Thanks to the invitation from Shanghai Shiyi Studio, Iparticipated in the offline preview demo of Seven Realms Dream Tale on April 24th. As an old movie fan who grew up watching Hong Kong films and loves movies like Mr. Vampire, A Chinese Ghost Story, and Green Snake, I was immediately interested in the visual presentation of this game, eagerly anticipating it to be a rare spiritual fantasy game beyond science fiction, fantasy, and xuanhuan.
What impressed me most first was the aesthetics of Seven Realms Dream Tale.Unlike most domestic games that blindly compete with high-precision modeling after the industrialization wave, it employs'atmospheric perspective,' creating the texture of pavilions and mist-shrouded landscapes in ink-wash paintings, bringing a vast spatial depth. Within this layered canvas, it also dares to render light, shadow, and color. For example, a blood moon hangs over the areas surrounding the main city 'Chiluo Ghost Market,' instantly dyeing Everythinggj in sight with a crimson hue; walking into the bustling downtown area with its myriad lights, the warm glow of lanterns contrasts with the city's eerie red makeup, making it appear elegant and vibrant.
Relatively speaking, its somewhat Chinese-styleThe 'handsome men and beautiful women' character design initially seemed somewhat cliché to me.But in actual hands-on experienceAfterward, I discovered that the combat interactions in Seven Realms Dream Tale focus on Taoist spellcasting and mystical duels, largely abandoning traditionalclose-quarters combat segments of MMORPGs.Therefore,I believe the character designs in Seven Realms Dream Tale are highly compatible with its gameplay—the deeper you play, the more you appreciate its character designs.
What surprised me even more is that, unlike some popular games where characters seem to maintain an idol-like aura, displaying either perfect-angle smiles or poker faces in performances for fear of showing ugliness, its character performances make me wonder if they poached animators from Light Chaser Animation Studiosanimator for the 'White Snake' trilogy? Every sorrow, joy, smile, and frown of the characters in story nodes is meticulously presented through detailed facial expressions—in my opinion, this makes them more lively and emotionally engaging than characters in many popular games.
However, as a test version, the excellent performance in this part is not always stable. In another part of the plot,NPCs not only lack expressions during dialogue but don't even open their mouths, as if speaking ventriloquism. However, this uneven performance mostly occurs in minor side quests, which should be easy to address in future updates, so I am not personally concerned.
In the worldview of Seven Realms Dream Tale, heaven and earth possess spirituality. Mortals cultivate using spiritual energy, and the Divine Realm assists mortals in conflicts, causing the Heavenly Dao to gradually lose human favor, transforming into a single Qi, which gives rise to spirits in the mortal world.Under the decree of immortals and gods, mortals view spirits as external enemies, calling this energy 'Misfortune Qi,' while their own households possess 'Righteous Qi.' Thus, the concept of Righteous and Misfortune methods emerged in the world. The two sides are born enemies, oppressing each other.
In the Han Dynasty, Zhang Qian led a troupe of cultivators skilled in various arts, guiding Misfortune Westward to quell the Misfortune Qi in the Central Plains. However, immortals and gods also suffered casualties in this battle, realizing they had not transcended life and death, so they secretly altered the laws of ascension. Thus, after the Western Han, most ascenders became nourishment for the Divine Realm. When the world evolved to the Tang Dynasty, chaos and Misfortune Qi resurged, leading to an explosive conflict between the two sides.
From the background story, the Divine Realm is placed in the position of superiors and instigators. Instead,'spirits,' commonly known as the Yao clan, are the oppressed and not necessarily villains in the game. Therefore, the highlight of this demo, 'Chiluo Ghost Market,' is set as a utopia created by异人 (people with special abilities) and spirits, belonging to spirits and outcasts. However, as conspiracies unfold in the divine and human realms, it will face a crackdown known as 'Demon Suppression.'
The background plot is heavy with conspiracy, but the demo content has a relaxed atmosphere. We play as wild gods born from folk beliefs, who died protecting villagers during the An Lushan Rebellion and slept for a long time until awakened by a small demonawakened by 'Huang Xiaoxian.' Thus, to recover memories of our past life's soul and fulfill the request of the Underworld, we journey with 'Huang Xiaoxian' to 'Chiluo Ghost Market' to uphold justice for our former believers.
As I understand it, this process of just being resurrected and wandering in the Underworld should count as the game's prologue. Including the rising star of the gaming world'Zhong Kui' also made an appearance here. Guided by 'Huang Xiaoxian,' as I began to understand the world and gameplay, it involved a game system calledShapeshifting' core system. After defeating spirits, we can, like a certain pink devil,Shapeshiftingtransform into spirits. Unlike Wuthering Waves, where Echo transformations only correspond to one monster skill, we can transform into monsters for a certain period and freely use most of their skills. This means this system has deep potential for exploration in both puzzle-solving and combat, which we will elaborate on in the combat section later.
Perhaps due to it being a demo version, from exiting the Underworld to just arriving at'Chiluo Ghost Market,' suggesting a missing segment of plot. This caused a disjointed emotional experience for me. Sitting on the ferry to 'Chiluo Ghost Market,' when the vocal theme song 'Fei Yao' played, I felt unprepared and surprised, thinking the narrative pacing was somewhat rushed.
But flaws do not obscure its virtues; this crossingThe presentation of 'Chiluo Ghost Market' quickly immersed me. Amidst the blood moon and thin mist, the secluded valley holds a bustling market brightly lit, with artists and lanterns passing by, leaving trails of colorful light; within the pavilions, vendors' calls and sparkling decorations abound. To some extent, it recreates my imagination of ancient people celebrating the Lantern Festival, but in a spiritual fantasy version. The Chiluo Department, Feather Clan, Beast Clan, and humans coexist under one roof. After experiencing side quests and mini-games, I felt the strong local atmosphere of the entire area.
Subsequently, I experienced the flight function.Although it cannot be said that every location is endowed with hand-crafted exploration value, flight indeed provides great freedom of exploration. I can ascend most visible mountains and buildings.
To be honest, the texture materials in some areas have a paper-like feel, and there are occasional frame drops in terms of performance. However, within the overall spiritual and eerie atmosphere, this反而 adds a恰到好处的 sense of unreality, akin to the dreamlike quality of a mirage, which better fits the temperament of Seven Realms Dream Tale.
Of course, although I greatly appreciate the aesthetic characteristics and humanistic style of Seven Realms Dream Tale. But as anMMORPG, the foundation determining its overall quality is still social interaction and gameplay.Regarding social features, I easily found the guild option and established a'Tomboy Enthusiasts Alliance,' and after recruiting in the public channel, received responses from players at the demo event. In the not-so-obvious secondary menu, I also found costumes sold in the shop. I personally speculate that this might be the main monetization point for Seven Realms Dream Tale—after all, the protagonist has an eight-head-tall figure perfect for showcasing clothes, making it easy to design attractive outfits.
Regarding gameplay, it can be divided into progression and combat.
Among its progression systems, its'Leveling up' is designed as a cultivation system involving Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, and Lingdan stages. When leveling up, the scene shows meridians and blood vessels throughout the body being infused with golden liquid, which is quite creatively designed. As for 'Equipment,' it adopts an RPG system with trait inheritance, meaning melting down one piece of equipment allows another piece of corresponding quality to receive an empowered upgrade from it. Similarly, as mentioned earlier,Shapeshiftingis similar; after reclaiming a spirit's soul, you need to use resources from other spirits to cultivate it—characters, items, spiritsShapeshiftingprogression, plus the Magic Treasures to be discussed later, constitute the progression system of Seven Realms Dream Tale.
Regarding combat, each of the current three builds possessestwo sets of modules for PvE and PvP.
One major reason for this, I think, stems from Seven Realms Dream Tale's unique spellcaster duel gameplay, which determinesThe PvE combat interaction is 'dramatic and expansive,' ensuring the game's satisfaction factor. However, if the spellcaster duels from PvE were directly placed into a multiplayer brawl scenario, the technical博弈 process would appear very chaotic.
InIn PvE, combat interactions revolve around defense, dodging, and various skill builds including "poise damage" and "parrying." However, it differs somewhat from the conventions of current mainstream action games. For instance, defense is actually a long-cooldown skill; once activated, it negates all attacks for a period. Meanwhile, enemy heavy attacks, parriable attacks, and attacks susceptible to poise damage are clearly indicated by signal lights. This means the game doesn't demand extremely fast reflexes from players; playing it feels more like an instant card game. In other words, Seven Realms Dream Tale only requires positioning and patience, focusing on resource and cooldown management amidst changing battle situations. Thus, while its action gameplay feels hardcore, it is easy to pick up and accessible.
However, after the staff organized us to play a3-person raid, I had a concern: After Seven Realms Dream Tale abandoned the traditional MMORPG 'Tank-Healer-DPS' system, the roles of the current three builds in combat seem somewhat homogenized. The gameplay differences are mainly reflected inShapeshifting, which involves achieving builds through different transformation combinations. Although mashing keys to unleash dramatic spells is indeed exciting and I enjoyed it, whether this 'signal light' interaction logic can sustain the consumption habits of MMO players over a long operational cycle remains to be seen. This will likely require continuous optimization and updates from the development team.
And inIn PvP, 'flight' becomes key. The previously mentioned 'Magic Treasures' are numerical progression equipment for 'flight.' In combat, once enough energy is accumulated, you can activate flight mode, allowing us to use large-area AOE spells on the ground from the sky—in other words, this turns me into a bomber.
During the demo, other players and I were placed into a three-person team, multi-team brawl dungeon. Each player starts with a certain number of points upon respawning, and defeating players allows seizing a proportion of their points. The team with the highest ranking on the scoreboard wins. Therefore, I quickly discoveredThe PvE module has low kill efficiency because player moves do not provide clear parry or poise damage indicators like NPC enemies do.
Therefore, a more reasonable strategy is to switch toPvP mode's skill modules, focusing on control and restraint, then utilizingShapeshifting' transformation timing and positioning, waiting until the flight mode energy is fully charged, is the real opportunity for damage output: activate sword flight, intensely drop spell bombs on the ground, and burn Everythinggj alive in sight—this 'charge energy → transform → fly and output' approach is the core PvE gameplay. It ensures Seven Realms Dream Tale lacks no grand scenes, emphasizing spell duels and supernatural powers. Although the interaction feels far from precise counterplay or clear logic, it is lively and interesting, possessing its own unique gameplay personality.
In summary, I believe Seven Realms Dream Tale is a highly distinctiveMMORPG projects.While retaining the basic payment structure, it has established its own style in art, story, and gameplay. Although some innovations may carry certain risks in my view, precisely because of this, I look forward to what new elements it can bring to theMMORPG game market.