Xuan-Yuan Sword VII is a mostly linear, story-driven action RPG with heaps of charm and solid, satisfying gameplay. While it is rough around the edges, with the occasional dodgy animation or minor continuity issue, it's a stable and enjoyable experience, overall. Players fill the shoes of Taishi Zhao on a quest to save his sister.

🖱🎮Xuan-Yuan works with both keyboard/mouse and controller. I used the latter.🎮🖱

Presented as a series of open-world areas with fast-travel points and side-quests, Xuan-Yuan features largely linear progression, with players advancing to new areas throughout the story, meeting new characters and more powerful foes. Saving is limited to specific locations and auto-saves, but actions between deaths are not saved, meaning any loadout changes, items purchased, crafted, found, skills unlocked, etc., will be reverted upon death. This can be very annoying when at a boss, as one has to reapply changes for every attempt.

Players are presented with a few relatively basic puzzles during their journey. These typically involve moving blocks around to form a picture or complete a code. Unfortunately, these can be somewhat time consuming to solve – not because of their complexity, but because it takes so long to actually move the blocks around. Thankfully, these puzzles are few in number, so not to become wearisome.

I found a nice surprise in the mini-game “Zhuolu chess”; a genuinely enjoyable little game played by a few characters in the game. There's a side-quest in which the protagonist must become the Zhuolo chess master of the land, and I found it a surprisingly enjoyable experience. Other side-quests generally comprise of small story snippets or fetch quests.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2272561496
Xuan-Yuan employs the dodge, parry, heavy attack, light attack combat mechanics featured in Dark Souls, and adds its own flavour of stances, abilities and companions. I played on the hardest of the three difficulty settings, and found the vast majority of combat rather easy, while bosses could be extremely punishing.

Character movement is smooth and precise, and allows one to position themselves exactly where they want to be, though this is less useful than in the aforementioned title due to the lack of a backstab function. Similarly, though parrying an enemy attack still provides a small advantage in the form of a free hit, there's no punishing critical blow to deliver, diminishing the reward of pulling off a successful parry; a potentially very risky move.

Several stances are available that affect your combat style; some focus on concussive damage capable of stunning enemies, while others focus on direct damage or crowd control. I found all but one of the stances to be useful and well balanced, leaving the choice down to personal preference. Complementing these are Taishi Zhao's two abilities that allow him to slow time and restrict enemy movement, synergizing well with companion abilities and stance moves to group enemies for mass destruction.

Said companions accompany the protagonist throughout the game, and are reasonably useful in combat against common enemies, though are next to useless in boss fights due to their low damage and them seemingly not drawing aggro.

Enemy variety is decent, with both humans and monsters to deal with. A few new units are added here and there, to keep things interesting. With ranged types, heavy melee, light melee and more, their composition is good, too.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2272562289
On the subject of bosses, every one in Xuan-Yuan is different from the last, and some have unique, interesting mechanics, while others are more or less just sponges. A trait they all seem to share, though, is their total resistance to flinching, stumbling and being stunned. Parrying a boss will do damage, but don't expect it to produce an opening.

Undoubtedly the most punishing aspect, however, is that some bosses deal deadly status effects to the player. Even the most minor of hits can do this, and will rapidly reduce the player's health bar to almost nothing. This won't kill you, but you cannot out-heal the damage, so it's time to just run around, avoiding being hit. There are trinkets you can craft to increase elemental resistance, but there's little indication you need them (or that they exist) before arriving at the relevant boss. At this point, you must either deal with it and push through, or load a previous save, if you have one, to do some crafting, assuming you have the materials.

Xuan-Yuan mixes things up by having players move between the open-world areas and linear dungeons throughout the story, as well as by having a nice variety of outdoor themes including lush forest, snowy mountains and other, more foreboding locales.

A story of family, monsters and war, Xuan-Yuan's narrative is a pleasant one, with likeable characters and an interesting setting. Following Taishi Zhao and his sister, the plot doesn't do anything radical, but instead spends its time forging connections between its characters and the player, through the ordeals we see them put through, and the conversation between them. There was the occasional “wait, what?” moment when characters seemed to gain knowledge from nowhere, or, conversely, learned about something they previously displayed knowledge of, but these were rare enough not to sour the experience.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2272563715

This game was played with the following PC specs:
Intel i5-4440 3.10 GHz
16GB DDR3 RAM
GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER 4GB
1680x1050 resolution
Windows 10
Game installed on HDD

Xuan-Yuan is a pretty game, overall, though some smaller details are somewhat lacking. Facial animations, barring lip sync, are fine for main characters but less detailed on some NPCs; their lips and eyes move, but the rest of the face is very rigid. Walking animations, while fine during gameplay, are very dodgy in cutscenes; characters' leg animations don't match their actual speed of movement. It's very noticeable. The English translation of the dialogue is also somewhat poor in places, with the occasional subtle meaning lost in translation. On the plus side, the game's views and atmosphere are stunning.


Update: The game has received several patches since I played, and runs pretty smoothly now.

Using the specs listed above, the game runs at a pretty steady 60fps on a mix of medium/high settings.

Xuan-Yuan's soundtrack is fantastic, with a lot of beautiful tracks playing at appropriate moments to create a great atmosphere. Sound effects are good, and voice acting seems decent too, though as the spoken language is not one I understand, I would likely miss some flaws.

Aside from the aforementioned freezes, I did not encounter any issues of note. The game did not crash or present any progression-stopping bugs.

Xuan-Yuan is a enjoyable experience, with a nice story and solid gameplay, but it suffers from a few rough edges that will hopefully be addressed in future.

If you're looking for more quality reviews like this, follow our curator page, Devils in the Detail.

[h1][i]A charming tale with some rough edges.[/i][/h1] [h2][i]-[u]Overview[/u]-[/i][/h2] [i]Xuan-Yuan Sword VII[/i] is a mostly linear, story-driven action RPG with heaps of charm and solid, satisfying gameplay. While it is rough around the edges, with the occasional dodgy animation or minor continuity issue, it's a stable and enjoyable experience, overall. Players fill the shoes of Taishi Zhao on a quest to save his sister. [quote]🖱🎮[i]Xuan-Yuan works with both keyboard/mouse and controller. I used the latter.[/i]🎮🖱[/quote] [h2][i]-[u]Gameplay[/u]-[/i][/h2] [h3]Basics:[/h3] Presented as a series of open-world areas with fast-travel points and side-quests, [i]Xuan-Yuan[/i] features largely linear progression, with players advancing to new areas throughout the story, meeting new characters and more powerful foes. Saving is limited to specific locations and auto-saves, but actions between deaths are not saved, meaning any loadout changes, items purchased, crafted, found, skills unlocked, etc., will be reverted upon death. This can be very annoying when at a boss, as one has to reapply changes for every attempt. Players are presented with a few relatively basic puzzles during their journey. These typically involve moving blocks around to form a picture or complete a code. Unfortunately, these can be somewhat time consuming to solve – not because of their complexity, but because it takes so long to actually move the blocks around. Thankfully, these puzzles are few in number, so not to become wearisome. I found a nice surprise in the mini-game “Zhuolu chess”; a genuinely enjoyable little game played by a few characters in the game. There's a side-quest in which the protagonist must become the Zhuolo chess master of the land, and I found it a surprisingly enjoyable experience. Other side-quests generally comprise of small story snippets or fetch quests. https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2272561496 [h3]Combat:[/h3] [i]Xuan-Yuan[/i] employs the dodge, parry, heavy attack, light attack combat mechanics featured in [i]Dark Souls[/i], and adds its own flavour of stances, abilities and companions. I played on the hardest of the three difficulty settings, and found the vast majority of combat rather easy, while bosses could be extremely punishing. Character movement is smooth and precise, and allows one to position themselves exactly where they want to be, though this is less useful than in the aforementioned title due to the lack of a backstab function. Similarly, though parrying an enemy attack still provides a small advantage in the form of a free hit, there's no punishing critical blow to deliver, diminishing the reward of pulling off a successful parry; a potentially very risky move. Several stances are available that affect your combat style; some focus on concussive damage capable of stunning enemies, while others focus on direct damage or crowd control. I found all but one of the stances to be useful and well balanced, leaving the choice down to personal preference. Complementing these are Taishi Zhao's two abilities that allow him to slow time and restrict enemy movement, synergizing well with companion abilities and stance moves to group enemies for mass destruction. Said companions accompany the protagonist throughout the game, and are reasonably useful in combat against common enemies, though are next to useless in boss fights due to their low damage and them seemingly not drawing aggro. Enemy variety is decent, with both humans and monsters to deal with. A few new units are added here and there, to keep things interesting. With ranged types, heavy melee, light melee and more, their composition is good, too. https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2272562289 On the subject of bosses, every one in [i]Xuan-Yuan[/i] is different from the last, and some have unique, interesting mechanics, while others are more or less just sponges. A trait they all seem to share, though, is their total resistance to flinching, stumbling and being stunned. Parrying a boss will do damage, but don't expect it to produce an opening. Undoubtedly the most punishing aspect, however, is that some bosses deal deadly status effects to the player. Even the most minor of hits can do this, and will rapidly reduce the player's health bar to almost nothing. This won't kill you, but you cannot out-heal the damage, so it's time to just run around, avoiding being hit. There are trinkets you can craft to increase elemental resistance, but there's little indication you need them (or that they exist) before arriving at the relevant boss. At this point, you must either deal with it and push through, or load a previous save, if you have one, to do some crafting, assuming you have the materials. [h3]World Design:[/h3] [i]Xuan-Yuan[/i] mixes things up by having players move between the open-world areas and linear dungeons throughout the story, as well as by having a nice variety of outdoor themes including lush forest, snowy mountains and other, more foreboding locales. [h2][i]-[u]Story[/u]-[/i][/h2] A story of family, monsters and war, [i]Xuan-Yuan's[/i] narrative is a pleasant one, with likeable characters and an interesting setting. Following Taishi Zhao and his sister, the plot doesn't do anything radical, but instead spends its time forging connections between its characters and the player, through the ordeals we see them put through, and the conversation between them. There was the occasional “wait, what?” moment when characters seemed to gain knowledge from nowhere, or, conversely, learned about something they previously displayed knowledge of, but these were rare enough not to sour the experience. https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2272563715 [h2][i]-[u]Technical[/u]-[/i][/h2] [quote][b]This game was played with the following PC specs:[/b] Intel i5-4440 3.10 GHz 16GB DDR3 RAM GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER 4GB 1680x1050 resolution Windows 10 Game installed on HDD[/quote] [h3]Visuals:[/h3] [i]Xuan-Yuan[/i] is a pretty game, overall, though some smaller details are somewhat lacking. Facial animations, barring lip sync, are fine for main characters but less detailed on some NPCs; their lips and eyes move, but the rest of the face is very rigid. Walking animations, while fine during gameplay, are very dodgy in cutscenes; characters' leg animations don't match their actual speed of movement. It's very noticeable. The English translation of the dialogue is also somewhat poor in places, with the occasional subtle meaning lost in translation. On the plus side, the game's views and atmosphere are stunning. [h3]Performance:[/h3] Update: The game has received several patches since I played, and runs pretty smoothly now. Using the specs listed above, the game runs at a pretty steady 60fps on a mix of medium/high settings. [h3]Audio:[/h3] [i]Xuan-Yuan's[/i] soundtrack is fantastic, with a lot of beautiful tracks playing at appropriate moments to create a great atmosphere. Sound effects are good, and voice acting seems decent too, though as the spoken language is not one I understand, I would likely miss some flaws. [h3]Issues:[/h3] Aside from the aforementioned freezes, I did not encounter any issues of note. The game did not crash or present any progression-stopping bugs. [h2][i]-[u]Summary[/u]-[/i][/h2] [i]Xuan-Yuan[/i] is a enjoyable experience, with a nice story and solid gameplay, but it suffers from a few rough edges that will hopefully be addressed in future. [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/37072886][quote]If you're looking for more quality reviews like this, follow our curator page, [b]Devils in the Detail[/b].