Where to get it

Steam

2010 · Aurogon Shanghai · Role-playing

GuJian

The first installment in the "Gu Jian Qi Tan" series of Chinese action RPGs. Gujian takes us into a world inspired by xianxia fantasy literature, full of powerful demigods, demons, and other creatures straight from Taoist and Chinese mythology.

Released: 10 July 2010
Platforms: Windows
Genres: Role-playing
Developers: Aurogon Shanghai
Publishers: —
Modes: Single-player
Themes: Fantasy
Engine: Gamebryo
Languages: Chinese (Simplified)
Time to beat: 38hmain story93hcompletionist

About

GuJian (simplified Chinese: 古剑奇谭: 琴心剑魄今何在; traditional Chinese: 古劍奇譚: 琴心劍魄今何在; pinyin: Gǔjiàn Qítán: Qínxīn Jiànpò Jīn Hézài; lit. 'Old Sword Legend: Where Is the Heart of the Qin and the Soul of the Sword?') is a role-playing video game developed by Aurogon with the Gamebryo engine and published by Gamebar. The first installment of the Gujian series, it was originally released in China on July 10, 2010 for Microsoft Windows. An Xbox One port of the game was announced in 2014.

Set in a fictionalized version of ancient China, players control Baili Tusu, a young swordsman with a tragic background. Elements of traditional Chinese culture, including mythology, cuisine, fashion, architecture and Taoism, were prominent; the main characters' names are derived from names of alcoholic beverages in ancient China. The game's monsters were inspired by Chinese mythology, and many of the in-game locations are based on photographs and descriptions of historic sites.

Players say

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Players control the main characters during their journey across ancient China. The game has a main story missions and side quests, which tell stories about non-player characters. Combat is turn-based, and each action has a number of action points, from one to five.

Players can collect food from monsters and buy recipes from shopkeepers. The prepared dishes and their leftovers can be used for recovery or attack.

Story

The game begins with a young Han Yunxi, son and sole successor to a female village shaman, sneaking out of the village to play. His plan to take his best friend, Chu Chan, to see a rare golden fox is disrupted when they are attacked by a bear, causing Chu Chan to stop playing with him. Under his mother's orders, Yunxi enters the Cave of Ice and Fire to perform a village ritual. Inside the cave, he sees the Sword of Fenji within a magical seal.

He finally emerges from the cave, only to witness a group of outsiders massacre his village. He passes out in shock, and wakes up in the cave beside his mother's dead body.

Reception

GuJian received generally favourable reviews from players and the media. Reviewers praised the story, character setting and graphics. PCGames calls it "basically the best that local single-player games have to offer" at its time. POPSOFT gave the game a score of 8.5/10, lauding it for the story and graphics, but noted that "it takes a while to fully immerse oneself into the game".