Hello, fellow wanderers — I'm 肉 from 肉's Lab.
The Steam demo of Wuxia Life is out today. Head to the store page and hit "Download Demo" to play. It's a wuxia RPG about raising your character: on the fictional island of Yingzhou, far out in the eastern sea, you start as a nobody from Luzhou Village, dig into your father's old case, and walk straight into the storm brewing at Lujin Harbor.
This isn't a trimmed slice. The demo is the complete first act — from the wolf attacks and the reveal behind your father's case to the showdown that clears the Blacktide gang out of Lujin Harbor. Rushing the main story takes about four hours; learning the systems and doing a round of side quests is six to eight hours or more.
What's in the demo
The complete first act: Luzhou Village → Official Road → Lujin Harbor, all the way to the Blacktide chief, ending on a hook that points at something much bigger.
ATB real-time combat: speed sets the rhythm; six active skill slots, cooldowns and gear affixes to build around; 1x/2x/4x/8x speed and smart auto-battle (it picks skills on its own and guards when a Boss charges up); full-screen Boss ultimates.
A party of four, and the raising that comes with it: allocate stats, learn martial arts and inner arts, push through ten circuits of cultivation (breakthroughs get a full-screen ceremony); recruit companions; pick one of three starter pets at the village chief's house right at the start; level your mount and race it. Raising is the heart of this game — if a Boss beats you, it's usually because you haven't raised enough yet, not because your hands are too slow.
Sects: all five sects open at Lv10 (three of their mountain gates sit outside the demo map, so you travel there through the sect panel), with sect quest chains and Sect Arts to master.
Six World Events: Spring Festival Lantern Fair, Horse Racing Festival, Sect Grand Match, Youth Heroes Meet, Five Sects Martial Meet and Supreme Sect War — every one of them is a 3D venue you actually walk into, not a menu. Some have seasonal or entry conditions; the Lantern Fair, for example, only opens in the first month of the year.
Town minigames: three casino tables (dice, slots, blackjack), Chicken Chase, Dock Carry, Martial Spar, fishing and the Spring Festival lantern riddles. Your results go into the Records tab of the achievements panel.
State of mind: the Inner Demon and five inner voices, the Storyteller's tales and pressure gauge, and a jianghu that remembers what you did — people come back later to repay you or settle scores.
Bounties (Lv15), encounters, forging, and a romance you can take your time with.
Traditional Chinese and English.
Your demo save carries over
I'm building an import feature so your demo save (achievements included) carries into the Early Access version — a one-click import the first time you launch EA, before any save exists there. If the save format changes before EA, I'll handle the compatibility too. The character you've raised, the vows you've made, the bonds you've formed — I'll do my best to make sure they come with you.
About the Early Access date
I've been writing "mid-November" for a while. Honest update: Early Access is now planned for Q1 2027. The reason is simple — I want to get Early Access right, so I'm taking a few more months to ship something both you and I can be happy with.
What still needs polish
The game is still under construction, so here's the known list of things that need deeper work:
The 3D venue upgrade is only partway done: the six World Event venues plus the Chicken Chase, Dock Carry, horse racing, Martial Spar and stable scenes have 3D venues (the casino and fishing are procedural 3D)
The English text is still being proofread line by line. If you spot leftover Chinese or awkward phrasing, please report it.
Combat numbers and raising guidance are still being tuned — my direction is to make "what to go raise next" clearer, not to nerf the Bosses.
Some panel transitions and animations are still being smoothed out.
Bug reports and wishes
Bug reports: bug report form (there's also a "Report a Problem" button in the in-game settings panel that fills in your version and location automatically).
Wish board: wish board — features you want, things you think should change, post them there.
Discussions: Steam discussions.
The week ahead
With the demo out, I'm taking a week off. I'll still check my inbox every day — if something urgent comes up, like a stuck save or the game failing to launch, email me directly: [email protected]. For everything else, please use the report form or the discussions above; I'll go through it all when I'm back. For this one week, the jianghu is in your hands — go play. If this world is to your liking, please add Wuxia Life to your Steam wishlist — when Early Access sets sail, you'll be the first to know.
肉's Lab