Where Winds Meet
Where Winds Meet is a wuxia action-adventure role-playing video game developed by Everstone Studio and published by NetEase Games. The player assumes the role of a wandering adventurer during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.
Where Winds Meet was released worldwide for PlayStation 5 and Windows on November 14, 2025, and for Android and iOS on December 12, 2025.
Gameplay
Where Winds Meet is a wuxia action-adventure role-playing game. It can be experienced in single-player and multiplayer modes.The player assumes the role of a wandering adventurer, known as a youxia in the wuxia tradition. It is also possible to pursue various professions, such as healer and scholar. The player character's appearance, including physical attributes and clothing, is customizable.
The wanderer can wield weapons of several types, namely swords, dual blades, spears, rope darts, fans, umbrellas, and mo blades. Each weapon type is associated with different martial arts, which shape the skill set and fighting style. For example, umbrellas can be paired with either the Soulshade Umbrella martial arts or the Ninefold Umbrella martial arts. Two weapons can be equipped at a time. Every weapon can be used to execute light attacks, heavy attacks, martial art skills, special skills, and dual-weapon skills. Depending on the current build, it offers damage, control, and healing effects. Defensive maneuvers consist of dodges, blocks, and deflects. However, some enemy attacks carry restrictions in the ways defenses can counter them, which are telegraphed by color cues. Specifically, a red glow signals an attack that cannot be blocked, while a golden glow signals an attack that cannot be blocked or deflected.
In addition, the wanderer can perform mystic arts, which comprise skills that have effects inside and outside of combat. They serve offensive, movement, or general purposes. For example, Tai Chi can be used to throw a target, gather leaves in certain areas, or create ripples in water that causes fish to leap.
The game takes place in an expansive open world. Players can undertake quests, which are categorized into main story, lost chapter, encounter, and exploration. For instance, the lost chapter quest "One Leaf, One Life" delves into a mystery about golden leaves and the interconnected stories of several Kaifeng City residents. Players can also participate in a wide range of other activities. For example, these include player versus player arenas, cooperative dungeons, and other challenges, as well as casual activities. In-world sects, which provide distinct rules and incentives for their members, can be joined. Player guilds can be formed.
The game has multiple options for guidance that supports exploration and difficulty that affects combat. It is free-to-play and uses a monetization model that does not involve pay-to-win elements. It features cross-platform play and progression.
Synopsis
Setting
Where Winds Meet is set in China during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Its world is divided into multiple regions, such as Qinghe and Kaifeng.The game draws heavily on the wuxia tradition. For example, it incorporates concepts like the jianghu.
Etymology
Where Winds Meet is titled Yanyun Shiliu Sheng in Chinese. The name Yanyun is a reference to a historical region encompassing the Sixteen Prefectures, which was lost during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. The term Shiliu Sheng alludes to a musical system comprising sixteen tones devised by Wang Pu, a minister of the Later Zhou dynasty. He had been commissioned by Emperor Shizong to write the musical treatise Lüzhun, so he incorporated folk culture and formed the system. The term is used by the developers as a metaphor for China's cultural heritage.Development
Where Winds Meet is a game developed by Everstone Studio and published by NetEase Games. The studio is based in Hangzhou, China. The game utilizes the Messiah Engine. It is maintained on a long-term basis through periodic content updates.Everstone Studio set out to create a game that combines wuxia and an open world. The team aimed to provide a deep immersion in the wuxia genre, a combat system that is different from traditional wuxia titles on the market, and an open world experience rich with emotional peaks. The wuxia immersion and world exploration were closely integrated with each other, such as through the main character's skills, to enable players to feel like a hero, specifically a xiake, in this world. The world exploration was designed in layers along an emotional gradient and hierarchy: the base layer consists of points of interest, the next layer contains more expansive areas and medium-sized puzzles, and the top layer features content centered on major regional bosses who serve as the emotional climaxes.
For the worldbuilding of each region, the creative process began with proposals for a core thematic concept and was followed by its gradual translation into concrete player experiences, including gameplay. Considering the game's roots in wuxia, the development team hoped that the chosen themes resonate with the cultural heritage familiar to Chinese audiences. Qinghe, for instance, is a region thematically centered on the disappearance and emergence of the xiake, in which the design revolves around the heroes shrouded in legends from a previous era. Kaifeng is a region thematically centered on the prosperity of a flourishing age and the decay amid the echoes of turmoil, in which the design shows the juxtaposition between the situation of the poor and wealthy. Hexi is a region thematically centered on poetry, in which the design reflects a sense of romanticism reminiscent to xieyi, a classical expressive art style.
For the scene design, the team conducted extensive research on historical documents, paintings, and other works to authentically represent life during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period and early Song dynasty. These include the painting Along the River During the Qingming Festival, the painting The Night Revels of Han Xizai, the text A Dream of Sorghum, and more. Furthermore, the real-life Kaifeng and its environment was thoroughly studied.
The sound design was thematically built around the period's culture and nature. Folk songs and theaterical plays, those passed down through history, were utilized. The music was crafted in a form that did not merely rely on specific melodies but evokes the sounds of wind or water in ways that reflect the in-game characters' beliefs and principles. This approach was intended not simply to recreate history, but to express the wuxia spirit and the hearts of the people living in this world.
For the action design, the team used motion capture of martial artists' performances. Stephen Tung, an action choreographer, joined the team to assist with this task.
Release
Everstone Studio unveiled Where Winds Meet during Gamescom 2022. In the Chinese market, the game was launched in open beta for PC on December 27, 2024, and for mobile devices on January 9, 2025. A trailer published by Sony revealed that the game would be a PlayStation 5 console exclusive for at least six months after its global release.Where Winds Meet was released worldwide for PC and PlayStation 5 on November 14, 2025, and for mobile devices on December 12, 2025.
The studio enlisted the actor Bruce Leung to reprise his role from the film Kung Fu Hustle to showcase the Toad Style, which was originally featured in the film and adapted as a skill in the game, in a live-action trailer.
Reception
Reviews
Where Winds Meet received "mixed or average" reviews on PC and "generally favorable" reviews on PlayStation 5 from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic.Metrics
In the Chinese market, Where Winds Meet exceeded 15 million players across PC and mobile devices in January 2025. It exceeded 30 million players in March 2025.After its worldwide release, Where Winds Meet reached 2 million players within a day, 9 million players within two weeks, and 15 million players within a month. During the second week, the game peaked at over 250 thousand concurrent players on Steam.