Chris InglisWandering Sword is a Chinese martial-arts RPG developed by The Swordsman Studio and published by Spiral Up Games. It’s a game currently in development for a Steam release this year, and a demo is available to play as part of Steam Next Fest. I usually overlook games like this in favour of more 3D ones, however the art style in the game’s trailer particularly caught my eye with its beautiful HD-2D pixel art rendering.
As a young pugilist, gamers traverse across ancient China to escape enemies. They will meet new acquaintances and forge new friendships. They will go on quests to help the weak and resolve misunderstandings, while strengthening their skills as a martial artist to eventually leave their mark on China’s Wuxia history.
CEO of Spiral Up Games – Aldric Chang – says, “Wandering Sword is a shining example of the kind of high quality indie games Spiral Up wants to represent and put on the world stage as a game publisher. It showcases ancient locations, rich history, acts of heroism and cool martial arts. We love it and we are sure that fans of RPGs will love it too!”
Key Features of Wandering Sword include:
- Traverse ancient China painted in beautiful pixel art – The game is developed in Unreal Engine and uses beautiful pixel art to showcase an open world with bustling ancient Chinese towns, scenic mountains, picturesque rivers, dangerous lairs, treacherous terrains and more.
- A vast library of martial arts moves and weapons – As you explore the lands, you will discover hundreds of martial arts forms and weapons to master and wield. You will learn how to cultivate your energy through meridian points and become an expert of both the external and internal forms to gain true mastery of martial prowess.
- Innovative combat system – Combat is conducted on a tiled board and a unique point is that it allows gamers to switch between turn-based mode or real-time mode during combat. The turn-based mode will suit gamers who prefer the traditional way of playing slower paced RPGs while the real-time mode will appeal to players who like to think on their feet and dish out attacks as quickly as their fingers can move.
- Make friends and recruit fellow swordsmen – In Wandering Sword, you can build relationships with NPCs and recruit some of them to join your adventures. Make friends or maybe even find love!
- Realistic NPCs – The NPCs in Wandering Sword are programmed to simulate how actual people would behave in real life. As you traverse the pugilistic world and revisit friends and acquaintances, you will notice that they have been keeping themselves busy too with their own adventures and martial arts practice instead of idling around!
Wandering Sword offers great replayability as different choices you make will lead to different endings for the game. There are also a great number of side quests you can opt to take on besides the main quest, which will provide many hours of adventure time. Players can get their hands on the game’s demo on Steam starting from the February 6 through to the 28th. Head over to the Wandering Sword Steam page to keep up to date on their latest news.
#roundtablecoop
