The Winds Rising: Everything We Know

TiGames has formally announced its latest action RPG, The Winds Rising, at PlayStation’s China Hero Project, a program that helps fund indie-led titles all over the region. Its creators, who successfully managed to chalk up and publish 2.5D Metroidvania F.I.S.T.: Forged in Shadow Torch back in 2021, will be targeting a launch across PlayStation 5 at some point in the foreseeable future. Curious to know more about it? Us too, as it goes.

Unfortunately, in its current state, there’s isn’t a whole lot to unpack as far as story or gameplay details go. That said, here’s everything we’ve been able to collect on the matter since first clocking it back at the China Hero Project presentation earlier this month. The Winds Rising: just what is it, and when can we expect to get our hands on it?

What Is The Winds Rising?

The Winds Rising is an upcoming action RPG by TiGames—one that’ll reportedly summon a “grand adventure” that’s both story-focused as well as combat-heavy. It’ll be relatively wholesome, too, judging from the looks of the blurb, which depicts the tale of a young girl who stumbles upon a lost monster in its infancy and in turn becomes its guardian. That, to us, seems like an origin story that we’ve seen countless times before — yet one that also has all the winning ingredients to rustle a few feathers, no less.

Going by the elevator pitch that was posted via Gematsu, “The Winds Rising is a story-driven action RPG developed by TiGames. It follows the journey of a girl from a peaceful village who embarks on a grand adventure after she encounters a lost monster cub, which affects the rise and fall of the entire kingdom. Her fate is in the player’s hands. Players can look forward to a refreshing and smooth combat experience, immersive and captivating story, and a world of ever-changing adventure.”

Story

As far as the storyline goes, TiGames has gone as far as to say that it’ll be centered around a young girl—a courageous heroine, of sorts, who finds herself attached to a monster cub and out on a “grand adventure” to restore balance to a mismatched kingdom. Apparently, said monster cub will have a key role in the creation of the world, and will therefore make our protagonist a core asset in its future. But as for what these grand adventures will consist of is still, rather frustratingly, anybody’s guess.

Gameplay

From the sounds of the blurb, The Winds Rising will provide an equal mixture of story-driven content, exploration, and combat. And while we can’t say for certain whether or not it’ll be an open world game, its early details definitely seem to point that way. What’s more, as it’ll feature a “world of ever-changing adventure”, it’s likely that there’ll be various biomes to explore and quest in, too. That’s not much to go on, but it’s a start, at least.

In addition to the core exploration and combat elements, the blurb also mentions player choice being a key part in the overall gameplay experience. Again, we can’t say for certain what types of choices the player will need to make during their adventure, but it’s clear that the protagonist’s bond with the monster cub will depend on the decisions you and you alone will make during key intersections in the story.

Development

In case you missed out on the presentation that aired earlier this month, China Hero Project is a region-wide program that aims to fund independent studios’ titles using the breadth of resources in PlayStation’s arsenal. Sure enough, one of the biggest announcements that came to light during the latest phase in the program was none other than The Winds Rising, the action RPG that just so happens to stem from the same minds who helped conceive F.I.S.T.: Forged in Shadow Torch, a well-received 2.5D Metroidvania that came to consoles back in 2021.

As it currently stands, developer TiGames has yet to lock in a release date for its latest project. However, as its recent screenshots fail to give all that much away, it’s likely that the final product is still some distance away from completion. When it does eventually find its way, though, it’ll be available to pick up on PlayStation 5.

Trailer

As it turns out, there is a trailer of The Winds Rising. Unfortunately, it gives very little away; as in, next to nothing at all, other than a brief glimpse of a tree and a few title cards. And so, that doesn’t exactly give us any indication as to what it’ll even look like, let alone play like. Nevertheless, it is a trailer, albeit a rather short one, and it’s the best we’ve been given since the project was initially teased. You can check it out for yourself in the video embedded above.

Release Date, Platforms & Editions

Seeing as it was initially teased during the China Hero Project, it’s safe to say that we can expect to find it on PlayStation 5. But as for whether or not it’ll shed its exclusivity in the future is another question. Either way, Xbox and Nintendo fans probably shouldn’t get their hopes up just yet. And the same goes for PS4 owners, too, as the elevator pitch failed to mention anything about bringing it to ex-gen consoles.

As it’s still in the early days of development, it’s doubtful that we’ll be seeing any special editions or announcements for a fair while yet. If, however, the developer does decide to bring something of the sort to the table, then chances are it will be much closer to the time of its launch. Early 2024, if we’re lucky. But don’t quote us on that, though.

Interested in staying up to date with The Winds Rising? If so, then be sure to check in with the team over on their official social handle for all the latest pre-launch updates here. We’ll be sure to let you know just as soon as there’s a release date carved in stone right here on gaming.net.

So, what’s your take? Will you be picking up a copy of The Winds Rising when it eventually comes to PlayStation? Let us know your thoughts over on our socials here.