Truth be told, I haven’t had much exposure so far to the genre of Wuxia literature. Apart from some movies I’ve seen, like The Forbidden Kingdom, as well as some manhuas, I only know of some of the tropes but don’t really see much of it in games and other mediums.

For anyone who isn’t aware of Wuxia, it’s essentially a genre of Chinese fiction or cinema featuring wandering heroes from ancient China who are very good at martial arts and often capable of superhuman feats. Something I see a lot across different works is the concept of “cultivation” as well as “weapon arts” which is rather unique compared to a lot of Western power systems.

This recently released Indie game, Wandering Sword, sets out to tap into this genre and represent it in the form of an HD-2D turn-based RPG with an interesting affection system and a unique tactics-like approach to combat.

Developer: The Swordsman Studio
Publisher: Spiral Up Games
Genre: Chinese Martial Arts, Wuxia, HD2D, Indie, Turn-Based, Tactics-RPG
Release Date: September 15th, 2023
Reviewed on: PC
Available on: PC
Copy was provided by PR-Outreach.

Wandering Sword is set in a war-ridden ancient China where we follow a young man called Yuwen Yi who just lost his companions and nearly his own life after an escort mission goes awry. Saved by a certain martial master, Yi has the chance to grow as a martial artist and find new meaning in his life. Hence, he now sets out on a journey in the martial world to pay back the debt he owes and to seek revenge for his fallen comrades.

Wandering Sword’s story is good but it doesn’t redefine the medium. The game utilizes a lot of tropes I’ve seen in some movies and Manhuas, and none of them really overstayed their welcome in my opinion.

Despite the obvious references to familiar tropes in Wuxia, Wandering Sword takes itself very seriously and has some rather tragic events and turns dotted throughout its main storyline.

More often than not, however, I was more interested in the side quests than the actual main questline, especially due to well-written dialogue.

Some of the NPCs and factions in the world, from different sects to bands of thieves and mercenaries, have stories to tell that are just far more interesting than most of the main quest.

That’s not a bad thing, though, since I (like most other people) will always prioritize side quests over main quest lines. I think embracing that from a game design point of view is a great choice, especially as it encourages players to talk to different NPCs, accept new quests, and get to know the world better. This makes the world feel much more alive and real, too.

Wandering Sword’s combat is inspired a fair bit by tactics RPG, although rather than moving units across a bigger map, your companions as well as the enemies are all placed on a grid with you taking turns to move and attack.

Depending on their weapon, your characters have different amounts of range and hence need to be moved accordingly.

Pole Arms are able to hit around them, swords are able to hit multiple enemies in a single line, the hidden arms can hit enemies from afar, Fist Arts are your single-target weapon type, whereas sabres are more about hitting enemies in a column or cone.

Each weapon type has different arts that can be trained and unlocked. On top of that, you also learn skills through martial arts books, interactions with other characters and through culmination. On top of that, you also gain proficiency with them and get stronger by grinding, being able to invest meridian points to improve your body further and martial points to improve your weapon arts.

The weapon system is certainly quite interesting and it’s pretty satisfying when you move in specific spots to get multiple hits in with a golden sabre attack of sorts… but I just wish there was more feedback when you hit enemies. Powerful VFX, cool sound effects, and the like would really elevate the game further.

As I previously mentioned, grinding is an option. There are spots where you’re stuck and need to be stronger to progress, much in line with lots of Wuxia works, so you train up and challenge those foes again to progress further into the story… but fighting battles over and over again can get monotone, which is why Wandering Sword has two battle modes:

Turn-Based and Real-Time.

Real-Time is a mode that works like an auto battler, handing your companions’ controls over to an AI and letting you finish battles quickly. At first, I found it a bit jarring but over time I realised that this is incredibly useful when you’re fighting monkeys, bandits, and other enemies found in the world.

Wandering Sword’s combat systems are fun to play around with, especially since different positions grant you benefits. At times I was a bit disappointed by the lack of satisfying feedback but overall, I had a lot of fun with the sabres in particular but also with other techniques and weapon types.

The HD-2D aesthetic and the overall presentation of the game make the game incredibly prone to comparisons to other games, like Octopath Traveller, but I feel like the overall aesthetic, the incredibly adorable and at times detailed animations, as well as the soundtrack and combat systems do make Wandering Sword stand out enough.

Alongside the lacklustre audio feedback, I also had minor gripes with some other systems that got introduced, like crafting and inventory management.

Throughout the world, you can find these resource nodes where you can forage for herbs or gather some ores. There is a fair bit of life skill management and crafting in the game, although it isn’t always necessary. Honestly, in my playtime, I mostly used weapons and armour dropped by enemies and never really needed to craft anything, so the systems felt a bit out of place, really.

I would have loved to see an incentive of sorts to craft armour or weapons. I just couldn’t really make use of it because it felt a bit like looting with extra steps if that makes sense.

Similarly, your inventory gets too crowded too quickly. Having more ways to sort it would have been great. Being able to mark items with custom tags, would be a godsend. Similarly, just having a separate pouch or bag for crafting resources would be really, really good. This would make inventory management less chaotic and easier to navigate, in my opinion.

All in all, Wandering Sword is an interesting title for those of you with that Wuxia or turn-based RPG itch. The main storyline is a bit generic but the side quests make up for it with satisfying writing, cool easter eggs, and a lot of very interesting NPCs to talk to and to befriend.

On top of that, combat is quite unique for the genre, innovating it a bit via the weapon systems and the strategy aspect. There are some minor issues with the audio feedback and the inventory management but they don’t stop me from highly recommending the game!

This post was first published on Indiecator by Dan Indiecator aka MagiWasTaken. If you like what you see here and want to see more, you can check me out on Twitch and YouTube as well.