Xuan Yuan Sword 7

Xuan Yuan Sword 7 is an emotionally driven, narrative focused action-rpg that will pull on your heartstrings as you embark on an incredibly unique and grounded adventure. Although the series might seem unfamiliar to most in the west, it’s a well respected series with a rich history and large fan base across the east. I’m incredibly happy to see a game with such a prolific legacy make its way to consoles across the world for all players to enjoy, with such a heavy focus on Chinese history and mythology it’s a great introduction to a different culture and a great suggestion for most gamers.

Developers: DOMO Studio, SOFTSTAR, DOMO Production

Publishers: SOFTSTAR, Yooreka Studio, EastAsiaSoft

Platforms: Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Review on: PS5

Review Code Provided

Written by: Gabriel Sewell

While the name Xuan Yuan Sword might sound unfamiliar to most readers, it’s actually a long standing series that's often been unfairly overshadowed. To my knowledge only a few games have ever made their a appearance here in the west, but Xuan Yuan Sword 7 is by far their most ambitious title and western release to date.

Without going too deep into spoiler territory the premise is fairly simple and grounded in tone, a young swordsman named Taishi Zhao cares for his sickly sister and provides by doing the work of a mercenary, a sword for hire. After a monster goes rogue an incident occurs that leaves her badly hurt and on death's door, Taishi seeks help immediately from a powerful entity and makes a deal that leads to her spirit being removed from her body temporarily, now they must venture out into the world in hopes of saving her. It goes to show the extreme extent that Taishi will go to for his sister and their powerful bond. It’s a wonderfully written story that translates incredibly well, while some areas might fall flat the storytelling is by far the games best feature.

The most important part of a good RPG is always it’s combat or battle system, after all it’s what you'll spend most of your time with. Luckily the combat is incredibly fluid and responsive, there's a large skill tree to invest in as you level up and watch Taishi grow as a swordsman. But don't worry you won't be fighting alone, with the use of companion abilities you’ll find the tide of battle can sway in your favour if used correctly, which I'm sure wont come as a surprise to many RPG fans. Since there’s such a strong mythological influence throughout, magic is an important skill in combat. Taishi is able to wield several forms of magic, and because there’s a heavy focus on not only fighting mythological creatures but learning about them too, it all really culminates into a finely tuned and enjoyable experience.

Throughout your play time you’ll notice lots of familiar RPG tropes and mechanics such as; dialog options, levelling up etc while also incorporating a more modern action adventure style of exploration and progression, with lots of puzzles to solve and dungeons to explore it’s easy to find yourself being enthralled by this magical world. Now the biggest disappointment for me while traversing the gorgeous world was how the characters control, something just feels off, kind of slow and weirdly clunky. That being said it really doesn't detract from the experience too much but is well worth noting since it might be a deal breaker for some.

At first glance the world appears to be a large open area to explore, from the bustling towns to dense forests. Sadly though this isn't entirely correct, it actually plays out in a fairly linear and directed fashion which for me most part really works in the games favour by ditching a lot of open world “bloat” or fluff allowing the player to enjoy the story without feeling lost or overwhelmed with the fear of missing out. Not to mention the highly detailed character models that just look phenomenal, they really come to life on screen further helping to immerse the player into this truly mystical world.

For a last gen release with no next gen upgrade I was pleasantly surprised with how well the game looked and ran, everything is incredibly detailed and just visually stunning to look at (at least for a PS4 release). There was clearly a large budget for this game and must have been a AAA release when it debuted on PC last year, that being said it’s a little overpriced for what you're getting. I think the game can feel a little dated and might not be as easily accessible to the average player, it’s far more likely to be favoured by lovers of niche titles. And although the game was localised for the west there’s currently no English voice acting, that’s not to say there should be as I don't think a game like this even needs it. I felt far more immersed listening to the original dialog and reading the translation, pair that with the beautiful soundtrack and it’s easy to find yourself getting lost in the distant land of China.

Overall I’d say Xuan Yuan Sword 7 is a great game with lots of potential that’s held back by some arbitrary design choices, at its core there’s an amazing RPG with a rich story and lovable characters. And although the game might not seem very familiar from an outsider's perspective, once you get started you’ll soon see why it’s so popular and beloved by many.

2/3

Good Game

Pros

Nice Graphics

Interesting world

Enjoyable story

Great combat

Cons

Clunky movement outside of combat

Dated design choices

Author: Gabriel Sewell