Nine Treasures of Liuyin
Last updated: 2025-05-03
- Moderate difficulty, beginner-friendly experience.
- Unique dark Chinese fantasy setting.
- Parry and posture break combat system.
- Clunky, unresponsive combat and controls.
- Weak guidance and missing in-game map.
- Problematic fixed camera perspective.
Verdict
Mixed
Summary
Positive 73% · Negative 27%. Score: 27 / 100
Positives:
- The game's difficulty is moderate and accessible, with forgiving mechanics like generous parry windows and no death penalty. The player character is strong from the start, and the game emphasizes timing-based mechanics over high execution skill. This makes the game beginner-friendly for players new to Soulslike games.
- The developers are very sincere and responsive to player feedback, actively updating the game with new content and bug fixes. The development team's updates have largely fixed the game's issues, indicating ongoing support and improvements. The game is improving with more content and optimizations.
- The game features a dark, ancient Chinese fantasy setting reminiscent of Sekiro, with a unique art style based on traditional Wuxia. The game combines dark fantasy, top-down perspective, and light Soulslike elements for a rich experience. The game has a strong 'Xia Ke Feng' (ChineseäŸ ćźą) atmosphere.
- The game incorporates puzzle-solving elements and multiple branching storylines, with different endings triggered by completing side quests in different orders, increasing replayability. The game world incorporates Soulslike elements such as interconnected maps, one-way doors, levers, and treasure chest mimics. The game's story unfolds through a combination of main quests and side storylines.
- The boss fights are a highlight, incorporating unique elements like opera singers and zither attacks for a refreshing experience. Treasure chest monsters and side-quest bosses are well-designed and have their own unique ideas. The boss difficulty is acceptable.
Negatives:
- Many reviewers found the combat to be clunky, unresponsive, and lacking impact. They cited issues with input lag, stiff animations, and poor hit feedback, making it difficult to judge whether attacks are connecting. The controls and overall feel need significant refinement.
- The game lacks sufficient guidance, tutorials, and a map, making it easy to get lost and unsure of where to go next. Important information is missing or poorly explained, leading to player frustration. The game feels unpolished as a result.
- The fixed camera angle and isometric perspective create several problems. These include obscured enemy attacks, difficulty judging distances, and a limited field of view, especially during boss fights. The lack of camera control hinders player awareness and contributes to frustrating deaths.
- The game's visuals are frequently described as too dark, making it difficult to see enemies and navigate environments. The high contrast between dark backgrounds and bright effects can also cause eye strain. This issue detracts from the overall gameplay experience.
- The game's narrative is confusing, fragmented, and poorly explained. Reviewers struggled to understand the plot, character motivations, and the overall world-building. The lack of voice acting and character art further detracts from the story's impact.
Gameplay:
- The core combat loop revolves around depleting an enemy's posture bar through attacks, parries, and exploiting openings, leading to opportunities for special attacks and executions. Mastering parrying and dodging is crucial for success, with visual cues aiding timing. Breaking enemy stances is very important, leading to long stun durations and significant posture damage, especially useful for boss fights.
- The game incorporates a parry mechanic, drawing inspiration from Sekiro, but some reviewers find it slightly inferior or situational. Successfully parrying an enemy attack when the white indicator flashes will stagger them. The game also features dodging and executions.
- Players can unlock and upgrade martial arts skills, perception skills, and underworld skills using materials gained from defeating enemies and exploring. These skills enhance abilities and allow for character build customization. Special moves can be purchased from Liuyin using energy bits found in chests and special items from dead bosses, with a choice between two powers per boss item.
- The game is a top-down or isometric Soulslike action RPG with light elements, drawing comparisons to Diablo and other similar titles. The game features a top-down perspective with three movement settings.
- The game features linear exploration with branching paths, hidden chests, and bosses to discover. Maps include distinct areas with frequent teleport points and clear path markers. Multiple routes and boss orders affect the story and enemy structure, with different difficulties.
Performance:
- The game is reported as unplayable on Steam Deck. This is a critical issue for users of that platform and should be addressed for broader accessibility.
- Upon death, players lose progress back to the last bonfire save point and are subjected to a loading animation of the corresponding map. This can be frustrating for players, especially after making significant progress or during challenging sections of the game.
- Switching to the desktop while the game is running can cause screen flickering and black screen issues. This is a specific technical issue that disrupts gameplay and needs to be addressed for a smoother user experience.
- Loading times are reported as very fast. This contributes to a smoother and more enjoyable gaming experience.
- Loading screens transition into scenes with slow camera movements. This can disrupt the flow of the game and may be perceived as a minor annoyance.
Recommendations:
- Many reviewers feel the game needs more polish and optimization before it can be widely recommended. They cite bugs, control issues, and a general lack of refinement as key problems. Despite these issues, some see potential and are willing to reconsider their recommendation if improvements are made.
- Several reviewers specifically mention control issues, particularly with keyboard controls, and recommend using a gamepad for a better experience. They also suggest improving device adaptation for controllers.
- Multiple reviewers suggest adding difficulty options to make the game more accessible to a wider range of players. They suggest that an easier mode would allow less skilled players to enjoy the game, while those seeking a challenge could still play on a higher difficulty.
- The game is recommended for fans of Soulslike games, especially those who enjoy martial arts themes or a less punishing experience. The parrying and combat are often compared to 'Sifu'.
- Many reviewers express anticipation for future updates, DLC, and optimizations from the development team. They are looking forward to new content, bug fixes, and performance improvements.
Miscellaneous:
- The game is a dark fantasy action RPG with Soulslike combat elements, set in ancient China. The story revolves around a mysterious organization, spiritual stones, and meteor fragments that corrupt humans and animals, turning them into monsters. The player explores various locations, meets characters who teach skills, and uncovers the truth behind the world's changes.
- Several reviewers express general support for the game and the development team, citing its domestic origin and ambition. However, these points lack specific feedback and actionable suggestions, and some express vague feelings.
- The game lacks voice acting and contains minor grammar mistakes and typos in the English translation. Some text, such as special attack messages and upgrades menu, is not translated, but it doesnât feel like youâre missing on anything.
- The development team is actively updating the game and plans to release future updates, including 3D scene exploration, a dynamic difficulty system, and 4-player online co-op. Reviewers hope for more martial arts skills in future updates.
- Several reviewers noted that the game's story mode and overall length are relatively short. This may impact the perceived value and playtime for some players.
