Yuwen Yi and his friends are escorting a VIP through the Outer Lands when they're caught in a fight between the Xuanhuo Cult and the Tianlong Gang that ends with his friends dead and Yi dying of a rare poison. Yuwen Yi survives thanks to his escort target revealing himself to be Wudang's Sect Leader, who calls in a favor from one Jiang Yinfeng to heal the unfortunate young man.
Yuwen Yi bonds with the gruff Master Jiang and his daughter Jiang Xiaotong over the months of his convalescence, and discovers that he has a rare talent for martial arts and cultivation. When Jiang Yinfeng's past catches up with him, he commands Yi to protect his daughter and leaves behind a secret technique that people will and have before killed for. Now Yuwen Yi enters the Jianghu, the underground society of martial artists, to pursue his own justice and become strong enough to not lose anyone he cares about again.
Wandering Sword is an Indie Wuxia RPG developed by The Swordsman Studio released in Steam in September 14, 2023. It utilizes HD-2D graphics, and is inspired by Square-Enix games, the novels of Jin Yong (among others), and a number of Chinese RPGs that never left Southeast Asia.
Tropes associated with Wandering Sword are:
- Ability Mixing: The Wind and Cloud Method was created like this. The leader of the Shanqing Sect traveled across the jianghu collecting martial secrets, and combined them into a single cultivation technique.
- Yuwen Yi declares his intention to do something similar at the end of Echoes of Ash and Dust, if he's learned most of the red-tagged cultivation skills in the game.
- Action Girl: Any female party member by definition.
- All Swords Are the Same: Every equipped sword will have a generic sprite. Averted for polearms, which account for whether you have a spear or staff, or the special Jade Dragon spear.
- Awesome Moment of Crowning: In the original storyline, someone always gets promoted as Wudang's new leader. It's either Moqi or Yuwen Yi, if your choices see him return to Wudang.
- In Echoes of Ash and Dust, Yuwen Yi can end up as the head of the Martial Arts Alliance and Wudang Sect. Yia Vang will also end up as Wuxian Sect's new leader.
- Badass Pacifist: The Shaolin Sect favors blunt weapons like polearms and fists since they follow a Thou Shall Not Kill philosophy. Di Zui however, is the sole exception, as he wields a saber and has a history of killing.
- Betty and Veronica: Ouyang Xue, the demure straight sword-wielding Lady of War is the Betty. Yao Ji, the saber-wielding seductive Lady in Red is the Veronica. It is also possible for Yi to end up with both, or neither.
- Bookends: Ouyang Xue's ending takes place in the clifftop shown in the title screen.
- Can't Drop the Hero: Yuwen Yi is cannot be removed from the party.
- Catchphrase: Many people of the Shaolin Sect often begin their dialogue with "Amithaba", which means "Infinite Light" in Sanskrit.
- Character Death: Many, many named characters can die during the story, particularly in Echoes of Ash and Dust if the player isn't careful.
- It's possible for Chen Lenxi and Bai Jin to die in their personal quests. Hope you saved before that point! (Or know where the autosaves are kept.
- Li Yuanxing, Leng Wuqing and Ye Fei can all die in Echoes of Ash and Dust if they are not properly raised or if other characters have already perished.
- Chick Magnet: Yuwen Yi earns a lot of attention from women.
- Developers' Desired Date: Ouyang Xue appears in the title screen with Yuwen Yi, she's also the only love interest to appear in the Southern Chronicles DLC and in generally is easier to gain affection points. Obtaining Yao Ji and Xiaotong's endings in the base game requires not raising Xue's affection rate.
- This changes a bit with the Old Heroes DLC, since the second part of it has a major role for Yao Ji.
- Enlightenment Superpowers: This is the secret behind Shaolin Temple martial arts. Interestingly, people who use them without the proper Buddhist mindset produce much weaker martial arts.
- To a much lesser extent this is also true of all other martial arts, but the enlightenment is more personal and less spiritual.
- Evil Costume Switch: After taking up his father's powers and revenge quest, Mowen changes out of his Wudang uniform to a black outfit and wears his hair loose.
- Final Boss: Mowen is the last opponent in the original story. That role goes to Helian Fubi in the Echoes of Ash and Dust storyline.
- Forgotten First Meeting: Yuwen Yi met Ouyang Due as a child, and while he remembers the event he never quite seems to connect the dots. She meanwhile remembers everything.
- Gainaxing: Yao Ji and Frosty Condor's sprites have their chests bounce in their idle stances.
- Gameplay and Story Integration: Due to his sickness, Leng Wuqing cannot learn any Lightness skills. The wheelchair gets in the way of foot movements.
- Guide Dang It!: Getting the best ending to Southern Chronicles requires backtracking, being a master detective, having every optional party member, winning several difficult fights, and not trusting the quest log. And you can still fail if you missed a step in the Pili School quest.
- Handicapped Badass: Leng Wuqing is wheelchair bound, but that doesn't stop him from tearing things up in a fight.
- Ideal Hero: Yuwen Yi is the wuxia version. He's compassionate to the weak and innocent, strict against the guilty, while sympathetic to people who try to change or are victims of circumstance. He's also a preternaturally skilled martial artist who can master almost every martial art and cultivation skill he encounters.
- Lady of War: Shangguan Hong, Ouyang Xue, and Huo Changqing are graceful straight sword fighters. Lu Xian'er however has all of them beat since she intends to join the army proper and lead the defense of the Ning Empire.
- Commandress Mu from the backstory turns out to be one as well, and the Yuan Army is still terrified of her. Lu Xian'er can take up that mantle as well her personal Pearflower Spear technique.
- MacGuffin: Yuwen Yi's Five Immortals Mental Sutra, as well as the Wind and Cloud Method. It turns out that Yuwen Yi has the latter instead of the former.
- The story of Southern Chronicles ultimately comes down to different factions assembling the Five Venomous Immortals, the five animals whose superior toxins are necessary to master the Five Immortals Mental Sutra.
- Magic Music: Gu Sigui plays a guqin and can use it to attack, heal allies, or do stranger things like guard against poison.
- Magnetic Hero: Even discounting the party members, Yuwen Yi manages to attract the attention of some very powerful people who end up liking and trusting him.
- Master of None: Huo Changqing and Kong Liang are decent fighters on their own, but since they join later than Shangguan Hong and Sima Ling and before Ye Fei, Yia Vang, and Di Zui, who all learn exclusive skills and can obtain exclusive equipment, they end up paling in comparison.
- Master Poisoner: The Wuxian Sect specializes in producing these, though the Sect Leader and High Priestess become a Poisonous Person through mastery of the Five Immortals Mental Sutra.
- Multiple Endings:
- The original story's endings are determined by whether you win or lose to the final boss, the affection levels of Ouyang Xue, Yao Ji, Mowen, and Jiang Xiaotong, and whether Yuwen Yi's choices "harden" him enough to accept the flaws of the Jianghu and return to Wudang.
- The endings for Echoes of Ash and Dust are determined by how Southern Chronicles turned out, whether the geniuses survive, and whether Yuwen Yi decides to accept leading Wudang. Or Tianji Palace
- Party members have different endings depending on whether you completed their quests or not. And a few secret endings for certain ladies if they got close to Yuwen Yi.
- The Not-Love Interest: Ultimately, whatever Ship Tease Yi has with the female party members besides Xue and Yao Ji don't go anywhere as they're absent in the possible endings.
- Completely averted with Echoes of Ash and Dust and Secrets of the Eastern Sea.
- Optional Party Member: Every character other than named Mowen, Ouyang Xue, Yao Ji, and Jiang Xiaotong.
- The extended party is much less optional if you want the best endings to the Pili School quest, the Old Heroes DLC, Southern Chronicles or the entire Echoes of Ash and Dust alternate main storyline.
- Party in My Pocket: Played With. You can select up to 4 allies to follow you in the map, but they do not have to be deployed in battle to do so. There's also no limit on how many party members you can have in your roster. Nonetheless, they will still show up in cutscenes.
- Pretty Boy: Yuwen Yi handsome looks get brought up at several points. Bai Jin, Mowen, and Gu Sigui are also no sloucher in the looks department.
- Really 700 Years Old: Bai Weiyi, the Perpetual Sanctum's Seal Master of Perpetuity, is well over 100 years old. In his true, elderly form, he's one of the strongest martial artists to ever live.
- Secret Legacy: Jiang Xiaotong's mother was Eb Zeit, the previous High Priestess of the southern Wuxian Sect. Somewhat more surprisingly, Mowen turns out to be the son of Fulongzi, and thus the true heir of the Tianshan Sect and the Wind and Cloud Method.
- On a playthrough of Echoes of Ash and Dust, it's finally revealed that Yuwen Yi's uncle is actually Helian Fubi, younger brother to Yuan's Emperor, and his father was Tianjue the Venerable, making him the true heir to the evil Tianji Palace Sect. He's understandably horrified.
- Sprite/Polygon Mix: The game uses pixel art but the backgrounds uses 3D polygons.
- Stone Wall: Di Zui has average attack by the time he joins, but has colossal defense.
- Supernatural Martial Arts: While the martial arts skills start out as potentially realistic-ish, blue skills and up are basically supernatural while red skills wouldn't be out of place in a xianxia story.
- A Taste of Power: The early parts of the game periodically give you characters who are vastly more powerful than Yi.
- Token White: Anthony the Foreign Merchant at Tianshui, who is the only non-Chinese character in the game (his character model is re-used for a couple of background NPCs who cannot be interacted with).
- Whole-Plot Reference: Wandering Sword is heavily inspired by the "new school" of wuxia literature. Recognizable characters and scenarios from the stories of Jin Yong, Gu Long, and Liang Yusheng all appear in the game, though the presence of Yuwen Yi can avert many of the tragedies faced by the characters in those stories. Or not.
- World's Strongest Man: Fulongzi's mastery of the Wind and Cloud Method made him the strongest known martial artist in the world, though Tianjue the Venerable matched him.
- Keyword: known. Bai Weiyi and Helian Fubi both prove to have an even deeper level of martial arts mastery, being able to manipulate nature itself.
- Wuxia: The game takes place in an ancient Chinese setting. The presence of the brocade guard, Yuan foes in the north, turmoil with the Hmong/Miao tribes, 3-eyed cannons allude to it being the Ming Dynasty period.
