Wuxia Life: Indie Martial-Arts RPG Now on Steam (Coming Soon)
Today, the indie wuxia RPG Wuxia Life (武俠人生) passed Steam review, and its store page officially went live to the world as "Coming Soon" — entering the wishlist-building period ahead of its Early Access launch.
From the very first line of React code to a Steam store page clearing review, this game has come a long way.
Today marks another beginning:
🔗 Steam store page:https://store.steampowered.com/app/4658980/
🔗 Official game site:https://taiwanding.com/wuxialife/
For an indie developer, adding the game to your wishlist is the biggest support there is ❤️
About Wuxia Life
Wuxia Life is a single-player wuxia RPG set on the fictional island of Yingzhou. Starting out from Luzhou Village, you'll uncover the protagonist's origins, meet companions and forge bonds with them, join a martial sect to train, and carve out your own path through the world of the jianghu. The main storyline focuses on the mortal martial world, with the immortal-and-demon arc seeded as a setup for what comes later.
Not real-time action — turn-based, strategic thinking with rhythm.
Not a pure text RPG — 3D combat scenes built with Three.js.
For a deeper look at the world, its systems, screenshots and dev logs, head to the official game site.
Core Gameplay
- ATB combat — speed determines your turn order, with 1x / 2x / 4x fast-forward and auto-battle support
- 6 active skill slots + cooldown turns + equipment affixes + formation setups
- 4-member party: protagonist, companion, bonded character, plus a pet and a mount
- Five active sects: Qingyun, Tieshi, Yaowang, Xuanwu, and Langji
- The four "state of mind" systems in v0.8: Inner Demon / Calligraphy / Stress / Storyteller
- Multiple endings and branching storylines
- A full crafting line: forging, alchemy, crafting, upgrading, and awakening
What You Won't See
- ❌ No microtransactions, no paid gacha
- ❌ No DRM, no anti-cheat
- ❌ No forced online connection
- ❌ No runtime AI dialogue
What You Will See
- ✅ Some item icons and UI decorative assets are generated with the xAI image API, as part of an ink-wash / gongbi-style art pipeline — every AI-produced asset is reviewed by hand
- ✅ The code and in-game dialogue are all written by me, with AI as a co-pilot
- ✅ Multi-language: Traditional Chinese + English (full UI + subtitles)
Why Early Access?
The core systems are already fully playable — ATB combat, the five sects, bonds, the four states of mind, dungeons, and the multiple-ending branches.
But I believe a game gets polished together with its players. During EA, I want to hear directly from players about combat pacing, sect balance, quest flow, and bond events. As a solo studio, that interaction will shape the direction of the full release directly — everything from fine-tuning the ATB pacing to how the immortal-and-demon arc gets set up.
EA is expected to run 6–12 months, with the full release targeted for late 2027. I'll be shipping steady updates and content expansions throughout.
Timeline
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| From 2026-04-29 | Store page wishlist-building period |
| Second half of 2026 (the sooner the better) | Demo goes live, open public playtest |
| Early January 2027 (deadline pending Steam's announcement) | Sign up for the February 2027 Steam Next Fest |
| Q1 2027 | Early Access official release |
| Late 2027 ~ 2028 (TBD) | 1.0 full release |
About 肉's Lab
I'm Kevin Chen, an indie developer. This blog usually covers penetration testing, technical research, and game guides — and as of today it has a new role too: home to the Wuxia Life dev log.
Tech stack: React + TypeScript + Zustand + Three.js + Electron
Programming and game design done solo, with the art assisted by an AI workflow.
Throughout EA I'll keep posting dev logs here, documenting design trade-offs, balance tweaks, how I handle player feedback, and more. Feel free to follow along.
For game-specific info, see taiwanding.com/wuxialife/.
Three Things You Can Do Right Now
1. Add Wuxia Life to Your Steam Wishlist
For an indie developer, wishlist count is the key metric Steam's algorithm uses to decide on exposure.
One click from you, and on launch day (11/10)
Steam will send you a notification — which is like free advertising, putting the game in front of more players.
2. Browse the Official Game Site
🗡️ Enter Yingzhou Island → taiwanding.com/wuxialife
A deeper dive into the world, system breakdowns, an art gallery, and dev logs — all right here.
3. Subscribe to This Blog's Dev Log
During EA I'll post 1–2 dev logs a month, roughly covering:
- Design decisions (for example, why I chose ATB over pure turn-based)
- The player data behind balance changes
- Art workflow (including how AI image generation fits into the ink-wash / gongbi style)
- Practical marketing lessons — getting onto Steam, Next Fest, and so on
Thanks for reading this far. See you on Yingzhou Island 🗡️
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