REVIEW : Xuan-Yuan Sword VII (PC)
I know that the Xuan-Yuan Sword series has been constantly receiving numbered entries and spin-offs since 1990, but it has completely escaped my radar all these years. The game itself may be as niche as they come, but to some, it is regarded as one of the greatest Chinese RPG titles and the longest-running. With its newest iteration, Xuan-Yuan Sword VII, coming west, I found it no more enjoyable time than now to jump in and see what I’ve been missing the past 30 years.
Xuan-Yuan Sword VII is eventually a subsistence, blowing adventure in every touch of the word. Players are introduced to Taishi Zhao, a guy who jumped the destruction of his family’s manor as a boy, along with his little sister. Ten years later the incident, his sister is sick, and he does everything for money in expectations of curing her. This drives him to deal with escorting companies into a forest after reports of a strange quake.
It’s here that the organisation encounters a beast ambush, to which his sister became involved and injured. We learn that Taishi is covering a secret that the army might be on later he teleports to another dimension to rescue his sister. The narrative becomes more grand following this scene as he is ultimately motivated by bringing his sister back to life even after transferring her soul into a wooden doll.
Xuan-Yuan Sword VII is very much like a fantasy Chinese drama. It’s slow-moving, and players will be reading through a lot of dialogue. This is taken a step further as you play through every second of the tasks at hand. All the alone travelling and communications that an adventure may have will be played through, and the day slowly passes by. This provides you with an exact understanding of time by observing the sun-set and rise as you proceed with the story.
The story itself centres around themes of political injustice, loss, love, and determination. It takes you through this sprawling map of unusual cities and interesting places as you do whatever it demands to accomplish your mission. The plot stretches further than just the McGuffin of protecting his sister, but it never misses the sight of the various other story elements that it proposes.
I would say that if you aren’t up for a long story, then Xuan-Yuan Sword VII will presumably bore you. There is story cinematics in almost every scene. You are regularly observing characters communicating through slow, drawn-out dialogue scenes. I’ve seen this in Chinese fantasy dramas, but western players may not be used to this exposition.
Still, the drama in this play is authentic, and you’ll be witnessing overly moving scenes of character death, romance, political engagement, heroism, and even comedic factors. All of this and more has been turned up to 11, and I quite liked it. I was engrossed in the twists and turns the story presents and even the actions where the characters sit by a fire and talk about what they just did earlier in the day.
Similar to the story, the battles are also paced slowly throughout the adventure. Meetings are action-based and have players combing a few different sword skills simultaneously to take down enemies. I swear it felt like I was only struggling wolves for the first 7 hours of the play, but then everything began to ramp up as group joined my party, and I began opening new skills.
This also gave me a feeling of adventure as if I was truly growing stronger and taking on more powerful enemies. Boss battles are also unique, given that after you beat them, they will present you with a new position. Up to two stances can be equipped at once and add a new layer to your strikes. These charges can also be upgraded more you use them.
The list of opponents isn’t incredibly vast, but after the 10-hour mark, they do grow more difficult. It’s possible to pass up many fights, but at the cost of dropping out on Exp. Other factors, like equipment and companions, can also be customized over time by heading to Elysium. Here, players can use elements to rebuild structures and enhance specific passives and other elements about their character. Still, it can be ignored for the most part until after about 10 hours.
I think Xuan-Yuan Sword VII is a beautiful game with some amazing set pieces and character designs. The high fantasy is masked around this early era, and it works amazingly well. You will find small villages that are well designed throughout the play, but there’s very little to do in them. Most NPCs have garbage words above their heads, which restricts town exploration.
Furthermore, the voiced audio is amazing. Everything is voiced here; even the casual discussions characters have in the field. It’s all acted out through motion capture as well, so it works out as if you’re watching a television show. Some of the interpretation work is a bit dry, but I was never lost throughout the exposition.
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