Chinese RPG Codename: Wandering Sword merges pixel art with 3D graphics

Chinese indie studio Xiameng are bringing a Wuxia martial arts RPG to the West with Codename: Wandering Sword, which looks like a pixel art version of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The game’s graphics riff on the ‘HD-2D’ style of RPG that Square Enix introduced with Octopath Traveler. Have a watch of the trailer below.

Codename: Wandering Sword stars a young lad who is promptly poisoned after getting caught up in a feud between sects. When he gets saved by another sect’s leader, he decides to become a proper hardcore Wuxia warrior, which entails a lot of traveling around the game’s open-world to pick up new moves. Aforesaid world is built in Unreal Engine 4, blending pixel art with 3D environments like Squeenix’s Octopath Traveler, Triangle Strategy and, I assume eventually, Dodecahedron First-Person Shooter.

Besides the main story with multiple endings, devs Xiameng say there’s plenty of ‘hidden’ sidequests too. Interestingly, Xiameng have chosen to give players the option to switch between turn-based and real-time battles for Codename: Wandering Sword. With it being based on Wuxia, the devs say there are hundreds of martial arts moves and multiple sects to join to improve your mastery.

You can also spar with most NPCs in Codename: Wandering Sword as part of its friendship system, which lets you become pals with them by besting them in combat, having a general chin wag or blatantly buying their favor with gifts. Get matey enough with NPCs in different sects and they’ll hand over weapons and secret manuals to boost your fighty skills.

Codename: Wandering Sword hasn’t got a firm release date yet, but it’ll be on Steam when it does arrive.