Where Winds Meet throws a lot of decisions at you before you even finish character creation. You’re still adjusting hairstyles and facial features when the game asks you to choose Guidance Mode and Difficulty settings—two options that significantly affect how your first dozen hours will feel.
The problem is, you’re making these choices blind. You don’t know yet how the game’s UI works, how tough enemies are, or what “tutorial triggers” you might miss. So here’s a breakdown of what each setting actually does and which combinations make the most sense depending on what kind of experience you’re after.
Guidance Mode: What It Actually Changes
Guidance Mode controls how much the UI helps you navigate the world. This isn’t about combat difficulty—it’s about visual aids, quest markers, exploration prompts, and tutorial cues.
Detailed Guidance
This mode gives you the full suite of assistance: quest markers, pathing hints, exploration prompts, and all tutorial triggers. Where Winds Meet locks a surprising number of features behind “first-time” interactions that only appear when you visit certain locations or talk to specific NPCs. On Detailed, the game actively guides you toward these moments so you don’t accidentally walk past something important.
If you’re new to the game, start here. There’s no penalty for using it, and you can always scale back later once you’ve learned the map.
Moderate Guidance
This is the middle ground. The UI stays cleaner, but you still see essential markers like main quest objectives. It removes some of the hand-holding while keeping you from getting completely lost.
Moderate works well if you’re comfortable with open-world games and don’t need every collectible highlighted. It’s also a good option to switch to after you’ve completed the early tutorial areas and have a feel for how the game flows.
Minimal Guidance
This mode strips away nearly all UI assistance. It’s designed for players who already know where everything is—resource spawn points, NPC locations, hidden interactions, all of it.
Unless you’ve played through the game before or genuinely enjoy figuring everything out from scratch, Minimal is rough for a first playthrough. You’ll miss tutorial triggers, skip over systems like Melodies of Peace without realizing they exist, and spend a lot of time wandering. Consider it a second-playthrough option.
Difficulty Mode: What Each Level Changes
Here’s the important thing to know upfront: difficulty does not affect rewards. You won’t get better loot, extra materials, or special gear for playing on harder settings. The only exception is Legend Mode, which grants exclusive badges for boss kills—but those are cosmetic bragging rights, not gameplay advantages.
Story Mode
The easiest setting. Enemies deal less damage, have lower health, and the game adds slow-motion prompts when enemies use special attacks, giving you extra reaction time. If you’re here for the narrative and exploration rather than challenging combat, Story Mode lets you experience everything without repeated deaths.
This is also a reasonable choice if you’re learning the combat system. You can always bump it up once you’ve got the mechanics down.
Recommended Mode
The intended “standard” experience. Enemy stats feel balanced, combat requires attention but isn’t punishing, and you won’t get automatic time-stops unless you enable them in settings. Most players should start here.
Recommended gives you room to make mistakes while still requiring you to learn enemy patterns and use your abilities properly. Boss fights like Qianye and Elder Gongsun will still test you, but they won’t feel unfair.
Expert Mode
A noticeable step up. Enemies hit harder, have more health, and all assist cues—slow-motion warnings, skill prompts—are disabled. You need to read enemy animations and react based on experience rather than UI prompts.
Expert is for players who want genuine challenge without the game softening anything. If you’ve played action RPGs or Soulslike games before and found Recommended too forgiving, this is your next stop.
Legend Mode
The prestige difficulty. All assists are permanently disabled, enemy stats are significantly higher, and you earn exclusive badges for defeating bosses. This is the closest Where Winds Meet gets to a Soulslike experience.
Critical warning: Legend Mode is locked in permanently. You cannot switch out of it once you start. If you want to play Legend, you have to select it at character creation on a brand-new save. Make sure you know what you’re signing up for.
Hardcore Mode
Permadeath. If your character dies, that save is gone forever. This mode is for players who want genuine stakes and are willing to lose hours of progress to a single mistake.
Only attempt this if you already know the game’s mechanics, enemy patterns, and boss fights inside and out. It’s not a learning experience—it’s a test.
Can You Change These Settings Later?
Guidance Mode: Yes, adjustable anytime through Settings.
Difficulty: Partially. You can freely switch between Story, Recommended, and Expert at any point. If a boss is destroying you, drop to Story, beat it, and switch back. No judgment, no penalty.
However, Legend Mode and Hardcore Mode are permanent choices that must be selected at the start of a new playthrough. You cannot switch into or out of them.
Recommended Starting Settings
For most new players, here’s what makes sense:
- Guidance Mode: Detailed (switch to Moderate once you’re comfortable)
- Difficulty: Recommended (drop to Story if needed, raise to Expert if it feels too easy)
This combination lets you experience everything the game offers while keeping combat engaging. You won’t miss hidden systems or tutorial unlocks, and you can adjust difficulty on the fly as you learn.
If you’re a Soulslike veteran looking for punishment from the start, go Expert or Legend—but remember Legend locks you in permanently.
Getting Started in Where Winds Meet
Once you’ve picked your settings, these guides will help you hit the ground running:
- Tips and Tricks for Beginners
- Best Starting Weapons Guide
- How to Fly
- How to Get More Healing Charges
- How to Break Through Level Caps
For progression systems you’ll encounter early:
- Melodies of Peace Explained (Oddities & Harmony)
- Best Ways to Get Exploration Points
- All Sects and How to Join Them
- Gacha System Explained
Looking to unlock new abilities?
Where Winds Meet is available on Steam, PlayStation, and mobile platforms. Visit the official website for more information.
