The Bustling World: Everything We Know

China-based studio FireWo Games has announced The Bustling World, an open-world RPG in which players will have the opportunity to “farm, breed, craft, build, fight, kill, establish a regime, run a country, conduct diplomacy, wage war,” and “create a city.” In short, the game will open the doorway for countless possibilities, reinforcing the fact that “openness, freedom and limitless are the game’s biggest features.” And clearly so, from the sounds of it.

At the time of writing, The Bustling World is acting under its Kickstarter campaign—a financial umbrella, of sorts, that is currently looking to secure approximately $80,000 to help launch the project. Interested in learning all there is to know about it? Here’s everything we can tell you about the new IP.

What Is The Bustling World?

To jump straight to the point, The Bustling World is massive open-world RPG, and one that will aim to tie multiple genres into one adventure. According to the devs, the world and its inhabitants will play out their parts based on the decisions you make along the way, and will ultimately come together to form a fully functional, sustainable society. In this word, you will take on the role of one of its citizens—a character with whom you will have the freedom to tailor and make critical decisions for. Sure enough, every choice you make will directly impact those around you, and even shape the future for those who’ve grown accustomed with your way of thinking.

“The Bustling World does not follow a predetermined path of development,” the developer explains in a press release. “Everything in the world will “think and decide” its own “behavior” based on the player’s actions.”

“The residents in the game have their own lives, families, personalities and social relationships,” the game’s description continues. “They will think and decide their own actions: work at home, go to work, go out for entertainment, relocate to other cities for money, avenge their families, escape from war, etc. These actions are determined by the NPC’s personality, family and the player’s actions.”

Story

For what it’s worth, it doesn’t look like there’ll be an overarching narrative to work through, but more of a create-your-own scenario sort of gig. As a character in this absolutely enormous universe, players will be able to search for one of several jobs, which will include “shopkeeper, chef, porter, planting, mining, logging,” and more. There’ll also be homes to build, locals to befriend, and even businesses to establish, which will include “restaurants, hotels, inns, pharmacies, banks, pawn shops, cloth shops, grain shops and various retail shops.” So, quite the handful of items on the agenda, after all.

In addition to the everyday challenges that you’ll need to deal with, you’ll also have the opportunity to find your own land and govern it in any way you see fit. Sure enough, this will also mean having to fund your own policies, manage your own townsfolk, and even wage war with rival parties across the world. In other words, if there’s something you want to achieve in a virtual environment, then there’s a good chance that you’ll be able to do it in The Bustling World. That’s ten points for ambition right there, FireWo Games.

Gameplay

From the sounds of it, there’ll be a whole bunch of things to see and do in The Bustling World, which begs the question: just how many times will you need to reset the cards in order to play out every hand? Aside from the cozy city-building and life simulation elements, the game will also offer a treasure trove of extracurricular activities, hunting grounds, and even a criminal underworld—a secret society that consists of “underground casinos, secret banks, wild bandits, martial arts, street beggars, among them there are many gangs hidden.“

“In ancient China, you can live a peaceful life: work, do business, have a family and make a career… You can satisfy your greedy: gamble, rob, steal, kill and form gangs,” the description reads in part. “You can embark on a courageous journey, explore, adventure, solve puzzles, suppress bandits and recruit heroes.” What’s more, “you can reach the pinnacle of power, establish a regime, plan cities, make policies, develop diplomacy and enlarge your territory.”

Development

The Bustling World is currently on Kickstarter, and so, until FireWo Games is able to secure its target of $80,000, there’s a good chance that we won’t be seeing much more of the project and its many, many components. Having said that, the devs have already gone on to promote a huge portion of the game, so with any luck, we’ll be seeing a few new additions at some point in early 2024.

If you would like to support The Bustling World, then you can pledge to its Kickstarter campaign over on its official handle here.

Trailer

The Bustling World caught your eye? If so, then you’ll be pleased to know that FireWo Games did actually post a short preview of the game earlier this week. Need we say more? You can catch a glimpse of what’s to come in The Bustling World in the trailer embedded above.

Release Date, Platforms & Editions

As The Bustling World is still in early development, it’s hard to say when exactly it’ll be released. Having said that, we do know that it’ll be shaping up for a launch across PC via Steam at some point in the (hopefully) not-so distant future. For a game of this size, however, it wouldn’t surprise us if it wasn’t due to launch until Q4 2024 at the earliest. The jury’s currently out on that one, unfortunately.

Interested in staying up to date with FireWo Games’ upcoming open-world RPG? If so, then be sure to check in with the team over on their official social handle for all the latest updates here. If anything changes ahead of its global debut, then we’ll be sure to fill you in on all the key details right here on gaming.net.

So, what’s your take? Will you be picking up a copy of The Bustling World when it arrives on its chosen platforms? Let us know your thoughts over on our socials here.