Since this winter, Gori has been delightfully playing Where Winds Meet on android tablet.
Rarely has he seen a game with such freedom, and not just on a superficial level.
Where Winds Meet is a unique game, combining adventure, action, reflection, storytelling, exploration… but also single, cooperative and massively multiplayer gameplay.
The best way to describe it would be : imagine a game combining all the great ideas in gaming into one experience, set in a world of chinese martial arts.
Now I think many people already praised the combat system, and the many martial arts and techniques you can master and use, so instead Gori will talk about the peaceful side of the game.
Of course a game about martial arts involves fighting, and you need to fight a bit to progress in the story, but most of the game can be played as a pacifist… ain’t that true martial arts ?
The way of non-violence
Martial arts have always been closely linked to non-violence if you think about it, they say that while common people dream of fighting heroically, warriors dream of playing music and writing poetry…
This game is a really serious project, overwhelming in elements of authentic chinese lore and culture, buddhism and daoism, it’s not just for cosmetics or atmosphere but by playing it you actually learn a lot about China, philosophy, cooking, nature and so many things.
The game offers so many peaceful activities that it is possible to play it in an almost non-violent way…
How many hours spent travelling the beautiful and lively world of Qinhe and Kaifeng (and Hexi, but I didn’t visit the others so much), listening to strangers and their life stories, catching fish, looking at stunning landscapes.
There is deep poetry, and if you’ve heard of “Wu Wei”, approximatively translated as “action without action” or “non-action” (I know it’s not 100% accurate), you will probably find that Where Winds Meet is a “Wu Wei” world, not a world of forceful action, but rather a flowing experience of a living world where every small piece has a place.
The Way that is not a Way
A pompous subtitle, I agree, but what is the real goal of Where Winds Meet ?
Story is rich, combat is thrilling, but all the other activities are maybe as much important.
There are so many of them, that I don’t think it’s fair to call them mini-games, or side quests.
All the fishing contests, chess games, debates (Yes, in this game you can verbally debate against NPCs, I don’t think I saw this anywhere except maybe Phoenix Wright back in the days), healing other players or NPCs… all these activities are not cut-off from the experience, they are an integral part of the game and can be as challenging as the bigger quests (especially chinese chess, it’s hard !).
These activities all have an impact on your martial arts, learning to play traditional chinese songs will upgrade your “musicality” stat, which will allow you to use some gear or techniques.
But more than that, all these activities have a real cultural significance, and contribute to making the game so rich. Imagine, you can even talk to AI NPCs about the meaning of Buddhism, have you seen that in any game ?
So many things to say…
But I’m getting lost in thought… There is so much to say about this game, which other people will probably say better than Gori.
A martial arts game where you can really practice non-violence…
