outside the safe zone you periodically take damage. If the match drags on for too long, the safe zone will disappear completely.
There is also a rating here, which works in a similar way to the arena.
Headhunting
You can take contracts to eliminate other players from a special board. As a reward for this, you are given experience to increase the special level of contracts and other useful things. It is also worth noting that contracts can also be PvE, but, frankly, I did not fully understand how this activity works.
Other
Well, in conclusion, it remains to mention the smaller features of the game:
- There is a standard MMO chat with general and special channels.
- There is a mechanic of changing day and night, as well as various weather conditions (as many as 9 variations).
- There is a time skip mechanic.
- At any time, pressing the V button will activate the Witcher or Batman-style scanner mode. It allows you to do the following:
- Even through walls you can see opponents, resources, chests and various valuable items that are located near you.
- View information about the enemy – vulnerabilities and possible loot.
- View information about the NPC.
- An MVP system is attached to cooperative PvE activities.
- In some areas of the second region there is a system of law.
- If you break the law, the guards will start hunting you.
- If you die at the hands of the guards, you will end up in prison.
- You can leave prison after a certain timer has passed or for a certain fee.
- There is a damage system, due to which, after falling from a great height, the character can break a leg.
- Damage is divided into 4 types.
- If the injury is not treated, it will progress and become worse and worse. For example, in the final stage of the injured leg, the character will only be able to walk.
- The easiest way to heal damage is to visit a doctor, which improves the potion bag.
- There is a construction system. I didn’t quite understand what it was for, as I didn’t find any production/crafting structures among the options.
- There is a cooking system, recipes for it need to be opened.
- There is a system of developing relations with NPCs. You can ask them for a gift and they will periodically send gifts via chat.
- There is a system of achievements with rewards.
- There is an almanac of knowledge, where you enter information about new techniques, combat styles, resources, opponents, collectibles, cats, etc. For filling it out, you get rewards.
- You can catch horses.
- There is an extensive knowledge library with voice and text search (it seems that artificial intelligence is used in the search).