Where Winds Meet review: “Sekiro-style combat meets seemingly every videogame idea ever in this bloated but fun open-world martial arts adventure”

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Where Winds Meet is bursting with ideas – some brilliant, some strange, and frankly, a lot of them! It tries to combine so many things – a martial arts world with detective work, building bases, stealth, swimming, hunting, cooking, crafting, fishing, even arguing with AI characters. And if you want to unlock all the secrets? You might have to throw a live bear at them. It’s… a lot.

The game’s interface is really frustrating and confusing, like trying to find your way through Gatwick airport after a few drinks. Plus, it has a paid battle pass that constantly pops up, and way too many different currencies and upgrade systems to manage. It’s a lot to keep track of!

Where Winds Meet has some flaws – it tries to do too much and can feel messy at times. However, the engaging combat and interesting characters kept me hooked. The game is set in 9th-century China, but it’s more of a fantasy world than a historically accurate one, filled with magic. You play as a skilled martial artist, and you’ll have a variety of weapons at your disposal, including swords, spears, fans, and even a surprisingly effective umbrella!

This game is heavily inspired by Sekiro, and it shows – the developers clearly put a lot of effort into mastering that style of combat. Like Sekiro, precise parrying is key, but it’s a bit more lenient. A helpful feature even gives you a generous window to time your parries. You can also take a lot more damage, and focusing on well-timed counterattacks is more important than perfect defense. Each weapon offers a wide variety of powerful special attacks to unleash on enemies when you find an opportunity.

Flying daggers

Okay, so the combat is definitely different from Sekiro. It’s less about precise, focused duels and more chaotic and fast-paced, but honestly, it looks amazing and still feels really good to play. If you’re hoping for a game that really builds on Sekiro’s fighting style, I’d actually recommend checking out Nine Sols instead. This game feels more like a cool remix – it takes some familiar ideas and adds its own fun twists, but it’s not quite a direct follow-up.

Beyond fighting, the game has a surprising number of minigames, almost as many as in the WarioWare series. While some are familiar – like a rhythm game when playing an instrument – Where Winds Meet really tries to turn everything into a game. You can even have debates with characters that turn into a strange card game where you use arguments to defeat them. By the time I found yet another minigame for healing NPCs, I was honestly getting tired of them, and no amount of silly gameplay could fix that.

Collections of mini-games can be uneven in quality, but I would have preferred fewer distractions and more attention to the core gameplay, especially the stealth sections. The invisibility power in Spider-Man: Miles Morales made stealth too easy, and Where Winds Meet’s version feels unreliable. Even when invisible, enemies frequently spotted me without a clear explanation from the game.

The game has a frustrating design flaw: after performing a silent takedown, my character automatically stands up, making it easy to be seen. What’s even more annoying is that the controls combine listening to conversations and crouching into a single button – a problem stealth games fixed years ago.

Dungeoneering is a strong point, offering exciting traps and a huge amount of treasure. You’ll constantly be opening chests to find it! The puzzles, though, are usually too easy and often come with step-by-step instructions, essentially playing the game for you instead of letting you solve things yourself.

Welcome to the punch

Being able to hop, skip, run, and triple-jump up a mountain is great fun.

Where Winds Meet truly shines during combat. It delivers impressive, over-the-top battles that feel like being in the middle of a huge fireworks display. The optional bosses are especially challenging, offering a great test for players familiar with Soulslike games. If you want a real challenge, be sure to disable the game’s easier difficulty options.

The game lets you scale cliffs, quickly dash through the air, and perform a powerful ground pound to cushion long falls. Climbing uses a stamina system similar to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and while simpler, it makes running, jumping, and climbing mountains really enjoyable. It’s frustrating, though, when the game takes away these helpful movement abilities in certain areas.

The world in this game is wonderfully diverse and full of surprises, with hidden locations that aren’t obvious on the map, which makes exploring really satisfying. I unexpectedly found a ruined village shrouded in thick, eerie fog, reminiscent of Silent Hill, and started a chilling quest to uncover its past. Later, I discovered a swamp filled with incredibly unsettling drumbeats. Things escalated when I had to fight powerful monks who continued to attack even after being defeated, all while trying to solve the mystery of this haunted place. I especially enjoy finding these creepy areas because the game’s world is generally bright and cheerful, making the contrast really effective.

It’s clear Everstone Studio loves Sekiro, and they probably feel the same way about the Yakuza games. Both franchises share a knack for portraying flawed but ultimately good-hearted characters, powerful villains who deserve comeuppance, and a clever, emotionally resonant script. While it doesn’t have the same over-the-top humor as classic Yakuza titles, Sekiro still features fantastic dialogue and memorable characters that make it a joy to experience.

Horsin’ around

I really feel bad when characters die because they’re so engaging and full of personality. There’s even a heartfelt funeral, though it’s a bit ruined when you unexpectedly start playing as a horse! Okay, that reveal totally throws off the mood, but I think that sudden shift in tone is actually part of what makes Where Winds Meet enjoyable.

It’s obvious this game was created by skilled writers and designers, so it’s no surprise they’ve added AI elements. You’ll sometimes encounter characters you can befriend by chatting with them through an AI interface. For example, you might meet Shi, a boatman who’s struggling to afford medicine and wants to discuss his problems – though you might wish you could just help him directly!

These chatbots can be neat, as long as they actually respond to what you say. But ultimately, it feels like unnecessary fluff that doesn’t improve the game. The fact that important characters can’t even use this feature really shows how pointless it is. If you enjoy chatting with these NPCs, great, but I thought it was just a silly trick.

Oh yeah, online multiplayer!

It seems strange to discuss the details of an online game without first mentioning the internet, but Where Winds Meet is a surprisingly complete single-player experience. You can absolutely enjoy it playing alone. Going online adds even more content, though be warned: it also includes plenty of optional in-game purchases you might need to justify!

The game features a challenging one-on-one mode that really tests your skills, especially if you’ve been depending on assist prompts. The other versus mode is a battle royale that feels heavily inspired by Fortnite, which itself took cues from PUBG. Many of the special attacks are over-the-top and cover a large area, leading to chaotic and explosive encounters when you clash with other players. It’s a wonderfully hectic experience and highlights how strong the game is when focused on its combat. While some in-game tutorials would be helpful and the battle royale isn’t groundbreaking, it’s still a solid and enjoyable experience.

Where Winds Meet is goofier than other open world games, often winningly so.

If you prefer a calmer experience, you’ll be happy to know you can also play with others in a way that’s similar to Animal Crossing. You can team up for minigames like fishing and archery, which offer some actual gameplay.

I’m really not impressed with the ‘Blessing Acquisition’ system. It involves getting ‘blessing points’ through a ritual with other players, and I expected some kind of active minigame – maybe something like a rhythm game. But it’s not that at all! You literally just watch your characters move around while points accumulate, and you don’t have to do anything. I was able to write this whole section without even touching the controller and still earned 3000 blessing points. Is that really engaging gameplay? Seriously?

This isn’t a complete review of Where Winds Meet – a game that’s far too expansive for a single, thorough assessment. However, it shows a lot of potential, though it can feel a bit chaotic. If you prefer a more refined and focused historical open-world experience, games like Assassin’s Creed Shadows or Ghost of Yotei might be a better fit. Where Winds Meet is much more playful and quirky than those titles, and often in a charming way. You won’t find martial arts master geese in those other games, for example! It’s a beautiful, outlandish, and sometimes brilliant game that manages to juggle many ideas well, even if some of them fall apart. Ultimately, its successes outweigh its failures.

Where Winds Meet was reviewed on PS5, with early access code provided by the publisher.

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2025-11-17 19:14