The Wind Road

About

"The Wind Road" is an open-world action-adventure game set in the late Qing Dynasty. You play as a young wanderer seeking revenge and uncovering a conspiracy in the martial arts world. The game features fast-paced combat, character development, and exploration of a vast, historically-inspired world.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

77%

Audience ScoreBased on 216 reviews

story34 positive mentions

gameplay4 negative mentions

The game features a rich combat system with various fighting styles and smooth animations, making battles engaging and enjoyable.
The story is interesting and immersive, drawing inspiration from Wuxia novels and films, with atmospheric locations that enhance the experience.
The developers are actively working on updates and improvements, showing potential for the game to evolve and become even better over time.

The English translation is incomplete and poorly executed, leading to confusion and difficulty for non-Chinese speakers.
The game suffers from technical issues such as lag, unresponsive controls, and a frustrating save system that lacks manual save options.
Many quests and puzzles are poorly designed or lack clear guidance, making navigation and progression challenging for players.

story
102 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
59%
8%
The game's story, inspired by wuxia novels, is generally well-received for its intriguing plot and atmospheric setting, though some players find it linear and filled with plot holes. While the main focus is on combat, many appreciate the narrative's potential and express eagerness for future updates and expansions that promise to enhance the storyline. However, issues such as translation problems and a lack of character development detract from the overall experience for some players.
- “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.”
- “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.”
- “The story as I remember is quite good and intriguing, like there's a mystery woman the main character is supposed to meet at an inn to discuss something, but she didn't show up, and later he discovers something and follows the trail of said woman that leads to many encounters with enemies.”
- “The story has many plot holes, fails to introduce or explain characters, and is extremely linear.”
- “The game is much more combat oriented than story, I'd say.”
- “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).”
gameplay
28 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
11%
75%
14%
The gameplay is a mix of promising mechanics and varied combat, drawing inspiration from titles like Resident Evil, Sekiro, and Dark Souls, but it requires significant polish and clearer tutorials for complex mechanics. While the combat is engaging and well-animated, some players find it repetitive and lacking in depth outside of fighting, particularly at higher difficulty levels where enemy health and damage spikes can lead to boredom. Overall, the game shows potential but needs improvements in user experience and clarity to fully realize its gameplay ambitions.
- “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.”
- “The gameplay and combat engine and movesets are very cool and well animated, and the graphical detail is of a high level as well.”
- “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.”
- “Very promising game that needs a lot of polish, not just in interface and quality of life, but in core gameplay itself.”
- “Repetitive gameplay, lackluster characters, boring storyline.”
- “At master difficulty, this game just increases mob and boss health incredibly as well as their damage, which makes gameplay more boring - just keep distance and spam dragon roar and cloud dragon palm.”
graphics
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
31%
19%
The graphics are generally praised for their gorgeous landscapes, well-designed characters, and flashy combat effects, showcasing high levels of detail and animation quality. However, some users noted issues with resolution drops and lag during fast movements, as well as a feeling of outdatedness due to the game's long development time since its initial tease in 2018. Additionally, while the visuals in cut scenes are appealing, the direction and character acting received criticism.
- “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.”
- “The gameplay and combat engine and movesets are very cool and well animated, and the graphical detail is of a high level as well.”
- “Nice graphics, great story, and a nice kung fu world.”
- “Graphic resolution needs improvement because it drops and lags when the character moves around quickly.”
- “I remember that the game was teased back in 2018; it has been a while, so the graphics can feel outdated.”
- “Some of the cut scenes are pretty bad, like badly directed (graphically, it looks good) and there is little attention to how the characters are acting.”
music
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
71%
14%
14%
The music in the game is widely praised, with many reviewers highlighting the engaging soundtrack and its fitting integration into the game's setting. The original score, particularly the final song, is noted as a standout feature, enhancing the overall experience. However, some users reported audio bugs that can detract from immersion, particularly when using headphones.
- “The game also has some good characters too and a nice soundtrack.”
- “This game has a good OST in my opinion.”
- “All in all, so far so good - the soundtrack is nice and fits the setting.”
- “The music is a major highlight of this game, integrating guitar with a Northwest background in a martial arts setting, which is quite flavorful. I hope they release a soundtrack.”
- “The translation isn't complete on some scrolls, and the sound is buggy because you can hear your own steps and voices in the right ear while music and other sounds come through both ears if you play with headphones. It's kind of confusing what to do next, but if you play a bit more, you get it somehow.”
optimization
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
50%
33%
The game's optimization is a mixed bag; while some players report decent performance, others experience significant issues such as performance jerks, laggy motion controls, and overall poor optimization that detracts from the gameplay experience. Many believe that with further patches and improvements, the game could reach its potential as a solid Nioh-like title. However, current performance limitations and various technical flaws hinder its overall quality.
- “In addition, the game runs well so far for me; it seems to be decently optimized.”
- “Motion control is pretty laggy; I'm not sure if it is by design or simply a problem of optimization, but it affects the gameplay experience.”
- “With a couple of optimizations and some patches, it could be a really good Nioh-like game.”
- “Performance jerks occur from poor optimization (played on 2060 RTX Super, 16GB RAM, installed on an SSD with a 3.7 i7 CPU).”
- “Motion control is pretty laggy; not sure if it is by design or simply a problem of optimization, but it affects the gameplay experience.”
atmosphere
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
25%
25%
The game's atmosphere is heavily influenced by wuxia novels and films, featuring atmospheric locations and engaging swordplay that immerses players in a vibrant, oriental world. While the visuals evoke a sense of stepping into a wuxia movie, the setting along the Silk Road lacks the grand architecture typically associated with Chinese culture. Despite some technical and design shortcomings, the developers have infused the game with a heartfelt ambiance that resonates with fans of the genre.
- “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.”
- “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.”
- “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.”
- “The locations look nice, though since we are on the Silk Road, we don't get the grandiose Chinese architecture you might imagine, but it still has the oriental atmosphere.”
- “To sum it up, it's similar to Nioh visually and in the atmosphere, but everything is simplified (upgrades, progression, combat system, etc.).”
stability
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
75%
The game's stability is notably inconsistent, with users reporting frequent freezes and long loading times for actions like opening the inventory or picking up items. While some players find the combat enjoyable and the game runs well without lag, others experience significant glitches that detract from the overall experience. Additionally, sound issues and incomplete translations contribute to a sense of unpolished gameplay.
- “Great game, definitely recommend it. Runs great without lag, great story.”
- “The game will take forever to do stuff. I can walk, but the game will freeze and then move again. It takes literally about half a minute to open my inventory. When I pick up the yin pill off the shelf, my game takes forever to do that too, maybe 10 seconds because my game freezes. Then you know what happens after that: cage, then game closure. It's frustrating because I should be able to run it.”
- “Translation isn't complete on some scrolls. The sound is buggy because you can hear your own steps and voices in the right ear, while music and more come through both if you play with headphones. It's kind of confusing what to do next, but if you play a bit more, you get it somehow.”
- “Unpolished and forgettable story, with a few glitches, but the combat is pretty fun.”
emotional
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
50%
The emotional impact of the game is mixed; while some players experienced sadness, many criticized the repetitive gameplay, lackluster characters, and boring storyline, which detracted from a deeper emotional connection.
- “Some moments in the game truly made me feel sad.”
- “The emotional depth of the story left a lasting impact on me.”
- “I was moved to tears by the character's struggles and triumphs.”
- “Repetitive gameplay, lackluster characters, boring storyline.”
- “Repetitive gameplay, lackluster characters, boring storyline.”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and artificially inflating the difficulty, detracting from the overall enjoyment.
- “It makes the game artificially difficult and tedious.”
- “It makes the game artificially difficult and tedious.”