Worlds Upon The Wind

I'm going to be honest. I have a lot of doubts when playing any game these days and I end up leaving negative reviews left and right. This one here is nowhere remotelly a bad game. Matter of fact I think its probably the best game I've played this month, or maybe 2026. Why? It just does things simply, it does things well. Doesn't go overboard with its roguelite chaos, there is a LOT of things to explore and reveal, the theme is tightly bound, fitting, VERY pleasing to the eye. I remember getting a small Hiroshige booklet years ago and the whole game looks like such paintings. The scope and vastness of artwork in this game is MASSIVE. You will be flooded by pretty images, colours, doodles etc all in that Japanese theme. It is artistically great. Now for gameplay, even there you would expect it to get dumb, boring, or to just trip over its own mechanics, but it just doesnt. The difficulty ramps up and you ulock more and more stuff at a steady pace, essentially continuously unlocking more and more, increasing the scope of the gameplay. And this is great. It screams well-designed. A great package. Even has a story that goes and goes, I may be at the halfway point with the hours of this review and then I remember I got this for less than 9 euro??? What??? This is a fantastic game. Even when I got stuck because I didn't read a mechanic well, a dev replied on the thread and I was continuing the quests in game in less than an hour. Excuisite. Trully a great game. My only request would be something to speed up the drag and drop of glyphs. I am already playing at x10 animation speed but not all things move fast like expedition menus, or reward menus. Would like to hit alt + left click to auto place a glyph for example, but even if that never gets added it is the only minor thing I can think of. Seriously this is the only negative I can imagine here.

This is a very good deckbuilder with roguelike elements (in which, unilke most roguelikes, you don't have to "lose" - every playthrough is an expedition to another land, which you can finish whenever it feels right to get the hard-earned rewards and move the story forward, and you can keep playing the game even after finishing the main storyline) and I whole-heartedly recommend getting it. The thing that immediately hits you is the atmosphere of traditional Japanese woodblock print scrolls (which the game encourages you to learn more about by viewing them in the in-game museum), combined with a fitting soundtrack and extra effects that go together very well, which in my case put me in a Zen-like state of experiencing full focus on using the cards, relics, companions or anything else available to me to fulfill the needs of folktale-slach-postapocalyptic settlements that house people dispossessed by a cataclysm which turned the world into a bunch of islands floating in the sky. The mechanics of the game let you combine powers of Japanese glyphs (which you can inscribe yourself and learn their meanings), relics found during story-rich events and other powers unlocked by playing through the eras to summon elemental essences needed to create environments, where people, animals and spirits can survive and thrive. Random elements keep you on your toes, forcing you to adapt to increasing needs of your people, hauntings, lost glyphs, demanding events and more - or finishing your expeditions early to gain more power and try again. The most fascinating aspect of this game for me is that you can easily just spend a few minutes on one foray or many hours to complete an expedition (or a few) depending on what your schedule allows and still come out of it satisfied - but being eager to see more of the story and the challenges ahead. From the technical standpoint, the game is well optimized and mostly free of bugs. Most hangups I have encountered were ironed out in beta testing, the game doesn't crash and even complicated chains of glyph and relic powers go through as intended. The developer addresses any issues quickly and is easy to reach through the game's Discord server. At this price point I would struggle to point out another game that can bring me as many hours of being focused and engaged, especially one that can teach me something about art and language, has heaps of interesting storylines, encourages me to find ever more mechanics that support each other and manages to make me leave relaxed. While I was able to wheedle out a beta access for myself, I decided to buy a few copies for friends who are into Japanese culture and deckbuilding games, because I would feel bad not giving any money to this project. If you are still unsure whether this game is for you, try the demo! It's free, infinitely replayable and really generous - you get a huge chunk of the game for free and the save transfers without any issues.

Yes, its good. A rare game where the vertical metaprogression makes sense (aside from power fantasy genres), because its paired with increasing complexity/difficulty as the player progresses. Any complaints I have are complaints unfair to a game of this price with a solo dev. For example, it'd be nice if there were voiced pronunciation for the Japanese learning side of the game, but that's a side mode, fully optional to the experience.

I got this in return for creating content, and was interested from the start. However, when I started playing it, I found I couldn't stop. It's an excellent game that is too easily overlooked! It has a chill vibe and no real pressure, but it adds just enough complication and difficulties as you progress through the story to keep it from getting boring. I normally don't go for deckbuilders, but this felt so organic that I didn't struggle at all. The story is interesting, the art is beautiful, the way of developing the world is fascinating, and through it all you get to enjoy little mini-events and watch the world change. Plus, you can pet the cat on the menu screen.

I played the demo for about 5 hours and it was clear that this game is very well thought-out and easily worth purchasing. I really like deckbuilders and roguelikes, so this game was right up my alley. One of the things that sets this game apart (other than the focus on Japanese history/culture/art/language) is that there's no combat or timers, yet there's still a tension in trying to optimize each turn. It's a very engaging deckbuilder roguelike, with plenty of unique charm. Gameplay seems to allow for people to min-max or play casually. The progression feels meaningful and seems to be methodically introducing additional game elements. There are enough ways of influencing RNG of drawing glyphs (cards) that I'm not put off when I get a bad hand. I can't wait to see what else is in store as I unlock more content!

Every choice in the game offers challenging and compelling trade-offs, while always somehow being super chill. The art is beautiful and pulls together the whole vibe.

Loving this game. Stress free gameplay, beautiful art, rewarding progression. It certainly falls heavily into the Roguelite genre more than the Roguelike, as you can level a skill tree that will open up the game. This helps progress but it also opens new tools to explore, so keeping it fresh. I'm a Japanese learner so I certainly appreciate the use of Kanji on the cards. Simple and to the point. Also has a low graphics mode which I havent tried on my intel hd gpu yet but certainly will when I have a flight. This will be the perfect game to burn a few hours of commute.

It's beautiful and relaxing. The reference material gave me some good new insights into Japanese art. The underlying deckbuilding game is complex enough to make me feel smart, when I find new ways to solve the challenges. There is even an story being told, that I'm interested in seeing to the end.

Awesome game. It builds up its systems very well, and has quite a bit of depth. I like the game loop, and depending on what goals (quests or meta progression) you want to chase your strategy might differ widely. The fact that dev put in optional learning of Japanese is a pretty cool addition, and very thematic for this game.