There has been a lot of excitement and confusion lately surrounding the new game, Where Winds Meet. The online buzz is undeniable, typically citing the game's visuals and the promise of a sprawling Wuxia martial arts fantasy. Yet the hype belies the questions that many are asking: What kind of game is this? Is it a true Massively Multiplayer Online RPG (MMORPG) in the vein of say, World of Warcraft? Or is it a single-player epic reminiscent of Ghost of Tsushima? Or, is it something else entirely?
The ambiguity is understandable. The game presents itself as a sweeping open-world adventure, a deep sandbox RPG, a high-octane action game, and a hub for complex social and multiplayer systems. In this article we will try to deconstruct this hybrid model to determine what this game truly is, and what kind of gamer it is targeting.
Part I: An Ambitious Single-Player Epic with an MMO Endgame
Where Winds Meet is a free-to-play, open-world action-adventure RPG set in 10th-century China during the tumultuous Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, with an identity rooted in the Wuxia genre. It's a game consisting of two major parts: a massive "Solo Mode" featuring over 150 hours of narrative content, side quests, world exploration, and base-building, followed by an "Online Mode" that serves as the endgame hub for all traditional multiplayer content. Character progression is continuous and shared between both modes. All levels, abilities, martial arts techniques, and gear acquired in the solo campaign directly empower the player for the multiplayer endgame.
The game tries to solve one of the most persistent problems in the MMO genre: the often tedious, solo-focused leveling grind that serves as a barrier to the "real game" at the endgame. Where Winds Meet attempts to solve this by front-loading the experience with a complete, high-quality single-player RPG before transitioning into a competitive, systems-heavy multiplayer environment.
While this structure is somewhat unique, the game's individual elements will feel familiar to fans of several popular genres, making it easier to understand by breaking it down into its constituent parts.
Part II: How Where Winds Meet Compares to Games You Already Know
To grasp the appeal and mechanics of Where Winds Meet, it helps to analyze its gameplay by comparing its aspects to other successful titles. The game is not a monolith; it's a composite of ideas drawn from across the RPG landscape.
The combat system is arguably the game's biggest draw, featuring fluid, skill-based, and challenging encounters. It invites direct comparisons to titles like Sekiro, Ghost of Tsushima, and other Souls-like games, where fight choreography, timing, and parrying are paramount. The system is classless. Players build their unique fighting style from a diverse arsenal of weapons like the sword, fan, and umbrella. Each weapon has its own unique skills split into two distinct schools of combat, allowing for deep customization.
The game's open-world design and exploration loop will feel familiar to anyone who has spent time in Genshin Impact or a modern Assassin's Creed title. The world is a vast, beautiful map filled with thousands of points of interest, side content, collectibles, and hidden secrets. It encourages organic discovery through systems like "Wandering Tales," which are side quests that eschew map markers and require players to actively explore and follow clues to find their next objective (a tactic that should be familiar to anyone who has played the recent Assassin's Creed RPGs, like Origins, Odyssey, Valhalla, etc.)
For those still mourning the death of New World, you'll be happy to know that Where Winds Meet has sandbox elements that you'll feel quite at home with. Indeed, it has several interlocking social sandbox systems. For example, a player who commits a crime will have a bounty put on their head that another player can accept, leading to an invasion of their single-player world. If captured, their "Sworn Brotherhood" can stage a jailbreak, creating a dynamic, server-wide PvP event where other players are incentivized to act as guards. The game also allows players to pursue non-combat roles, such as a doctor who can be hired by other players to heal injuries or a merchant focused on the in-game economy.
Part III: Is it Truly an MMO?
The "MMO" label has been a point of contention, and for good reason. Where Winds Meet is not a traditional MMO where thousands of players level up together in a shared world. It is better defined as an endgame-centric online RPG that leverages a massive solo campaign as its onboarding process. The design philosophy sacrifices the shared-world leveling experience in favor of a high-quality single-player campaign, then delivers a concentrated dose of MMO systems once players have familiarized themselves with all the game's systems.
Once in the "Online Mode," players will find a robust suite of multiplayer systems that check many of the classic MMO boxes. Endgame features instanced Dungeons and challenging 10-player Raids. Multiple competitive modes are available, including 1v1, 3v3, and 5v5 arenas, as well as a large-scale Battle Royale mode. There is also a guild system that is segmented to cater to different player motivations, e.g. combat-focused "Bladesworn Gangs," economic "Changle Pavilions," and exploration-centric "Farshore Halls." The online experience includes world bosses that require group coordination and a dynamic, player-driven crime and bounty system that creates emergent PvP scenarios.
Despite this feature set, the game intentionally omits key elements of the traditional MMO formula. As already mentioned, the main leveling journey from start to endgame is primarily a single-player affair conducted in the "Solo Mode." As well, the persistent "Online Mode" is not a traditional MMO world populated with enemies to grind. It is primarily a social space for interacting with other players, forming groups, and launching into instanced endgame activities.
Conclusion: Is it Worth Your Time?
In its current state, Where Winds Meet is a game with a lot of potential. Its combat and content value are stellar and, thus far, free from "pay-to-win" mechanics. Unfortunately, its technical polish, user interface, and translation have been critiqued by some. This isn't going to be a game for everyone, but it will definitely scratch an itch for folks looking for a huge open world RPG with MMO mechanics baked in. If you have the spare time, we recommend giving the game a try. Once we spend some more hours with the game ourselves, we will be back with more to say about the game and its outlook for the future.
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