4/5 ★ – DanteHR's review of Where Winds Meet.

And here we have a new highly anticipated Chinese AAA game, and one that does something unique compared to the others. “Where Winds Meet”, made by “Everstone Studios” and published by “Netease”, is one of the only Action RPG games.. that is free and has such a large amount of content. I can state without remorse that I have always remained skeptical when it came to free games, especially those made by Netease, but I am extremely glad that I entered without expectations and was surprised by all the aspects that this game gave me, without me paying a single dollar. You are probably wondering.. “But where does the money to make its development work come from?” .. Well, to be honest, I don't have a concrete idea either, the game is not at all "Pay to Win" or "Pay to progress Faster", nor does it have a "Gacha" system for other characters like in games like "Genshin Impact" or "Wuthering Waves", but there are quite a few very well-made cosmetics, which can reach several tens of thousands of dollars. As for GAMEPLAY, I got exactly what I wanted, a semi MMO with a fast hack and slash combat and a huge world to explore, which has over 20 regions. The combat itself is slightly soulslike, or rather, comparable to "Rise of the Ronin", it is fast, you have skills that you learn from various NPCs on the map. I would say that the Highlight is the parry mechanic, excellently implemented and necessary for every fierce fight. Being also inspired by MMOs, the famous “World Bosses” could not be missing, in short, some huge-scale fights with some colossal bosses at a difficulty level, meant to be taken down by an entire server, not just by 2-3 people, as I tried the first time. I mentioned that the game is inspired by the souls series or subgenre, I want to rectify and say that the game can be set to make it easier.. in addition to choosing the difficulty level, the game offers you a setting where you have auto-parry, extraordinarily useful in any fight. In addition to combat, I loved, but not entirely, the dungeons and the side content that I encountered. The huge minus or constructive criticism that I give it in this category is actually how prone the content is to completing in the game. A problem that I also had in “Dying Light: The Beast”. After each completed side quest or dungeon, not only were the rewards more or less useless, but I had a hard time figuring out and managing what I had done on the map and what I was going to do next. It mostly felt like all the ingredients were thrown into the same pot, at the exact same time. As for the graphics, I was also very pleased with what they managed to deliver to me in Everstone, not only was the fidelity high, but the Wuxia art style also managed to meet the requirements. I also really liked the design of the enemies and human characters, especially the customization of your main character. As for the UI and items, the inspiration was very much felt from “Naraka: Bladepoint”, another superb game (Battle Royale) published by Netease. The game’s sound and music were mostly decent, but from time to time I encountered bad lip sync, which led me to confusion and disgust for the cutscenes. The music was chosen quite well, given that it is a Wuxia-type game, with Chinese martial arts and choreography that seems out of this world, the charm was felt especially during the boss fights. A category where I don't have much to discuss, because the focus on story wasn't a "breaking point" for Everstone when they decided to start development on this game, but.. unlike other titles played this year, like "Painkiller", I can say that the story is there and does what it needs to. I don't want to criticize the writers who worked on this game negatively, but for the most part, Chinese titles don't have a story that will give you goosebumps. There were a few sad moments, decent acting, sometimes cryptic dialogue, but good enough.. however, it's not something memorable. In the end, Where Winds Meet not only delivered us a very good experience for a game published by Netease, but they gave it to us without even paying anything. Something worthy of respect in the gaming industry! I think it's a solid Action-RPG, and a great entrypoint for those who want to venture into a vast Wuxia-style world. 8/10 Made by DanteHR