The Wind Road Reviews

Update: Resolutions have now been fixed apparently I don't recommend this: 1. Everything feels very laggy & delayed (Movement, animations, combat, etc..) 2. Doesn't support any resolution above 1080P 3. No borderless mode. 4. The english translation is terrible. (Its not even an official translation, its a 3rd party translation, which was very clearly rushed) 5. The map design feels very clunky (Lots of invisible walls). I really don't recommend it until some of the above issues have been fixed or improved.

Quest is bugged halfway through and is no longer playable - tried everything to get it to work, even starting fresh and getting rid of saved date, nada

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.

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

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

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

TLDR: Very linear, performance issues, poor audio, cheap combat, poor and missing translations, bad UI. I won't refund as I want to see this poor mess through till the end but I felt I had to write a review once I failed an early mission because the messy placed English UI covered the actual control section for the cart mission. I literally couldn't see what the unique controls were for this mission, nor can they be checked in the option menu. [b]Story [/b] The story has many plot holes, fails to introduce or explain characters, and is extremely linear. You will find many translations to be poor, and dialogues are often entirely skipped. There are points where you will be stuck in a soft-game over due to engaging an immortal enemy because you didn't do the quest how the developers wanted. [b]Exploration [/b] There is no. When journeying outside of an area, you will encounter a rapid progressing bar that will immediately kill you once filled. [b]Audio[/b] Audio quality is extremely varied; from volume to the actual quality of the audio - there are issues. You may find some audio to suddenly become quiet/loud, you may hear echo'd voice recordings (cheap production value), other times there are background sounds that play separate from other sounds that can't be reduced in volume and sometimes are louder than any other audio taking place. [b]Combat [/b] Combat involves 1 of 2 methods. Stun locking an enemy in 1-1 with fists or one of 2 sword methods, or using the counter system (which of course isn't ideal because of animation twitching, cut animations, instant damage, hitbox issues, FPS based issues for animation canceling etc.). In large crowds you can potentially be stuck in a stun-locked position unable to react until beaten to death slowly. To avoid this, you end up circling, poking 1 enemy, repeating. There is no lock-target and the game forces auto targeting on you - in practice, this means you may be forced into a total 180 or whatever direction the game wishes. You don't choose your target, the auto-target system does. Crafting can be done in-combat as well, which means you can spam consumables throughout any fight. In summary, combat is cheap and suffers from the performance limitations of the game. [b]Translation and UI [/b] Majority of books and lore found in the world are not translated. Those that are, are done so briefly and poorly. Quest and dialogue text is of the same quality, with many parts of dialogue not included in translations . The reason for this becomes apparently. There is no sliding or scaling of text. What does this mean? For example, when you first arrive at the inn rather than seeing a few characters in vertical traditional style, they have attempted to do this in English. So you get Ir-on-bar-ki-nn vertically down the screen. Whilst I appreciated the "can you spell out the name" game that they've created - this is childishly unprofessional and shows a total misunderstanding of English. I do hope they did not pay anyone for this translation work. How much can this impact the game honestly? It is genuinely crippling. During the early section that made me write this review - it is one of the common "sit at the back and shoot the enemy from your car" missions. The issue? The English translations strapped onto the UI actually cover the controls for this mode. I still have no clue what key is needed for the "fire penetrating shot" because this actual text covers the instructions entirely. This isn't the first time, and often you will be left to rolling on your keyboard to find the key that actually works. This is the result of lazy developers adding in text without doing the simple work of scaling or re-positioning the text. [b]Other [/b] The control section only shows basic controls, and not even all of them. The majority of the controls are left to pop-ups that can even last less than a second on screen. This is lazy and unacceptable. Sound options go from full to silent and barely anything in-between. Menu's are clumsy and you can not freely toggle between them. Performance jerks occur from poor optimization (played on 2060 RTX Super, 16GB RAM, installed on an SSD with a 3.7 i7 CPU). Do not purchase unless more than 60-70% on discount. This is simply a poor quality, low production value game that was rushed out of China. General bad design, and a clear disinterest in non-Chinese customers is apparent and the game suffers often for it.

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.

The Wind Road is fun so far and it includes many nice features that players look for in ARPGs but it still needs a lot of work. The audio needs to be redone. The narrators voice is super scratchy at high volumes, there's lots of not needed high pitch audio whines and and other annoying sounds. The audio is my biggest complaint, most of the voice overs sound like they were recorded on a fisher price mic, overall the game has a tinny quality to it. Why does the game punish combo play but includes a combo meter, it's like these two elements are working against each other. Some of the game fonts and assets looked like they're ripped straight out of resident evil Inventory and skill management is a convoluted mess. Controls feel off and there's no way to remap them from in game. Battle animations need to be adjusted, some are too slow and some are just awkward. For example some NPCs have the unfair advantage of being able to animation cancel, going straight into blocking from a combo. It makes the game artificially difficult and tedious. I'm going to give TWR a thumbs down for now and revisit this review in a couple months. Please fix the audio.

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.