Where Winds Meet brings Wuxia to the West
When I first watched Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon I'd never seen anything like it. The balletic swordplay, gravity-defying leaps and beautiful cinematography were mesmerising. For me, as I suspect for many Westerners, this was my introduction to Wuxia — a genre of Chinese fantasy fiction focused on martial artists in ancient China.
Chinese developer Everstone Studio has similar aspirations for its debut game. Where Winds Meet is a love letter to the Wuxia culture its developers have adored from a young age; now they intend to bring it to the world.
I was able to chat with Everstone at Gamescom and even have a brief hands-on, though my Wuxia fantasy proved clumsy with mouse and keyboard controls. I was assured, however, that full controller support will be included with its PC release next year.
Where Winds Meet is an open-world action-RPG that takes place after the fall of the Tang Dynasty, a dark and chaotic time in ancient Chinese history. Players will take the role of a young swordsman set to become a hero, but with mysteries surrounding his fate.
The developers were keen to stress three particular elements of their game.
The first is combat, which will follow Chinese traditional martial arts and include a variety of weapons from that time. The swordsman can dodge around enemies and parry with his sword, as well as use Tai Chi to reflect attacks and wild acrobatics to both evade enemies and explore the world through wall-running and walking on water. He'll also have access to abilities and skills from multiple martial arts, many of which mimic animals. You can whip out a giant bell to scare enemies with a lion's roar, or poise for attack with a praying mantis stance, for example.
The second is the open world,
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