Where Winds Meet, the then-new action RPG open world game from Netease back in November 2025, wowed people at first with its offering and content. But some did peter out due to its other shoddy quality-of-life bits, AI-generated subtitles and UI issues, and a few bugs here and there that halted progress. Where Winds Meet was ambitious, but perhaps it did bit off more than it could chew.

However, its foundations as an open-ended action game that’s free and full of fights and combat opportunities are still solid. After amassing over 100 million players throughout its year of being in active service, what is next? Where Winds Meet will follow all that up with its third chapter, Hidden Mountain, and its epic conclusion.

Where Winds Meet: Hidden Mountain Finale

During our Where Winds Meet Vietnam press trip via Netease and Funtap Games, we played through a special trial version of the game’s next big update. We had our choice of playing through two story action sequences, four bosses to fight as part of the game’s Boss Challenge mode, and the Reflection Temple stage.

The two story sequences are from the game’s main campaign, and deliver cinematic setpieces and narrative-expounding cutscenes topped off by boss fights. The first, Skyward City Ruins, has you escaping an assault as you run onto walls and jump from platform to platform getting to the game’s main boss Halcyon/Grandmaster Qing. The fight itself is segmented to three parts: her regular form, a flashback involving a rail shooter sequence on giant mechanical birds (a theme established at the start of the Hidden Mountain saga), and her powered-up state. Halcyon is no slouch, given her status as a final stage boss as she has fast attacks, command grabs you have to get out of the way, and some unavoidable dodging sequences involving moving pillars. When in her final state, she has a special “low sweep” move that you need to counter with a special (but simple) input. Basically, pay attention or else you will eat a lot of damage; at least the hurt animation looks cool.

The second story sequence, A Borrowed Self, is a rematch against Qianye the Witch. It’s pretty much the same as the last time you fought her in the base game, but with an additional attack sequence or two. This fight is just meant for narrative purposes as your main character can finally get their revenge against her for destroying your village. I will admit, the Halcyon fight took the entire spotlight as it’s new, fresher, and a lot more epic in scope and delivery. At the very least, you will get some story closure out of the rematch in the main game.

Next, we have the boss challenge segments; we have four new ones to deal with – the aforementioned Halcyon, Ci & Cuo, Goshawk, and The Lone Tyrant. Ci & Cuo are two puppets who take turns fighting you, and then merge to have their entire moveset combined to elaborate new combos for you to dodge and parry. Goshawk is a fire-attuned warrior who fights with a giant staff and has long arcing swipes along with far-reaching straight attacks that hit you when you think you’re far from reach. And he’s pretty fast too especially in his second phase where he splits his staff to two for a new and flashier moveset. These fights preserve the challenging nature of Where Winds Meet and will keep you on your toes if you think the main campaign takes it easy with you.

Finally, we have a new kind of Where Winds Meet stage: a first-person survival horror puzzle segment called Reflection Temple that’s made with collaboration from film director Kevin Ko of Incantation fame. Basically your main character enters a giant mansion and has to explore it for a bit while solving horror game puzzles involving mannequins that chase you if you don’t look at it from your first-person view. As this is a limited-time event that takes place during Ghost Month, it’s a fitting bonus tribute to that tradition and one that you can stimulate your mind with if you want to take a break from all the epic boss battles of the new update. Just keep in mind that you’re playing a first-person viewpoint using third-person controls; it has its glitches and foibles if we’re being frank.

Hero

Almost a year in, and Netease and Everstone’s major wuxia effort has been paying off since. All it truly needed was a bit more attention to detail since the launch. The duo clearly had that in spades from launch up until now, diligently listening to its growing audience while actually making meaningful changes. With the Hidden Mountain story coming to a close, it seems apparent that the companies aren’t resting on their 100 million players laurels just yet and are going to deliver a banger of an expansion closer.

Where Winds Meet’s Hidden Mountain Chapter 3 update will be out on September 18 for PC and mobile devices.