The domestically produced Ming Dynasty wuxia-themed Soulslike action RPG, "A Lamp's Autumn Sound: Jinyiwei," released an early demo at Gamescom 2026. IGN editors got their hands on it, comparing the game's combat atmosphere to the classic wuxia film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." They praised its martial arts action design while noting that the current version still has areas that need polishing.
"Jinyiwei" is developed by Chengdu Cangmo Information Technology and published by 4Divinity, scheduled to launch on PC and PS5 in 2027. Set against the turbulent backdrop of the late Ming Dynasty, the protagonist is originally a mysterious boatman who infiltrates the Jinyiwei as an undercover agent. While ostensibly carrying out secret imperial missions, he secretly plots to overthrow the Jinyiwei organization. The overall narrative leans towards realistic historical drama, downplaying fantasy elements.
The core feature, the "Deduction" time-rewind mechanic, has been validated: players can consume resources to rewind to a previous point in time, resetting the world state while retaining all items and props already acquired. This allows for repeated trial and error; for example, obtaining a pass first, then rewinding to the start of the mission to bypass guards directly with the credential, completing the task without killing anyone. The same sandbox levels offer multiple completion routes, including stealth, brute force, and cunning strategies. The demo level is a mountain bandit lair, and despite its relatively simple layout, it still supports diverse tactical choices such as ambushes from high drops and eliminating patrolling enemies one by one.
The combat system centers on "reading moves and countering accordingly," featuring Soulslike wuxia duels. Players build up an internal energy gauge through attacks, which can be used for emergency healing or to unleash guard-breaking martial arts specials. Two weapons can be switched seamlessly during combat, with the demo offering long swords and curved blades. The combat incorporates many wuxia light-footwork maneuvers, supporting wall-running and rooftop traversal, allowing players to launch aerial attacks directly while running. IGN highlighted the boss fights as a demo standout, featuring martial arts masters rather than giant monsters. Enemies unleash wind blades and tracking darts, while the Flame Sword Warlord boss has two phases, heavily testing the player's blocking and counter-attack timing.
The review also pointed out existing shortcomings: some intense combat scenes suffer from camera angle issues that need fixing in future updates; currently, there is limited content for exploring open towns and large communities, with expectations for more open-world scenarios in the full release. IGN believes the demo already shows great potential, and if further refined, it could make a significant impact among domestic wuxia action games.