Info about Wandering Sword:

Official game description:
Journey through over 75 breathtaking locations across 5 diverse regions, each echoing the richness and allure of ancient China's tradition and landscape. Explore a world filled with bustling ancient Chinese towns, scenic mountains, picturesque rivers, dangerous lairs, treacherous terrains and more!
Utilizing Unreal Engine 4, Wandering Sword portrays a captivating blend of traditional pixel art graphics seamlessly layered onto immersive 3D landscapes. Drawing upon the charm of classic pixel-based martial arts games, the game infuses modern visual effects to elevate every moment in its Wuxia world.
Wandering Sword introduces an innovative combat system that operates on a tiled board and offers players the flexibility to switch between turn-based and real-time mode. This dual mode approach caters to both traditional RPG players who prefer a slower pace and those who enjoy real-time action that demands quick reflexes.
Wandering Sword brings to life a diverse array of martial arts moves and weaponry. As you traverse the land, you'll unravel hundreds of martial arts techniques and weapon styles. Cultivate your energy through meridian points, gain expertise in both external and internal forms, and achieve true mastery of martial prowess.
In Wandering Sword（逸剑风云决）, building relationships with NPCs is an integral part of your journey. Recruit up to 14 unique martial artists to join you on your adventures, each with their distinctive abilities. Who knows, you may even find love in this intricate world of martial arts!
Delve into an immersive Wuxia adventure with Wandering Sword. Boasting multiple endings shaped by your choices you make and a plethora of side quests that supplement the main storyline, enjoy over 20 hours of engaging gameplay that promises high replayability and a fresh experience with each adventure.

Release date: Sep 14, 2023

Categories: Wuxia RPG, Multiple Endings, Character Progression, Turn-based Combat, Real-time Combat, Open-World Exploration, Character Customization, JRPG

Feature scans:
- MTX: score 20; verdict: Highly Positive; summary: The user reviews indicate a high level of satisfaction with the game's DLC. Players find the DLC to be of good quality, offering significant value for its cost. There is a strong recommendation to purchase the DLC due to its positive impact on gameplay and additional features. Users also express a desire for more content, showing their engagement and willingness to pay for additional experiences. Overall, the sentiment towards the game's monetization through DLC is highly positive.
- Wiki: score 50; verdict: Critical Guide Dependency; summary: The analysis of user feedback reveals significant issues related to the game's dependency on external guides. The primary complaints revolve around 'Missable Quests,' 'Complex Mechanics,' 'Hidden Secrets,' 'Character Deaths,' and 'Guide Dependency.' Users frequently mention that not using a guide results in missing critical quests, character deaths, and an inability to fully experience the game due to its complex and hidden content. This dependency on guides severely impacts the user experience, making it difficult to enjoy the game without external resources.
- Steam Deck: score 55; verdict: Tinkering Required; summary: The analysis of user feedback for the Steam Deck experience reveals several critical issues impacting user satisfaction. The most prominent problems include poor controller support, small text size, significant battery drain, and stability issues such as crashes and freezes. These issues collectively contribute to a less than optimal gaming experience on the Steam Deck, requiring users to make adjustments and compromises to enjoy the game.

- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price:
  - Community fair range: $15.00 - $25.00
  - Reasoning: The evidence shows that multiple users explicitly state that the game is worth its full price, and some even suggest it is worth more than its current price. This indicates a strong sentiment that the game provides good value for money, supporting a fair price range that aligns with or slightly exceeds the current base game price.
- Playtime Metrics:
  - Game completion: 92.0h
  - Story completion: 120.0h
  - Session length: N/A
  - Endgame: N/A
  - Reasoning: The evidence provides direct mentions of playtime in hours. The first quote mentions 180 hours for full completion, but the user clarifies that the actual playtime is around 120-130 hours. The second quote mentions 345 hours, which is likely an outlier or includes idle time. The third quote mentions over 200 hours, which is also likely an outlier. The fourth quote mentions 92 hours for a single playthrough without skipping cutscenes.
- Time-to-fun:
  - Summary: The game has a challenging and potentially frustrating early phase, but it becomes more enjoyable and addictive once players overcome the initial learning curve and weaknesses.
  - Stance: Fun then drops
  - Anchor: Overcoming the initial learning curve and character weakness
  - Time to anchor: 10h 0m
  - Friction: Steep learning curve; Character weakness in early hours; Confusion and potential frustration early on
  - Unlock drivers: Character progression; Understanding game mechanics
  - Conditions: Patience to overcome early challenges; Willingness to learn and adapt
- Player Archetypes:
  - Aesthetic Explorer (buy)
    - Motivation: Exploration and aesthetic appreciation
    - Playstyle: Explores the game world extensively, appreciates detailed environments and pixel art style.
    - Experience: mixed
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: 武侠游戏爱好者; Wuxia fan
    - Reference games: Octopath Traveler; Hero's Adventure
  - Story-Driven Character Enthusiast (buy)
    - Motivation: Narrative and character development
    - Playstyle: Focuses on story progression and character interactions, enjoys deep and immersive narratives.
    - Experience: mixed
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: 武侠迷; Wuxia fan
    - Reference games: Hero's Adventure; Road to Passion
  - Completionist Achiever (sale)
    - Motivation: Achieving all in-game goals and unlocking every possible ending and achievement.
    - Playstyle: Systematically completes all quests, achievements, and endings, often following guides to ensure nothing is missed.
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: sale
    - Labels: 成就党; Completionist
    - Reference games: God of War; The Witcher 3
  - Strategic Customizer (buy)
    - Motivation: Strategic gameplay and customization
    - Playstyle: Focuses on optimizing character builds and strategies, enjoys the depth and variety in combat mechanics.
    - Experience: familiar
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: 策略玩家; Strategy gamer
    - Reference games: Suikoden 1; Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Engaging and well-developed storyline (weight 0.74): The game features an excellent storyline with deep character development and engaging plot twists. Players appreciate the solid story progression and the vast content that keeps them immersed.
- Authentic Wuxia atmosphere (weight 0.46): The game captures the essence of traditional Wuxia culture, providing a unique and enjoyable experience for fans of martial arts and classic Wuxia novels. The pixel art style and poetic Jianghu atmosphere enhance this authenticity.
- Beautiful art style and music (weight 0.37): The game is praised for its beautiful pixel art style and fitting music, which contribute to the overall aesthetic appeal. The detailed and colorful graphics, along with unique character art, are highly appreciated.
- Immersive gameplay experience (weight 0.31): Players find the gameplay to be immersive and rewarding, with a strong sense of immersion in both the storyline and character development. The engaging gameplay mechanics contribute to this immersive experience.
- Great character development (weight 0.24): The game features a great cast of characters with appealing personalities and well-developed stories. Players enjoy the character interactions and the depth of their development.
- Engaging side quests (weight 0.18): The game features engaging and impactful side quests that add depth to the overall gameplay experience. These quests are worthwhile and contribute to the emotional depth of the game.
- High replay value (weight 0.17): The game offers high replay value with multiple endings and different outcomes based on hidden tasks. This encourages players to explore various playthroughs and endings.
- Unique gameplay mechanics (weight 0.15): The game offers unique and engaging gameplay mechanics that set it apart from other games. These mechanics are fun and contribute to the overall enjoyment of the game.
- Rich content and exploration (weight 0.15): The game is packed with a lot of content, including side quests, branching narratives, and multiple endings. This richness encourages exploration and provides a sandbox-like experience.
- Nostalgic and appealing graphics (weight 0.12): The game's pixel art style is nostalgic and appealing, with beautiful HD-2D visuals that enhance the overall aesthetic experience.
- Significant DLC content (weight 0.12): The game's DLCs add significant new content and changes to the gameplay, enhancing the overall experience and providing additional value.

Common complaints:
- Missable and poorly guided side quests (weight 0.38): Side quests are often hard to find and easy to miss, with poor guidance leading to an inconsistent narrative experience if they are overlooked.
- Rushed ending and storyline (weight 0.29): Many players feel that the ending and the latter parts of the storyline are rushed, lacking proper buildup and making the narrative feel abrupt.
- Poor optimization and technical issues (weight 0.23): The game suffers from optimization issues, leading to lag and poor AI behavior, which detracts from the overall gaming experience.
- Unbalanced combat mechanics (weight 0.17): Combat mechanics are often unbalanced, with issues in difficulty and boss fights, leading to a frustrating experience for players.
- Illogical plot and character inconsistencies (weight 0.17): The plot has several illogical decisions and inconsistencies in character relationships and motivations, which can be immersion-breaking.
- Poor UI and controller support (weight 0.16): The user interface is frustrating to navigate, especially with a controller, and there are issues with controller compatibility and optimization.
- Language-specific feedback (weight 0.1): Chinese-speaking players note that without guides, many plot points can be missed, and there are issues with character consistency and plot logic.
- Excessive grinding (weight 0.09): The game requires excessive grinding, which can be frustrating for players and detract from the overall enjoyment.
- Translation issues (weight 0.09): The game's translation is not perfect, with some parts feeling out of place or poorly translated, affecting the overall experience.

Gameplay feedback:
- Wuxia RPG Elements (weight 0.31): The game is a Wuxia RPG with a focus on cultural authenticity, storytelling, and martial arts. It includes hidden side quests and recruitable NPCs.
- Multiple Storylines and Endings (weight 0.29): The game offers multiple storylines and endings based on player choices and actions. This encourages multiple playthroughs with different outcomes.
- Combat System Depth (weight 0.28): The combat system is easy to understand but offers depth with various techniques, styles, and strategic elements requiring understanding of martial arts skills.
- Dual Combat Systems (weight 0.27): The game features both turn-based and real-time combat systems, allowing players to switch between them. This includes tactical depth with various skills and cooldowns.
- Open-World Exploration (weight 0.22): Players can explore a vast open world with freedom to engage in task-driven gameplay and immersive world-building.
- Character Customization and Progression (weight 0.22): Players can customize and progress their characters through various systems, including skill learning and inheritance mechanisms.
- JRPG and Linear RPG Style (weight 0.19): The game combines JRPG-style combat mechanics with a traditional linear RPG experience, focusing on story-driven gameplay.
- Multiple Difficulties (weight 0.18): The game features multiple difficulty levels, encouraging varied experiences and multiple playthroughs.
- Character Recruitment and Interactions (weight 0.18): The game features a large roster of recruitable characters with optional party members. Character interactions and development are key aspects.
- Character-Driven Narrative (weight 0.16): The game features a character-driven narrative with varied outcomes, including emotional storylines and character arcs.
- Skill Variety and Complexity (weight 0.13): The game offers a wide variety of skills with complex skill trees and combinations, allowing for deep skill management and customization.
- Character-Specific Quests (weight 0.12): The game includes character-specific tasks and storylines, with companions influencing quests and hidden quests available.
- DLC Content (weight 0.1): The game includes rich DLC content and expansions, adding to the overall gameplay experience.
- Crafting and Upgrading Systems (weight 0.07): Players can engage in crafting, cooking, forging, and character upgrading systems to enhance their gameplay experience.
- Design and Aesthetics (weight 0.07): The game features detailed character and map design, along with character art and music that enhance the overall aesthetic experience.

Performance notes:
- Performance and optimization issues (weight 0.15): The game suffers from various performance problems, including poor optimization, high CPU and GPU usage, and occasional lags during battles and in complex scenes.
- Freezing during martial moves (weight 0.03): The game freezes during martial moves, which can be a significant issue during gameplay.
- Specific hardware requirements (weight 0.03): The game requires at least a GTX 1660, indicating specific hardware requirements for optimal performance.
- Frame drops with mouse movement (weight 0.03): There are frame drops when the mouse moves over items, which can affect the smoothness of the gameplay.

Recommendations:
- Recommended for Wuxia and RPG fans (weight 0.24): The game is highly recommended for fans of Wuxia-themed media, martial arts, and RPG games. Players who enjoy these genres are encouraged to try the game, with some suggesting to start with the demo.
- Desire for more content (weight 0.19): Players express a desire for more DLC content, sequels, and continued updates. There is a strong interest in future developments and new storylines.
- Positive overall recommendations (weight 0.18): The game receives strong overall recommendations, with players describing it as fantastic, good, and fun to play. It is also considered worth trying and buying.
- Use guides for completionists (weight 0.1): Completionists are advised to use a walkthrough available in the wiki to avoid missing any missions. Guides can enhance the gameplay experience.
- Gameplay mechanics improvements (weight 0.08): Suggestions for improvements in gameplay mechanics include raising the speed cap, better difficulty balancing, and preset features for combat techniques.
- Voice acting needed (weight 0.05): There is a desire for voice acting for important characters and dialogues to enhance the gaming experience.
- Engage in various activities (weight 0.04): The game offers various activities such as gift-giving, teaching, and sparring, which players can engage in to immerse themselves in the world.
- Fair pricing and sales (weight 0.04): The game is considered to have a fair price and is recommended for purchase, especially during sales.

Other player notes:
- More save slots needed (weight 0.03): There are requests from players for additional save slots and the ability to edit save names for better game management.
- Paid DLC concerns (weight 0.03): Players have expressed concerns or comments regarding the paid DLC available for the game.
- Korean language support (weight 0.03): Players have requested the addition of Korean language support to make the game more accessible.

Emotions:
- Frustration (weight 0.17): Players are frustrated by a variety of gameplay issues, including poor quest guidance, rushed storylines, and awkward UI navigation. Additionally, performance problems, lack of character interaction, and an over-reliance on external guides contribute to the frustration.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.11): Players are satisfied with the engaging storyline, unique gameplay mechanics, and high replay value. The immersive gameplay experience, excellent character development, and enjoyable combat systems also contribute to their satisfaction.
- Excitement (weight 0.09): Players are excited about the engaging storyline, addictive gameplay, and the rich, detailed content. The multiple endings, unique gameplay mechanics, and the potential for future content or sequels also contribute to their excitement.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.09): Players enjoy the immersive storyline, well-developed characters, and engaging combat systems. The freedom to explore, rich character interactions, and the overall fun experience contribute to their enjoyment.
- Disappointment (weight 0.08): Players feel disappointed due to the rushed ending, lack of post-game content, and poorly portrayed characters. The abrupt plot developments, lack of depth in character development, and repetitive gameplay in later stages also contribute to their disappointment.
- Joy (weight 0.04): Players experience joy from the unique martial arts art style, enjoyable gameplay, and nostalgic feelings. The attractive BGM, character design, and the overall positive aspects of the game contribute to their joy.
- Admiration (weight 0.04): Players admire the game's deep lore, philosophical storytelling, and the protagonist's strong moral values. The beautiful graphics, detailed character abilities, and the game's unique approach to the wuxia genre also contribute to their admiration.
- Excited (weight 0.04): Players are excited about the engaging storyline, character development, and strategic gameplay. The rich and detailed game world, complex storyline, and the high-quality translation also contribute to their excitement.
- Nostalgia (weight 0.04): Players feel nostalgic due to the game's reminiscent of classic wuxia novels and games, as well as the pixel art style. The gameplay experience reminiscent of childhood and the comparison to other classic games also contribute to their nostalgia.
- Appreciation (weight 0.03): Players appreciate the game's HD-2D graphics, well-written side quests, and the strong ancient Chinese style of the BGM. The traditional and righteous storyline, as well as the detailed analysis and positive feedback, also contribute to their appreciation.
- Frustrated (weight 0.02): Players are frustrated due to bugs preventing quest progress, complex and unbalanced combat mechanics, and UI issues. The lack of updates or responses from the development team and poorly integrated DLC stories also contribute to their frustration.
- Satisfied (weight 0.02): Players are satisfied with the overall experience, depth of the story, and the game's traditional Wuxia flavor. The rich content, diverse martial arts configurations, and well-developed characters also contribute to their satisfaction.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.02): Players are satisfied with the game's overall quality, rich content, and high completion degree. The positive aspects of the game's gameplay and storyline, as well as the quality of the DLCs, contribute to their satisfaction.
- Enthusiasm (weight 0.02): Players are enthusiastic about the initial 50+ hours of gameplay, multiple playthroughs with different outcomes, and the game's unique setting. The depth and quality of the RPG experience, as well as the detailed and engaging storyline, contribute to their enthusiasm.
- Disappointment (weight 0.02): Players feel disappointed with the game's art design, scene design, and the disruption of game balance by DLC. The neglect of player feedback by developers and the unfair treatment of characters also contribute to their disappointment.
- Hope (weight 0.01): Players hope for future updates and improvements, better gameplay mechanics, and difficulty balancing. They also hope for a well-told story with good visuals and future developments in the game series.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.01): Players feel fulfilled by the character cultivation system and battle mode. The character development and the game's Easter eggs also contribute to their sense of fulfillment.
- Anger (weight 0.01): Players feel angry due to problems with DLC downloads, feeling scammed, and inappropriate character design. The unrealistic dialogues and frustration with the quest system and monetization practices also contribute to their anger.
- Engagement (weight 0.01): Players are engaged by the rich plot with intricate and thought-provoking elements, intertwining stories, and the interesting main story. The open storyline and the reviewer's engagement with the game's storyline and characters also contribute to their engagement.
- Excitement (weight 0.01): Players are excited about the game's plot and character portrayal, as well as its unique setting and nostalgic style.}