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Sunlight dances on rippling water. Luscious green is draped from here to the horizon under the protection of rocky cliff faces. My stroll turns to a jog before I suddenly take flight, tearing through the sky with grandiose martial artistry, whipping and soaring like an angel with a point to prove. There's no doubt about it: Where Winds Meet is stunning.
Where Winds Meet is an open-world, Wuxia RPG set in 10th Century China. You play a young sword master who can scale and run along walls, as well as burst into flight at a moment's notice, meaning exploration is fluid and exciting. Early into my hands-on sessions I was eager to test the limits of traversal, and I'm delighted to say at no point did I encounter any frustrating limitations.
Blowin' in the wind
I know it's as big a sin as comparing a challenging game to Dark Souls but the freedom of movement instantly brought to mind The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. I know, I'm sorry, but it really can't be helped. Similarly to the Nintendo title, Where Winds Meet shows you a sprawling landscape and seems to goad you into running as far from the main path as possible.
There are many excellent sword-swinging fantasy games to get lost in, from Assassin's Creed Shadows to Rise of the Ronin, but Where Winds Meet is the first time I've felt truly unable to follow a mission in favor of climbing walls and sailing over towns. Wallrunning in games, when done right, is as fun as performing any trick in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, and there were moments in my hands-on session where I became obsessed with pressing ahead over longer and longer gaps.
The traversal is important to the game's quests too. One specific side objective required taking flight over a small house to reach a breakable object, which I focused long enough to achieve before once again Supermanning off into the distance, much to the amusement of the game devs watching behind me.
I was assured the various attacks I was throwing out to increase my speed would be relevant to certain fights, although I didn't come up against any mid-air enemies during my time with the game, but I'm curious whether these encounters will feel free or more on-rails given the sheer size of the available space.
Grounded
....the sense of freedom and adventure so strong...
But what goes up must come down, and I soon found myself on the ground before an ornate boss known as the Shadow Puppeteer.
Now I had the combat explained to me but didn't need to do a whole lot of it during the open world segment, meaning my first attempt (yes, there were multiple) was mainly figuring out attacks, parries, dodges, blocks, and various skills/specials. Naturally I didn't make much progress against the Puppeteer's health bar, but I learned enough to feel competent on the PS5 DualSense controller.
Take two saw the boss show off what they could do. Phase one was a case of parrying some attacks and dodging rare unblockable strikes, dealing out damage when gaps formed before hitting a critical blow with an on-screen input prompt. Once I had the measure of this sequence, I was thrown into another section where I had to parry attacks from a shadowy foe, as well as dodge smaller enemies who couldn't be blocked.
The fight felt theatrical overall, with the rhythm of parries more akin to Sekiro than Lies of P, although I'd argue not as challenging as either title. The only downside was the intentionally drawn-out pace of the fight felt quite tedious, so I hope Where Winds Meet's other bosses are less meandering and more dynamic.
Sadly my sessions ended there, and as I said my thank yous and goodbyes, I found myself thinking again about flying through the sky, the sense of freedom and adventure so strong I could feel a yearning forming in my bones. I'm still yearning for it now. I imagine I'll continue to do so until the game comes to PC and PS5 on November 14, 2025.
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