The Wind Road
“The Wind Road” is an ARPG real-time combat game, constructing a martial-arts world based on the ancient Silk Road under the background of a fictional era.
The Barbarians of Grey Wolf have invaded the Silk Road for hundred years! Now they have sent troops to Shazhou with a purpose to capture the important site of Longyou, threatening the safety of tens of thousands of common people.
At this time, the Great Karma Scripture emerges and becomes the key to reverse the fate of Shazhou and even the entire Longyou trade route. The Barbarians are strictly preventing the monks (Scripture Escorts) from sending the Scripture to the Imperial Court, while all the forces in Jianghu who covet the Scripture’s secret also go into action. The character’s task is originally to help the decent sects escort the monks on their mission. However, he uncovers the secret of Scripture coincidentally after suffering a variety of trails and setbacks in ten days!
Finally, in the choice of fate, the character has to undertake the mission and becomes a real hero, taking the first step to stop the chaos of the world…
As a real-time combat martial-arts ARPG game, its core gameplay is combat. Various elements determine the Role’s combat rhythm.
————[Basic Status]————
[Health]: The character’s Health, determines the his survival time in combat. “Grows through the cultivating the Inner Qi Method and taking mediciness.”
[Qi]: Value of the character’s Qi, required to use Internal Moves (QER skills). “Grows through cultivating Inner Qi Method and taking medicine.”
[Stamina]: Value of the character’s stamina, determines the frequency of his Sprint, Roll, and Block. “Grows through cultivating the Inner Qi Method and taking medicine.”
[Rage]: Value of the character’s rage, gathers when he suffers attacks. Once the rage reaches a certain amount, he can perform a swift move that breaks the enemy’s defense. (Based on the weapons on the back.)
————[Combat Techniques]————
[Dodge]: Use the Lightness Technique “Traceless” to get out of the melee area of the enemy instantly.
[Roll]: Roll over to avoid the attacks from the enemy. The distance of a roll is longer and can be used together with dodge.
[Block]: Use up stamina to block attacks from the enemy.
[Insight]: Critical attacks in a hopeless situation. In combat, whether you are attacking or defending, once you see through the flaws of the enemy, you can easily reverse the combat situation. It greatly increases the contingency of the situation and shows the exciting and real combat in Jianghu. Perform it by blocking at the moment (Sword Riposte) the enemy attacks, or by using the special Inner Qi Method.
————[Real-time Combat Martial Arts]————
The core gameplay of this title is immersive real-time combat. When facing fierce enemies, players have to deal with them through Block, Dodge, Insight, Response, and other techniques. Players can have endless fun in real-time combat and can combine different martial-arts moves, forming their combat ideas and styles.
[Swordplay]: A sword is always the favorite weapon of every Xia. In this title, players can use various kinds of Swordplay and perform natural and smooth sword moves. (Can block and perform Sword Riposte, but cannot use Hidden Weapons.)
[Fist & Palm]: Whether in actual combat or movies and novels, Fist and Palm techniques are the essential elements of martial arts. In this title, Palm Blaster supported by Inner Qi is not the only thing to be seen, but also the Wing Chun and Drunken Boxing. The powerful Palm Blaster is the best choice for dealing with the ranged enemies. (Can use Hidden Weapons, but cannot block; Costs a lot of Stamina)
[Response]: Moves of player can also be seen through and solved by the enemy, causing the Blade Impact effect.
[Inner Qi Response]: The player’s Inner Qi can be offset by the enemy’s. Just think about the impact effect between Dragon-subduing Palms and Intangible Swords. Meanwhile, the Inner Qi can also destroy some objects in the scene.
[Inner Qi Method & Meridians]: In this title, there are 6 different kinds of Inner Qi Methods and 6 completely different ways to play, which are different for combat and healing. For example: “Arts of Violet Mist” is specially designed for hardcore players. It has super low Health and powerless blocks but provides sufficient Qi and Crit Damage. While “Sinew-changing Classic” has sufficient Health, but to Buddha’s mercy, it will not cause Crit or hit the enemy’s weakness, however, it can transfer the damage suffered and has a great effect on healing wounds and resisting Internal Injuries.
[Inner Qi–Psi-Sword]: When the player activates the Inner Qi Method, different Psi-Sword effects will be generated, depending on the special effect of the Inner Qi used. Once this effect is triggered, the player has to use the precious seconds to defeat the enemy. For example, the effect of “Arts of Cloud Dragon” will make all the Sword Moves available to the player, and each move will break the enemy’s defense.
[Sword Holding]: The player needs to take any possible chance to get into the Sword Holding status, speeding up the recovery rate of Qi and Stamina.
[60+ Combinations of Martial-art Moves]: A set of the martial-art system consists of 6 moves, including 3 External Moves (Combos) and 3 Inner Qi Methods (QER Skills that cost Qi). These moves have different gestures to be explored and can be combined by players, to create their martial-art style. (In combat, the player can adjust martial-art moves and Inner Qi used at any time, but it will cost additional EXP.)
[Hidden Weapons]: To make a life in Jianghu, Hidden Weapons are essential. By collecting or crafting, you can acquire various kinds of Hidden Weapons (Poisoned Dart, Leaf Blades, Throwing Knife, Darts, Date Pit). Each Hidden Weapon has its effect, so use wisely in combat.
[Weapon Refining]: In this title, players can consume materials to acquire various weapon refining effects, such as Sharpening (Weapons become sharper in a short time, causing Bleeding to the enemy), Poisoning (Weapons become poisoned, causing Poison Damage to the enemy for some time), Frosting (Weapons are dealt with low temperature, increasing Crit Damage for some time).
[Equipment Appearance]: In this title, there are various equipment appearances, including Masks, Bamboo Hat, Weapons, Back Decorations, Rings, and so on. Once the equipment is changed, there will not only be a change in the appearance, but also a bonus to some attributes.
[Mounted Archery]: In some special levels, the player can use the king of the cold era weapon: Bow & Arrows! On the rugged terrains, the player should judge calmly and give the enemy a critical attack with a fine bow, or penetrate several pursuing enemies with one shot.
[Endurance]: Some martial-arts moves have the effect of ” Endurance” so that you will not be interrupted by an injury.
[Meditation]: Meditation in real combat is also filled with accidents. It’s your sharp eyes and agile hands that keep you alive.
[Drunken System]: Players will get drunk if they drink too much. And in this status, they can perform special martial-art moves (such as Drunken Boxing, Taibai Swordplay) to increase combat strength.
————【Craft, Enhancement & Exploration】————
[Craft]: Players can use the materials collected in the game to craft various kinds of medicines and darts.
[Enhance]: Players can use the materials collected in the game to enhance and repair weapons
[Collect]: Players can collect various kinds of crafting materials through missions and explorations.
[Exploration & Puzzles]: Dubbing throughout, the world view depends on the player’s exploration, snooping, reading, letters, and collection. A lot of puzzle-solving and exploration elements are incorporated.
———— [Debuffs] ————
[Internal Injury]: Enemies with strong Inner Qi can deal Internal Injuries to the player, divided into “Ying”, “Yang” and “Severe Injury”. It is necessary to treat the injury or take medicines according to different injuries. If not, the adverse effect will be more serious.
[Poisoned]: Cause poison effect to the player, losing Vitality over time.
[Sinew-broken]: Cause “None Lightness Technique ” effect to the player, rendering them unable to perform Lightness Techniques such as Dodge, Roll, etc.
[Insight]: Tough opponents can also break down your moves.
[Break]: Continuous strikes from an opponent will make the player unable to block and suffer the Break effect.
[Reverse – Sword Riposte]: When facing your Sword Riposte, the tough opponents will also have their solutions.
————[100+ NPCs & Arena Challenge]————
There are more than one hundred NPCs in this title, as well as hundreds of combatable rangers in Jianghu. Players can acquire abundant rewards by challenging rangers and masters at the Arena or Gambling House in Lianshuo Town.
————[Multiloop Inheritance] ————
This title features a multi-loop inheritance system. In multi-loop games, crafting materials, Funds, Equipment, Martial Arts, Internal Force, Martial-arts Basis, and game clearance rewards will be inherited in a new game. Meanwhile, to avoid boring multi-loop games, players can explore the unexplored content in the previous playthrough, such as some branches in the main story.
Game Discussion
Steam User 104
Genuinely a thumbs sideways. There's good and not so good.
Here's some notes and thoughts:
Controls are cumbersome and you can't reassign buttons on a controller. (left bumper to pick up items and talk to NPC's) It's weird.
The inventory system is a hot mess. It's convoluted and confusing.
The translation isn't terrible, it's just not great. It does appear most (of what I played) is translated.
The tutorial is trial by fire and can feel brutal (it cannot be skipped). But, it will teach you the basics
*Anyone that completes it on the first try is a god.
Combat is pretty fun, once you get used to dodging and initiating. There's 4 styles from the start that you switch between using the d-pad. You have QI, which is basically stamina (that regens slow), so you do some kiting...
Some of the cut scenes are pretty bad, like badly directed (graphically, it looks good) and little attention to how the characters are acting.
Only runs 1080p and even looks upscaled at that. There's actually an option to play it at lower than VGA res...
It does have some charm and I'm interested to see where the story goes, because I don't know much about it yet. If you like Chinese martial arts dramas, i'd certainly recommend it on a discount. The more I play, the more I'll know though.
Steam User 63
6 hours in and I believe I will be playing this until Ghost of Tsushima drops.
Thus far, this game has exceeded my expectations and is a dream come true as a NYC kid raised in grindhouse theaters that ran kung fu flick double-features and was glued to the TV for Sunday kung fu marathons on local stations.
The Wind Road lovingly pays tribute to elements of Resident Evil (puzzles, finding objects, inventory management), Sekiro (fluid skill based combat... combo button mashing is punished) and Dark Souls (brutal difficulty, sparse saves, instant death everywhere) in terms of gameplay.
It is set in a wuxia world that should make fans of Come Drink With Me, One Armed Swordsman, Crouching Tiger and Hong Kong Kung Fu cinema grin ear to ear.
FFS, you can discover drunken boxing and getting drunk ups its effectiveness and power! That alone + this combat system is worth the price of admission. Lei Wu Long type Chan glorious drunken boxing.
The animations for combat are great - character models ok, though no facial animations will be noticed but easily ignored given how rich everything else is.
I'm done typing. Going to play more. May update if any game breaking bugs occur, but other than the difficulty, and needing to pay attention at all times or die horrible deaths, this game has run without problems and IMHO - you should play with a controller.
Quick update: Some people have complained about the lack of customizable controls and foolishly refunding due to lack of 2/4K. In regards to 2K & 4K, it has been added.
As for the controls...
I'm not sure if it is due to me growing up playing games from Kojima (Metal Gear and Zone of Enders series), legacy RE games with their tank controls and the Capcom oddities like P.N.03 - all of which had more cumbersome until mastered control schemes, but as with any new control scheme it takes a little time to get used to it before it becomes second nature.
Like games I listed, the controls in TWR may seem "awkward" to those accustomed to FPS and western action games only, but it makes absolute 100% sense given the way combat flows and the emphasis placed on movement/dexterity and finding openings. They are terribly intuitive, and after my first death to the opening Golden Buddha, everything clicked. The controls should not be a deal breaker and once you understand flow of combat, you'll find what is mapped to shoulder, face and trigger buttons are logical and gives you incredible flexibility in combat.
Steam User 7
Not a bad game, but it is rough around the edges.
The good:
- Beautiful art style
- Very immersive. You feel like you are in a Wuxia novel
- Very original character levelling-up and skill system
- Beautiful soundtracks
- The game doesn't crash
The average:
- The combat animations are awesome, but the fighting is not very fluid and sometimes more frustrating than fun.
- The story's pacing is uneven. The opening chapters are awesome, but the mid to late chapters are slow and consists of a bunch of fetch quests.
- The graphics is mediocre. The model of the main character looks good, but all other NPC models are bad. The textures are low.
- The side quests have the best items, but they are boring and linear.
- The game feels like there are a lot of potentials but never quite reach it.
The bad:
- The game auto saves and there is no manual save.
- The corners and trees don't auto fade. This can be frustrating during combats when you stand next to a wall or a tree because your views are obstructed.
- The story finished at a cliffhanger. There should be one more chapter to end it properly.
The Wind Road is very atmospheric and it successfully made me feel like I am in a Wuxia novel. There are a lot of good things about this game but there are also a lot of issues. Overall the game feels rough around the edges but underneath it all there is a good game if you are willing to forgive some of its flaws. I give this game a 7.5 out 10.
Steam User 18
I will put it as "thumb in the middle with a bit up" as encouragement.
Yes, the game has plenty of problems atm. I feel like the game still hasn't tutorial me enough especially the special mechanics such as counter and block. Sometimes during the fight my chains combo forced me to go out of the fighting parameter and I forced to brake my combo or straight-up fail me. In gang-up situations, you barely survive it cuz everyone will just gang up on you (which is realistic but frustrating af). I would love it if dev can add a lock-on target function.
The translation are fine and since the dev has said they are working on a more polished English version, I will give them a pat of encouragement. For me I can understand everything, besides some fancy terms which is understandable with context or you are used to these types of game. So I won't be nitpicky :D
Story is tricky. Maybe I'm so spoiled with The Gate of Firmament, Chinese Paladin 6 and Gujian, this one's feel rather meh. BUT I'm only about 1/3 in it so it could get better. Our protagonist is definetely not flat. He has his own "inner issue" and I'm looking forward to see more of it. Overall the plot seems like "Journey to the West". We are basically guarding a monk so he can deliver a scripture. But the road is bumby af after all xD
I remember that the game was teased back in 2018, it has been a while so the graphic can feel "outdated". I personally don't mind much. So it's all good for me.
The side-quest system is... just bad. You can't track the quests. If it's a fetch quest from a shop, if you already buy everything from a vendor and consume it? Say good bye to that quest. We only have 6 inc space with 6 more for personal box. But that's no where near enough, especially with special items you HAVE to have to proceed the story. Thus you only have 2-3 free spots for your medicines which run out rather quickly.
Overall: It's an ok game. It has its problem but I believe the dev will improve on it. At least they add an English translation, which is might not be the best but perfectly understandable, for non-Chinese players :D
Steam User 3
Just finished my first playthrough and those are my thoughts right after i beat the game.
For some reasons Steam counts 17hours in game but when i finished the New Game cycle it says my playtime was roughly 10 hours, what happened to those 7 hours? no idea.
To sum it up, it's a similar to Nioh visually and in the atmosphere but everything is simplified (upgrades, progression, combat system, etc.)
Anyway, the game is good and not that good at the same time i would say.
The good parts are the visuals (gorgeous landscapes, the main character is well designed, cool outfits and flashy combat effects, etc), made with Unity but really nice to look at.
Combat is interesting, a good mix of complexity that can also sometimes fall down to button mashing your way through. It really depends on who you're fighting and what kind of technique you use (fists or sword)
But i loved the combat and it gets really tough towards the end (with some ganking during boss fights and even a double boss !)
On the "meh" side , the story and all the talking can be a bit boring sometimes, dialogues can be a bit cheesy (just a personal taste)
The english translation is not great but you can understand 90% of what happens.
Tutorials that pop up sometimes are not translated at all but there´s a video that makes it easier. No biggie
On the bad side, I had a drastic framerates drop during the very last battle that basically ruined the fun in the challenge it is supposed to provide and made this fight a complete mess. But besides this moment the game runs well.
So in the end i had fun playing it and i might play the NG+ but not right now...
Didn't try the DLC though, so i don't know about it.
With a couple of optimization and some patches it could be a really good Nioh-like game
Steam User 4
I very much enjoyed this game. If you use mouse and keyboard, you can remap the controls and doing so to your liking will help a lot, especially during combat so you can fluidly execute the various moves within a weapon segment. English translation isn't too bad and is done for the menus and story, however the help system and videos haven't been translated so a few things may require some trial and error but you'll get it. 2 biggest complaints I have are the save system, as many have eluded to, and the abrupt, cliff hangar ending that tells you to wait for the next chapter, or game, or DLC? But then I don't see anything in discussions or notices about this next chapter? Looks like the last update was 16 June, 2021 about some DLC that obviously isn't out yet, and while it's all in Chinese, looks like a chance to play the bad guy in the story, and not the continuation of the main story. So what's the deal devs? I completed the game in 27 hours, and I go very slow as I am a thorough kind of player. The story was ok but I really enjoyed the combat in this one! 7 out of 10 and recommended especially if you like a lot of these historical Chinese games (which I do!). Kila
Steam User 4
This game is basically a Chinese martial arts story inspired by Wuxia novels and movies, featuring spectacular swordplay, atmospheric locations and an interesting world to dive into.
It's an action rpg, though the rpg elements aren’t that pronounced. Your character levels up with martial arts guides and consumable items, and I liked that the guides often give you actual new moves and abilities, expanding your combat repertoire as you progress through the game. The main focus is the combat, but there are some parts where you’re doing other usual rpg activities, like talking to npcs, doing side quests or puzzles. These can be quite cryptic though, as some puzzles just don’t have any ingame hints, and there’s no gui for the side quests either. Each location has a list of them, but it doesn’t tell you who to talk to, and you have to figure out what you have to do and where you have to go just from the dialogue. They are not complicated though, I could do most of them, but there were some that I just couldn’t find. However, I liked that many of them had some story consequences.
During combat, you can choose from a variety of fighting styles both for the sword and for fists, each having multiple moves with their own properties and strengths. These can be combined in almost any order, and that's basically the meat of the combat, to keep comboing and not let your enemies hit back. If you do need to defend, you have the usual dodge/block/parry trio at your disposal. Even though our enemies are almost all human, they fight in different ways, and they can't all be beaten with the same technique. Overall, the combat is perhaps not as polished as in bigger budget games, but the mechanics are fine, it has variety and depth, and the animations are really cool. Fights can be very spectacular, at least when you’re not being pounded to the ground.
Visually, the game is good, as long as you don't look too close. Our protagonist and the main characters are detailed enough, but the npcs aren’t really. They often don't even have facial animations. The locations look nice though, although since we are on the Silk Road we don't get the grandiose Chinese architecture you probably imagine, but it still has the oriental atmosphere. The devs were clearly inspired by specific Wuxia films too (the opening chapter, for example, very reminiscent of the 1992 film New Dragon Gate Inn), but we also visit real locations, like the Mogao Caves, very nicely recreated for the game.
Our protagonist, Meng Jing, arrives at the aforementioned inn, to meet a monk whom he must escort to the Mogao caves and then to the city. However, he quickly gets involved in a murder case, clashes with the local criminal underworld and gets a glimpse of the so-called Insanity Sutra, which can be a source of strength but, as its name suggests, can drive the reader mad. Our hero may need this power during his adventure, as he will have to face not only the various factions trying to get their hands on the sacred text, but also his own conscience. I liked the story, it had a bit of a road movie feel, as our team got into bigger and bigger trouble at each location. By the end, I grew to like the characters and the intricate world the devs created. The ending was a bit abrupt though, it felt more like the end of an episode, with a lot of loose ends.
Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out every little detail of the game world, even though I wanted to, as the translation is incomplete. Not much is missing, mostly some lore texts, but it's annoying. The detailed combat tutorial and puzzle explaining videos also don’t have subtitles in English, so I had to figure out a lot of things by trial and error. Some of the item descriptions were also left in Chinese, and there are also instances of English text not fitting into boxes as the UI was obviously designed for Chinese texts, and similar errors. The game is fully playable, and the story is enjoyable, but this is still a big issue.
The devs are working on the game however, and since its release they added a free DLC, in which they spiced up the gameplay by making it a first person brawler, and showing us the events from one of the antagonist’s point of view. I thought it was pretty cool. The menu also shows two other DLCs with 'coming soon' tags, and the developers also said that the game will get a new UI this year (it needs it) and new story chapters, so it looks like they're planning for the long term.
Overall, it seems to me that the developers maybe bit off a bit more than they can chew, as the game has some technical and design issues, and the translation could have been better, but I feel that they put their heart and soul into it, it has a great atmosphere, good combat, interesting world and characters, and it just really feels like stepping into a Wuxia movie.