An Action RPG Where Chinese History & Mythology Come Alive: A Xuan Yuan Sword 7 Review

By Manuel

Players: 1
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, XBox, PlayStation 4, PC

I recently reviewed Xuan Yuan Sword: Mists Beyond the Mountains (that can be found HERE), and now the most recent entry into the long-running series, 2020's Xuan Yuan Sword 7, is also available in an official English-language release. We're going to be taking a look at the Nintendo Switch version of the game today, but it's also available on most current platforms. This console release comes to us by way of publisher EastAsiaSoft, who also published Mists Beyond The Mountains on consoles. I have a lot of love for this series, and quite a bit to say about this game, so let's dive right in!

An ominous opening.

The plot eventually goes in odd directions.

Xuan Yuan Sword 7 places you into the role of Taishi Zhao, a young swordsman whose life mainly revolves around caring for his sickly sister Xiang Zhao. The siblings were forced to flee their home of Chang'an when they were both young, and the pair have lived a very modest life since. Zhao takes on a job to help a monster hunting expedition in order to raise money for Xiang's medicine, but the job goes awry when the monster begins to terrorize the village Zhao and Xiang reside in. Following a scuffle with a shadowy behind, Xiang is left near death. Zhao doesn't take this very well and takes Xiang to a mysterious imprisoned being known as "The King". The King vows to save Xiang's life but only if Zhao releases him. This doesn't go as planned either, as Zhao breaks the lock needed to free the enigmatic figure. Also, the ritual to bring Xiang from the brink of death goes unfinished. Xiang herself becomes a wayward spirit, and eventually an automata with a clockwork body. From here on Zhao's quest is centered on trying to restore his sister to the life she had before, and to find a way to free his benefactor. This takes the duo across China, and they eventually are forced to confront their past as well. Though saving Xiang is the main focal point of the story, other elements weave their way into the tale. Xuan Yuan Sword 7 takes place between the Western and Eastern Han dynasties, and war ravages the land. It's this political turmoil that actually caused Zhao and his sister to flee the city in their youth, and the series of actions that started on that night are finally drawing to a conclusion. Though Xuan Yuan Sword 7's plot does its best to draw players in, it's not always one that's easy to follow. There are many plot elements that are left up to the player to interpret, and lots of additional information and lore placed within the game's journal entries. These entries are written from the perspective of Xiang and sort of remind me of similar entries found in Final Fantasy XIII. Even though prior knowledge of the setting and its mythology will help in fully appreciating the story, I still think that it's one of the game's strongest elements.

I wonder what those years were like...

I don't think you should trust that King...

Earlier titles in the Xuan Yuan Sword series were turn-based RPGs, but that's not the type of gameplay we get here. Xuan Yuan Sword 7 is an Action RPG that feels like a mix between the recent Ys titles, and a Souls game. All the action takes place in real-time, and there's a surprisingly robust combat system too. Zhao has the ability to attack, block, use his Elysium scroll to slow down time, perform martial arts skills, and dodge. You can also heal with potions. Most combat can be as simple as running in guns blazing, only dodging here and there when needed, but there's a lot of nuance that can be applied to any encounter. Simple tactics can be used against most normal enemies, but boss fights and large groupings require more finesse. Learning enemy patterns, and mastering the timing of dodging and blocking, are probably the most important skills you're going to want to master. The game also features a standard experience and level system, with stat boosts happening automatically across all characters. I say "characters" because Xuan Yuan Sword 7 has something of a party system, similar to the recent Ys games. Though you're only able to control Zhao directly, you're eventually joined by Xiang and Zhao's childhood friend, Chu Hong. The other two party members can be equipped with items and skills, but their actions are left up to the game's AI. Besides actual combat, QTEs (Quick Time Events) are quite common throughout many of the game's cutscenes. Though I'm not necessarily of fan of them, I have to admit that the QTEs do add a layer of immersion into a story that doesn't always feel like it has very high stakes.

Combat can be very fun.

Parkouring through dungeons.

Combat in Xuan Yuan Sword 7 might feel simple when you first get into it, but learning the ins and outs will be something you'll want to do quickly if you plan to play the game on anything but the easiest difficulty. I played the game on normal for the purposes of this review, and there were several times where the difficulty seemed to spike out of nowhere. This most often occurred during boss battles, but occasionally for big enemy groupings as well. I don't want to make it sound like things ever got unplayable, but these moments often dragged the game to a full halt. The sections also helped me to see some of the flaws in the combat system. Hit detection seems iffy at best most of the time, with it being 50/50 if it goes in your favor or against. I also found a lot of issues with the targeting system, as I could rarely tell if I was properly locked onto an enemy or not. Bringing those two issues together makes for some wonky combat, but that's not all. The martial arts attacks felt useless most of the time, often looking more impressive than they actually were effective. To make matters worse, they get stronger through use. That means that ignoring them for long stretches of the game just makes them even more useless. I got through just about all the game without bothering with them much, and by the end they were practically ineffective thanks to non-use. That last part probably speaks more about my play style than anything, but the fact that I was able to ignore such a big part of the game is rather odd. Even though I enjoyed the gameplay and combat, there were many parts of both that felt very unbalanced.

One would be forgiven for feeling like the world of Xuan Yuan Sword 7 is made up entirely of narrow jungle corridors, because it mostly is. Quite similar to games like Final Fantasy X or Final Fantasy XIII, the path of the game is a single winding path. Zhao's journey may be long, but the path always seems to be moving in a relatively straight line. Dungeons and villages often follow this same formula too, with you needing to pass through them to get to the other side in order to continue. Waypoints are scattered about, giving you the ability to fast travel, but these are often placed in remote areas. Why these weren't simply tied to villages and dungeons is beyond me. They don't even act as save points, which seems like an even stranger omission. Probably borrowing from the Souls games, you can also rest by campfires throughout the wilderness. These not only act as healing areas, but also provide character-building scenes that are easily missed. Speaking of things one can miss, there isn't a whole lot of side content to take on in this game. There is a long sidequest that involves becoming the master of Zhuolu Chess, a game that essentially is a more complex form of Tic Tac Toe, but there isn't much else to note beyond that. The lack of side content probably has a lot to do with the fact that there isn't a lot of NPC interaction in-game to speak of, even though the world does feel lively and populated. Though I found Xuan Yuan Sword 7 to be a very enjoyable experience, I could never shake the feeling that the things felt a little hollow. The story does make up for it in the long run, but I can easily see many players not being nearly as immersed as I was.

Everyone's favorite thing: QTEs!

Beware the boss encounters. They can be hard.

I'll admit that I have a soft spot for the Xuan Yuan Sword series, so I'm probably a bit biased when it comes to discussing the merits of the game. Nevertheless, I'm of the opinion that there's lots in Xuan Yuan Sword 7 that makes up for its many shortcomings. Games that weave in Chinese mythology like this are quite rare in the West, and the tone and setting are so different from the standard JRPG formula that it often feels like something of a novelty. It's not just that though, there's a certain charm to the entire game that I felt was always present. Softstar may be a big developer in Taiwan, but they are very small in the greater gaming scene. This series is clearly a labor of love, and I like to think that the people who worked to bring it to the West have just as much love for the games as I do. This little break in the review is not only a way to clear the air regarding my biases, but also an excuse to plead with potential players in picking this one up. Saying things like: "There's no other game like it out on the market right now." might feel rather trite, but those words hold true when it comes to Xuan Yuan Sword 7. The only other games that compare to it are the others in the series, and maybe the also-Softstar-developed Sword and Fairy series. Though there aren't many any new titles in the series that need to see an English-language release, I can't help but hope that the recent interest in the series means that other past games get a Western release as well.

Be sure to check out those journal entries.

I really do like the game's art style.

Before I start my discussion on visuals, I have to point out that I played the game on the Nintendo Switch. Even though the Switch boasts a complete version of the game, it is graphically the least impressive by far. It's not as bad as the memes surrounding Mortal Kombat 1's Switch release, but it honestly felt pretty close at times. I want to note that before I go on and say things that might not reflect the version I played, nor the screenshots I took for this review. Okay, with that out of the way, the visuals in Xuan Yuan Sword 7 are still a rather mixed bag. Besides the performance issues on the Switch, there's also is a distinct lack of variety in the character and monster designs. Boss monsters are rather unique, but many normal enemies feel rather bland, and that extends to the often-repeated NPCs too. Cities and villages come suffer the same fate as well. Thankfully that blandness doesn't exist across the board, and the many outdoor areas and dungeons bring up the slack. Even playing on the most limited version out there, I still found myself occasionally being awed by what I was seeing. You may be travelling down a mostly straight path, but that path definitely feels like a part of a much larger world. Spell and skill effects are neat too, and the parkour sections had some weight to them thanks to the sheer scale of the dungeons. Circling back to the visual inconsistencies I had with the Nintendo Switch version, I must say that the game ran very well on the system despite how it sometimes looked. This was most likely due to the developers prioritizing the game being playable over it being as visually intense as the bigger console versions, but it's worth mentioning nonetheless. Xuan Yuan Sword 7 isn't going to win any awards for its visuals, but it is by no means a bad looking game.

There's a lot of in-game puzzles too.

This game is actually really fun.

Though I had somewhat mixed reservations when it came to visuals, I have none of those when it comes to the game's sound design. Xuan Yuan Sword 7's soundtrack is amazing overall, and features tracks that sound like they'd be home in a xianxia drama. Not only are the compositions themselves excellent, but they feature melodies and instruments that fit the setting perfectly. The town themes are calm and soothing, the action sequences are intense, and the battle themes really get the blood boiling. No corners were cut when it came to music, and my only complaint would probably be that I felt it was too low in the mix by default. Besides music, the game is fully voiced in Chinese. There's no English dub option here, but I don't think anyone was really expecting there to be one. That said, the voice actors are all spot on, and there's a lot of nuance in the performances that brings everything to another level. Games with a default Chinese-language track are not very common either, so there's also the novelty of having that too. Admittedly there's probably a lot of potential players out there that won't play it simply due to the fact that it's all subtitled only, but I hope that everyone gives it a try even if they usually prefer English dubbed games only. Just to be fair, I think I'll point out the one thing about the voice acting that sort of confused me: the dialogue that happens during travel. You'll find that there are several conversations that happen while moving from Point A to Point B, with it going on even through battle. This made reading it all a bit difficult, but it can be manageable if you try to focus on it when it happens. Or you can simply stop and listen whenever these conversations start too. Other than that rather small issue, I don't think there's anything I have negative to say.

Though it's not the shortest of experiences out there, Xuan Yuan Sword 7 doesn't have a runtime that feels comparative to other similar Action RPGs. You can beat the entire game in about 20 hours, and there isn't too much to do that isn't the main storyline. You can probably attempt to play it on a higher difficulty, but I don't know if the game's combat is intuitive enough to bother with that. While I personally have no problem with the amount of content this game offers, I will admit that it feels priced a bit high when that's taken into consideration. I do realize that $39.99 is something of a budget price point, but I find it hard to say that I think it's totally worth picking up outside of a sale. Even with my somewhat biased (favorable) opinions on the series as a whole, I think that this Xuan Yuan Sword 7 would've been a much easier sell at $29.99 or below. Or maybe the straight $39.99 if it also included Mists Beyond The Mountain. I'm just spit-balling there, but something about that price just feels a bit off to me.

Getting some strong Zelda vibes here.

Show yourself, monster!

Even though I have reservations about its price and content, I do think that Xuan Yuan Sword 7 is worth grabbing. If you're a fan of Action RPGs, or if you're interested in a fantasy RPG experience that doesn't come from Japan, then this is the game for you. I probably wouldn't suggest picking it up on the Switch though, but that was probably a given considering how many modern games tend to look on Nintendo's tired console. Either way, I do hope that this release is means that we get more Xuan Yuan Sword titles in the future. If so, you know where you can all find me!

Check Out Xuan Yuan Sword 7 on Nintendo Switch:
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/xuan-yuan-sword-7-switch/

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Story: A
Gameplay: A
Graphics: B
Music/Sound: A
Value: B

Overall: A-

Pros:
+ A great Action RPG that can be tailored to specific styles of play.
+ An excellent soundtrack, full of traditional instruments and melodies, rounds out the game.
+ Though nowhere near hardware-pushing, the graphics in the outdoor areas and dungeons can look quite breathtaking at times.
+ The voice acting is spot on, with the performances adding a new layer to the characters.
+ Even though the core story feels a bit thin, there is a lot surrounding it that truly feels epic.
+ Seeing another entry in this series released in English is always worth celebrating.

Cons:
- The visuals can be a bit on the bland side, with the Switch version's visuals being quite butchered.
- Difficulty spikes make the game occasionally frustrating on the normal difficulty.
- A very linear game with only a thin amount of side content. Most players will beat it in about 20 hours.
- It's current $39.99 price tag feels a little high for the amount of content one gets.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

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I know what I'm going to do tonight!