The first big expansion for the Wuxia ARPG, Where Winds Meet, is currently underway. The first chapter of the expansion released just last week, and the upcoming months will see the slow release of the expansion’s other two chapters.
Speaking with Everstone Studio’s Lead Designer Chris Lyu and Head of Publishing Eric Zhang at GDC, it’s obvious the immediate success of the base game and its first expansion has been a pleasant surprise to the development team who is mostly focused on the artistic aspect of game development and not the profit side.
Fan reception and the fundamental human experience
Q: With the new expansion coming out, obviously Chapter 1 just launched. Has the reception of that been very good among the player base?
Zhang: Whatever positive comments and feedback that we have gotten from the players’ community have been surprisingly positive. And why is it surprising? Because the new expansion, differing from the previous ones to the players, is that it has a higher threshold of cultural comprehension, a narrative resonance. It takes a little bit more for you to get where it’s going. Especially when we’re trying different approaches in terms of narrative and storytelling. And it’s actually quite surprising that we’ve got a positive feedback from players.
Zhang: In one particular instance of that resonance of the narrative, it’s the character of Burlap Sack that’s deployed in the chapter. And why that surprised us is that during the Twitch streamers play-throughs, they were truly affected and moved by the storyline. And that storyline is different from the traditional Wuxia point of view, and that we are so used to looking at things through the heroes angle, what heroes went through. But this is an ordinary person, going through his life under the backdrop of a military uprising and all the chaos unfolding. And what I found really exciting is that during one of those commentaries that I reviewed, one of the players drew a direct connection between what he witnessed in the game to the Western tale of the Little Prince. In that moment, the cultural resonance between the East and the West was truly moving to me.
Q: The Wuxia genre is obviously more popular in China, which would make sense, but Where Winds Meet is an international game. Was there any concern that the traditional genres and themes of the genre would not resonate as well in an international audience?
Zhang: So, directly responding to that, not only did we perform commercially exceptionally well, and got such an amount of positive feedback in the player community. Both of that exceeded our expectations greatly. And I think we started out with the same presumptive qualm regarding the genre. It’s possible, less than ideal compatibility with the audience, but all the statistics, all the feedbacks that we got proved to the, you know, to the contrary.
Zhang: And that verified one point that we always believe is, as long as you are putting out a good game, that game will attract the right audience and they will have the cultural and emotional resonance with your game. And maybe different media can dress up in different themes, different styles, but the key message, you know, you strip away all the cultural differences, thresholds of comprehension, we get into something that’s the human universal. That always will get the resonance from our audience. And we set that game chapter in a particular time, military uprising, chaos unfolding, and you were seeing that from the point of view of an ordinary person. What would you do? You would start developing nostalgia, you would like to reunite with your family, stay with the ones you love. And I think we did that, then we get the kind of emotional resonance with our players.
Q: Wuxia, being a less popular international genre, you avoid any concerns of genre fatigue where gamers just get too used to seeing the same thing over and over. Which probably also is a solid benefit?
Lyu: Yes, differential presentation of elements has always been our core belief. That’s what makes the game special. It’s a Wuxia world, it’s an open world. And that’s also the central tenet that’s driving for the new content that’s coming out and the Hexi expansion. Make sure players get a different experience from the previous chapter, new combat systems, new way of narrative storytelling, and everything. You know, that’s what we’re driving for.
Competition and philosophy
Q: Being an ARPG, with the development team based in China, there are the inevitable comparisons to the Hoyoverse games. Do you have any particular feelings about that?
Zhang: Let’s talk about the particular backdrop against which the game was founded. The project was validated back in 2019. The whole market wasn’t quite like what it is right now. And the group of people who founded the project were very few of us, in our 20s, enthusiasts, who would like to really follow the tenet: to bring the game of Wuxia Open World RPG to the player base. And the other central philosophy that we hold tight is the belief that what we’re doing is a work of art, not just a product. Under the product category, of course, you’re thinking about competition.
the group of people who founded the project were very few of us, in our 20s, enthusiasts, who would like to really follow the tenet: to bring the game of Wuxia Open World RPG to the player base
Zhang: But under the understanding of a work of art, the key moment is to give unique experiences to our players. It’s a contribution to their experience and that necessarily draws different feedback. Some may like it, and some may not. But nonetheless, it’s the art expression of the team.
New expansion, new features
Q: Only the first chapter of the Hexi expansion is available to players and we have two more to go. Obviously there’s a lot more of the story that needs to develop, but are there any things you’re looking forward to seeing players experience and get to once the subsequent parts are available to the wider audience?
Lyu: Such a wonderful question, it deserves a lot more time to ponder before giving you an answer… Okay, a lot of experimental attempts are happening. And first of all, in the narrative round in the Liangzhou (Chapter 2), one of the levels will be overcome in the form of a theater play, which is a unique experimental level. And if you like the combat element of deflection, we also add it in a new way to interact with the combat system, and we also broaden the variety of mobility skills in the game. For example, in Chapter 1 of Hexi, you are able to assume the form of a fish to swim around in the desert. And new forms will be discovered too.
if you like the combat element of deflection, we also add it in a new way to interact with the combat system, and we also broaden the variety of mobility skills in the game
Lyu: And as a game that aims to be long term, to be live service, we will be eager to see and delighted to see player feedback. Whether or not they are enjoying the kind of map paired with new elements, new experiences, do they enjoy that? If that’s the case, we’ll continue forward with giving them that variety. And with those positive reviews coming in to correspond to those different implementations of features, we will collect those feedbacks and move forward with them in mind and create even new distinct features in the future. So that’s the kind of interaction and feedback from the point of view of a designer that I would like to see in the upcoming expansions.
Q: For the new forms of mobility, are those going to be locked to the specific sort of zones or is there a possibility they might carry forward into the future?
Lyu: So it really depends on the kind of terrain, the territory that you’re encountering in those particular zones. For Hexi’s first chapter, the two zones are pretty vast. And so we would like to introduce a way of transportation, mobility, so that players can traverse those lands much faster. And if we move to a different landscape, a different terrain, those previous mobilities may not be so applicable anymore. And maybe the new zone’s focal point of experimental level is not at the mobility side. So, maybe mobility is not the right level of analysis. It’s what we want to bring, the different type of experience, tied to new content, that’s not the constant.
Q: So it’s more of an expression of the themes or a function of the environment instead of a new game system being introduced?
Lyu: that’s one way to understand it.
Q: Any final takeaways for us?
Zhang: For the Hexi Expansion, which consists of three installments, three chapters, will be rapidly deployed in the next three months, and it will be gradually unlocked as players go to different zones, maps will open up. You will see the snow peak, maybe the grassland, if you spend time to look at the sneak peak trailer. But all in all, why do we present those particular habitats, those particular landscapes? It is to answer the ancient calling, the poetry. They were the original inspirations of Chinese poetry. And our goal is for our players to go into the world of poetry and experience what the poets had at the time in their imagery.
why do we present those particular habitats, those particular landscapes? It is to answer the ancient calling, the poetry. They were the original inspirations of Chinese poetry
Zhang: And the parting point I would like to make is we would like to display our deepest gratitude to our players who have supported us, sending the opinions about optimization, refinement, where to improve et cetera. All in all, that ties back into poetry, and in Ancient China, poetry exists, sometimes as a gift between friends before they part ways. And in this metaphor, for this expansion, that’s the creative team that develops a gift for our players for them to experience.
Where Winds Meet: Hexi Chapter 2 is coming soon
The second and third chapters of the Hexi expansion will release over the coming months, with Chapter 2 expected in April. The third chapter of the Hexi expansion is expected to launch in early May.
In the meantime, you may want to brush up on your weapon skills as there are a few tricky encounters coming your way in the next patch. Meanwhile, if you’re just booting up Where Winds Meet for the first time, you might want to take a look at our quick start guide to ensure a smooth entry into the open world Wuxia ARPG.
