PlayStation 5 owners have gained free access to the biggest RPG of the year in terms of sheer map size, and they don't even need to pay for the cost of a PlayStation Plus account to dive in. While PlayStation Plus subscribers get access to hundreds of titles, there are still plenty of games that PS5 owners can play online for free.
Released on November 14 for PS5 and PC, Where Winds Meet has already hit major player milestones. While PS5 player data is not readily available, the RPG set in 10th century China has hit big numbers on Steam, registering a top daily concurrent player count of more than 251,000 during its first week, with daily max player counts never dipping below 141,000. It's also registering inside the top 20 for total hours played on the PlayStation Network according to PS-Timetracker, and while its number-17 placement doesn't put it at the top of the heap, that chart also tracks activity in the last 30 days, and Where Winds Meet has only been available for less than half that amount of time.
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Where Winds Meet Offers a Massive Free Experience for PS5 Players
While fans are reveling in the game's deep combat system and cinematic visuals, Where Winds Meet's map is also turning a lot of heads. Covering an area of more than 20 square kilometers at launch, or around 12.4 square miles, that puts the size of Where Winds Meet's world just slightly ahead of Ghost of Yotei, a game that launched at the start of October and boasted that it would have the largest map of any open-world game in history. And the development team at Everstone Studio doesn't plan to stop there, as major Where Winds Meet updates planned for roughly every three months or so are expected to add to the size of the game's world.
In addition to giving players access to a large catalog of games, PlayStation Plus also holds the key for access to online services in some games that players may already own. Most free-to-play games on PlayStation 5 don't require a subscription to PlayStation Plus at any tier level, though there are occasional exceptions to this rule. Typically, players can figure out if a game requires PlayStation Plus to access online features by visiting its official page on the PlayStation Store.
While subscribing to PlayStation's subscription service isn't necessary for playing Where Winds Meet, there is one specific benefit that comes along with the highest-tier PlayStation Plus subscription. As listed on the game's official PlayStation Store page, subscribers to PlayStation Plus Premium have access to the game through streaming services, meaning they don't need to take up 100 GB of hard drive space. Considering that the game's file size accounts for a pretty large chunk of a standard PS5's total accessible hard drive space, that could make the subscription fee worth the price for avid players with a lot of games saved to the drive.
The game does, however, require an online connection for all game modes. While it supports a solo mode that lets players explore the massive world, progress through the story, complete quests, and interact with the world's NPCs, the multiplayer online mode of Where Winds Meet offers a wide variety of extra content. The features only available in multiplayer include access to the PvP arena as well as multiple cooperative features like healing, communal Cultivation activities, and group Outpost Sweeps. Online mode is also required for playing through weekly dungeons, which serve as the primary endgame content for Where Winds Meet, and players can also participate in Pardon Parades to cut down their jail time, being led around the world in a cage while other players taunt them by throwing rotten food.
Where Winds Meet
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 73 /100 Critics Rec: 50%
- Released
- November 14, 2025
- ESRB
- Teen / Use of Alcohol, Violence, In-Game Purchases (Includes Random Items), Users Interact
- Developer(s)
- Everstone Studios
- Publisher(s)
- NetEase, Inc.
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG, Wuxia, Open-World
