For our newest MatchUp we look to the world of Wuxia, a genre of Chinese literature that focuses on the adventures of martial arts heroes wandering Ancient China, able to perform acts of gravity defying splendour and near superhuman feats as they fly through the air, run up walls and more (think of the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). Whilst extremely popular in literature and movie format very few conversions have been made over to the gaming industry, but now we have two fully featured MMORPGs available in the forms of Swordsman (Perfect World Entertainment) and Age of Wulin (Webzen, published as Age of Wushu by Snail Games in the US).
Both games are free to play Windows platform games and focus on cash shop micro-transactions, but given that Age of Wulin has a number of different publishers the items that you can purchase and the way their premium content is distributed can differ greatly from game to game. Graphically there’s not that much that stands between them both and as often as not some players vastly prefer one game’s graphics over the other so it’s all a matter of taste. Though they share a Wuxia theme and ancient China setting, including many of the more renowned Martial Arts Schools of both history and fiction, they both handle the whole Wuxia element differently. We can say in earnest that after playing both titles, and as can often be seen from most other people’s comparisons on the games, surprisingly the games couldn’t be more different.
Starting out with the choice of Schools/Clans/Classes, straight away both games have taken a different approach with Swordsman (SM) taking on a more traditional MMORPG stance where each School relates to a different class. Players will choose their Class at character creation and be bound to it for the rest of the game, unlocking new skills and abilities as they level up that are unique to their choice. Alternatively Age of Wulin (AoW) emphasises its sandbox open world feel, players simply make a character with a basic grasp of combat and set out into the world, whilst early on they are introduced to a huge plaza filled with the recruiters of various schools, and at this point they can choose which school they wish to join, they can actually choose not to and instead follow a Vagrants path where they can still build up different skills and abilities. Regardless of whether or not players choose a School in AoW they are not bound to their choice indefinitely and can choose to leave at any time, but in turn will lose their learned abilities. Each School has its own rules that students must abide by, for example banning them from using particular in game features and mechanics or even restricting how much killing they can do if they are one of the more peaceful Schools; break too many rules and a player earns themselves a heavy debuff for a set period of time.
Combat is another huge difference between the two, SM focuses on a more button bashing battle with explosive combat that you would expect to see in an MMORPG, the abilities that players can perform at times feeling more fantasy-based with an Ancient China element as opposed to being traditional Wuxia. In contrast Age of Wulin does focus more on combo building and using your surroundings in battle, running up walls and across rivers or flying through the air offering more to the cinematic Wuxia vibe.
Both games offer quests, with AoW offering more in depth player choices that affects outcomes, combined with the open world element and sandbox nature it feels more like a wandering hero seeking out random adventures. Swordsman caters more to the more modern theme park orientated player with considerably more linear quest lines that whilst equally epic in scope feels more like playing out a scripted adventure than simply finding your own.
It’s easy to see that both games are aiming for a different audience, in creating Swordsman you can tell that Perfect World took a popular setting (even more so that the game is based around "The Smiling, Proud Wanderer", a book written by the most acclaimed Wuxia author Louis Cha) and gave it the Western MMORPG treatment. It is every MMORPG ever played with a different skin, complete with the expected features, combat Systems and PVP battlegrounds. Whereas given its tighter Chinese development origins, Age of Wulin feels like it was built purely with Wuxia in mind and the MMORPG features incorporated with to that end; open world PvP, crafting and social skills, the ability to get married and throw a huge wedding ceremony, and more.
If you’re looking for a solid MMORPG with an Ancient China setting, solid MMORPG mechanics and familiar features then players won’t go far wrong checking out Swordsman, however, if it’s a Wuxia lifestyle they’re looking to immerse themselves into then we have to give it to Age of Wulin.
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