GAME REVIEW: Wandering Sword
Developer: The Swordman Studio
Publisher: Spiral Up Games
Release Date: September 14, 2023
Reviewed On: PC
Price: $24.99

Wandering Sword is a turn-based RPG (role-playing game) set in the cultivation world of ancient China. The land had just come out of a great war that reworked the world order and left spaces for new power to emerge. The protagonist, Yuwen Yi, finds himself entering the cultivation world after being poisoned and barely brought back from the brink of death. He embarks on a journey to find answers and to become the strongest in the cultivation world. 

Story

Wandering Sword has a great storyline. It does follow the traditional outline in the Xianxia (cultivation) genre, but it’s done well, in my opinion. Yuwen Yi is a protagonist that feels relatable, even as he rises to power. It has its twists, and the main story line is further enhanced by the numerous side quests and accompanying members. There is a lot to learn about this world’s version of Xianxia and how Yuwen Yi plays a role in it.

There are a multitude of characters who can join Yuwen Yi’s party, and they each get their own storyline that either coincides or follows along Yuwen Yi’s journey. I grew deeply attached to certain characters, and I made it my duty to collect all the possible team members, so I could get the best experience. In the end, I found out I only missed two characters that I could’ve recruited to my party. 

Gameplay

The gameplay itself is great. It’s very similar to Octopath Traveler. It’s an open-world where, after finishing the prologue, players can go wherever they want. There are very few areas gated, though they are somewhat supported by lore and story reasons. Players can talk to NPCs (non-playable characters) for quests that could either be fetch quests, battles, or lead to bigger side quests. 

As players grow in renown, they essentially unlock the next level or cap in the story. This allows for more side quests to open up. In fact, certain quests will become locked because the story has progressed, so players have to be diligent and careful about keeping up with their quests and progressing the story. 

Another part of the gameplay is that techniques can be learned from NPCs, and they can be fought for items. This makes it a lot easier to get items that upgrade characters and have things to sell for more currency. Characters have a favorability rating from 0 to 100 which needs to be gauged to do certain actions. For example, to fight NPCs, they need a favorability of, at least, 20. To learn certain techniques from an NPC, it could take a favorability rating up to 80. 

Combat

The combat is turn-based and runs on a grid-like system. A character’s abilities in combat are based on their stats whether that be their character stats or skills. Each character focuses on a certain weapon-type (or two) that can be increased based on their mastery over it. Each character has stats that can be improved through their meridians. The amount of spaces they can move on the board, the amount of damage they do, and even their chances of dodging are affected by these stats. 

Players can assign certain techniques to characters to have them equipped with the best kit possible for their weapon type. Yuwen Yi, the protagonist, can interchange between weapons and use any technique learned. The techniques fall into several categories: Normal Attack, Special Move, Martial Move, Unique Move, Lightness Skill, and Cultivation Method. These moves are typically reliant on Qi or Mana Points in other games. They have a cool down of turns to use, and each have a special effect and radius effect. 

The combat really kept me going throughout the game. I love maximizing builds and trying to find the best way to clear combat. The diversity of moves available and different effects made it easy for me to get lost in how I could best make a team. It definitely made it interesting when certain party members would leave during quests, so I had to rebuild other team members to make up for their absence. 

The best part is that, at certain early parts of the map, it becomes tedious to do battles because the team is so much more powerful than the mobs. There’s an auto-battle where every character will auto-move as well as a free-mode where turns are turned off. Characters can move whenever with no regard. This makes it a lot faster to get through battles and get the necessary materials from mobs without the tediousness of going through the same battle again and again. 

Replayability

A big part of Wandering Sword is the legacy points. When players die in battle, the game will calculate a certain amount of points they gained in their journey. It’s based more on progression and collection, so the more players encounter, the larger the amount of points they earn. These points are important in the following playthroughs. With legacy points, players can increase the initial amount of meridian points players start with, give them techniques they can start their new playthrough with, or even give them legacy items for their gear. It’s a great method to entice players to play through the game multiple times without having to grind for strength as much as their first playthrough. 

I’ve completed the game fully once which took me almost 60 hours since I was trying to be pretty thorough. My second playthrough has my player jump from the starting tier of strength up to one of the highest tiers. Not only that, but I have a full moveset, so Yuwen Yi is able to handle most of the early battles easily. A big part of why I gave myself such a big grace is because I changed the difficulty from normal to the hardest. Enemies are increased, the cultivation methods they use are better, and the combat overall becomes more intuitive and difficult. It’s to the point that I was careless during one of the battles in the prologue and died even while fully-kitted out. 

Final Score

As a turn-based game, Wandering Swords is 5 out of 5 stars. It has great versatility in its combat that, honestly, blew me away. It became less about repetitive battles and more about tactical maneuvers. As someone used to the combat, it was easy to pick up the combat and its system. I think, with a bit of time and practice, it’d be easy for new players to get used to the combat as well, even if they’ve never played a game with similar mechanics. 

As a role-playing game, Wandering Swords is also 5 stars out of 5. The number of side quests possible and the choices players make affecting the story and the recruitability of members makes it feel like a changeable storyline. Some quests, based off certain decisions, completely close off larger storylines whereas others can make that storyline grow much bigger. I found myself being a lot more careful with my choices and paying more attention to the dialogue. A minor character that was mentioned earlier? They might reappear in a later quest and be part of a larger organization. A meeting that I just happened to stumble upon? Renowned figures in the cultivation world. The game rewards players who explore and go back. It’s genuinely a game that is led by its storyline and world building. 

Wandering Sword is a 5 out of 5 star game. I went into the game with high expectations, and it both met and went beyond them. I genuinely enjoyed it and am working my way through another playthrough on its highest difficulty. I still want to get those last companions to my team because I want to know how the story will change with them by my side. What new kinds of tidbits of information can I get from them? What about the companions whose stories I didn’t get the true ending for? I only felt the game drag on from farming for materials to help get better gear, but it’s a part of the game and the overall experience of becoming the strongest cultivator. A lot of my bottleneck in that stage was simply because I was afraid to move the story forward to get to better areas with better loot. In retrospect, I didn’t have to farm as much as I thought I did.

What are your thoughts on Wandering Sword after reading this review? Would you be willing to give the game a try? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below or in our Boss Rush Discord! 

Featured Image Source: Spiral Up Games

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