When you play alone and run for a long while, it can feel a little lonely to have no one to laugh with. Where Winds Meet is a game you can enjoy alone in its wide wuxia world, but it has an unusually dense set of tools for forming bonds with other people.
Friends, couples, master and disciple, and even sworn-brother-style groups of many people can all be formed inside the game.
Source: AllTheShinies YouTube channel
✦ Where Winds Meet at a Glance
Developer, release, and scale
Developer and publisher
Everstone Studio and NetEase Games
Genre
Wuxia open-world action RPG
Global launch
November 14, 2025 (UTC) on PC and PS5; 7:00 a.m. on November 15 in Korea
Mobile
December 12, 2025
Players
Over 100 million cumulative, including the Chinese service (announced August 2026)
Where Winds Meet (燕云十六声, known in Korea as 연운) is a wuxia open-world action RPG developed by Everstone Studio and published by NetEase Games. The global version launched on PC and PS5 on November 14, 2025 (UTC), which was 7:00 a.m. on November 15 in Korea.
Mobile followed on December 12. It supports Korean and is playable in Korea without regional restrictions. This post is about the global version; China has its own separate version.
NetEase and Everstone announced in August 2026 that cumulative players, including the Chinese service, had passed 100 million. There is no official statistic on the gender ratio of its players.
A Quick Look at the Bonds in Where Winds Meet
✦ Five Kinds of Bonds
Each has its own name and role
의리Friends
the most basic bond
협연Partnership
corresponds to marriage
사제Master and Disciple
links a teacher and a student
결의Sworn Cohort
a sworn-brother-style bond among many
동맹Guild
a group for guild-style play
Each relationship has its own name and role. The most basic is friends, called 의리. Playing with friends builds intimacy, and as intimacy rises, features that make playing together easier open up one by one.
One step beyond that are Partnership (협연), which corresponds to marriage; Master and Disciple (사제), which links a teacher and a student; and Sworn Cohort (결의), a sworn-brother-style bond among many people. There is also a guild (동맹) for group play.
Partnership, Master and Disciple, and Sworn Cohort each have their own exclusive shop. The shops sell cosmetic items such as outfits, hairstyles, titles, and speech bubbles.
These rewards do not raise your stats; they show on the outside the time you spent together as a pair or a group.
A Way to Meet People Even If You Start Alone
It is normal to have no one to play with at first. Most categories have a recruitment board where you can find people to play with by playtime and play style. Some even describe it as a dating app inside the game. Gathering people is not always easy, though.
Right after launch, a comment on a community info post said that content requiring two or more players is not easy. That also means the person who speaks first is the one who catches a bond.
Once you become friends, intimacy builds up. It rises as you fight and explore together and exchange gifts. It is a system that rises in step with the time you spend together.
What Opens Up Even Between Friends
✦ Friend Intimacy, Level by Level
Adventure Slips bonus and what unlocks
Level 1+10%
Level 2+15%
Move together with a friend using the same action
Level 3+20%
Login notifications, a two-player drinking emote
Level 4+25%
Borrow a friend's outfit (once a week, 30 minutes)
Level 5+30%
Friends enter your multiplayer room without confirmation; instant teleport in the same scene
Level 6+35%
Borrow outfits (twice a week, 30 minutes each)
Level 7+40%
Friends join your team without confirmation
Level 8+45%
<Intimacy and marriage explained: intimacy levels, matchmaking, weddings, and rewards>
Intimacy is divided into ten levels. As the level rises, you receive more Adventure Slips when playing with a friend. Level 1 gives 10%, each level adds 5%, and the final level 10 gives 55%.
At level 2, you can move together with a friend using the same action, and at level 3, you get a notification when a friend logs in.
From level 4, you can borrow a friend's outfit, and at level 5, friends can enter your multiplayer room without confirmation, and instant teleport works between friends in the same scene.
At level 7, friends can join your team without confirmation, and at level 8, an exclusive badge showing your friendship unlocks.
Up to here, even ordinary friends who have not formed a Partnership enjoy these benefits. So even if you are not looking for a partner, having just one friend makes the game much easier.
Partnership, Marriage in the Game
✦ How a Partnership Forms
From friends to Partnership
1Be friends
Reach intimacy level 2 or higher as friends
2Form a party
Party up with your partner
3Apply
Go to the designated NPC and apply for the Partnership
4No one yet?
Leave a marriage-proposal message and check the people who respond
Partnership corresponds to marriage. Marriage can only be between real players, not NPCs, and only in Online Mode. There is no gender restriction, so same-sex couples can form one too. The condition is reaching intimacy level 2 or higher as friends.
Form a party with your partner, go to the designated NPC, and apply for the Partnership, and it takes effect.
If you do not have someone in mind yet, you can use the feature for finding a bond (Seeking Fate and Found Fate in the English version). Leave a marriage-proposal message, check the people who respond, and connect with someone you like.
When you play content together after forming a Partnership, Partnership points build up and the Partnership level rises.
Parting has a procedure too. After you apply to end the Partnership, it can be confirmed only after 24 hours of real time have passed, and after the divorce you can form a Partnership with someone else again.
Master and Disciple is the relationship between a teacher and a student. You must be level 50 to take on disciples, and a master can have up to five disciples. On the other hand, a disciple can have only one master.
A disciple can apply to graduate after reaching level 40 plus Single-player Mode level 4 and Discipleship level 3, and receives a commemorative title on graduation.
If you want to meet someone who shows you the way or leads you, rather than a partner, Master and Disciple suits you. You learn as a disciple at first, and once your character reaches level 50, you can also become a master and guide the next person.
The shape of bonds continuing inside the game is clear.
Sworn Cohort, Sworn Brothers Among Many
Sworn Cohort is a bond that many people form together. It is a system where the phrase "sworn brothers" fits. You enjoy content together and build Sworn Cohort points, and as they build up, the items you can buy in the Sworn Cohort shop increase.
Couples with a Partnership can join a Sworn Cohort together as well, so a couple and their friends can stay together as one group.
Partnership, Master and Disciple, and Sworn Cohort are separate systems that can coexist, so you can hold more than one of them at the same time, even with the same player.
Add the guild, and one person can have friends, a partner, a master, brothers, and companions all inside the game.
✦ Which Path Fits You
Pick the bond you want
I want people to play with
• Recruitment board
I want a friend to play with comfortably
• Friends (의리)
I want a partner
• Partnership (협연)
I want a guide or a disciple
• Master and Disciple (사제)
I want to stay with a group
• Sworn Cohort (결의)
So Who Is It For?
Where Winds Meet is not a game made only for finding a partner. Whether it is a partner, a friend, a master, or brothers, it opens many paths for connecting with people.
Even if you start alone, you can find people to play with on the recruitment board, become friends, and, if you click, take one more step into a Partnership or a Sworn Cohort.
Still, the system does not form bonds for you. It is the same as real life: bonds form for the person who speaks first and spends time together. Where Winds Meet is a pretty good stage for taking that first step without pressure.
