Where Winds Meet opens with a deceptively simple choice: play as a Lone Wanderer or set out on a Shared Journey. Under those poetic labels sit three distinct experiences: a full single‑player campaign, an always‑online social overworld, and a web of instanced co‑op activities that sit between them.
This explainer walks through what each mode does, what it locks off, and how to switch freely between them without breaking your progression — whether you play on PC (Steam/Epic) or PS5.
Where Winds Meet game modes
| Mode | Main purpose | Story progression | Who you see in the world | Co‑op access |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lone Wanderer (Solo mode) | Single‑player campaign and exploration | Yes – main story and most structured content | Only you (plus invited co‑op guests) | Private rooms for up to 4 players; access to instanced bosses/events |
| Shared Journey (Online mode) | Social hub and light MMO sandbox | No – main story does not advance here | Random players plus friends | Same instanced co‑op menu; social features like chat and mini‑games |
| Instanced co‑op content (“Fellowship” / parties) | Bosses, challenges, raids, Sentient Beings | Side stories, campaigns, and first‑clear rewards | Only your party inside each instance | Parties of 2–4 generally, up to 10 for certain bosses |
Your character, level, and gear are shared across all of these. Switching modes never forks your save or creates separate characters.
Lone Wanderer (Solo mode): the actual game
Lone Wanderer is effectively the “real” game world. It is where you:
- Advance the main story quests.
- Work through chapter‑based campaigns and structured side content.
- Explore the open regions (Qinghe, Kaifeng at launch) with enemies, loot, and puzzles.
In Solo mode, the overworld behaves like a traditional single‑player RPG: you do not see random players wandering around. That helps keep exploration and story moments coherent; encounters and cutscenes are staged for you alone.
However, Solo does not mean strictly offline or isolated. From this mode you can:
- Create a private co‑op room tied to your world.
- Invite up to four other players into that room to roam, fight bosses, and solve puzzles with you.
- Share certain rewards (for example, chests and specific collectible “oddities”) while in co‑op.
When you host, your world state is the reference. Puzzle progress, chest availability, and some quest items are tied to you. Guests can help and earn rewards, but they do not take your main story away from you or overwrite your choices.
For most players, this mode is where you will spend the majority of your time. It has enemies in the open world, all the scripted story beats, and the full progression systems: weapons, Mystic Arts, Internal Arts, sects, and careers.
Shared Journey (Online mode): social MMO shell
Shared Journey flips the emphasis. Instead of a curated solo world, you enter a lightly populated MMO‑style instance where:
- You can see and interact with other players who are nearby.
- The focus is on social features and low‑pressure activities.
- The main story does not progress here.
In current builds, the open world in Shared Journey is comparatively sparse: story markers are effectively dormant, and regular enemies are pared back or absent. You are not here to grind the campaign; you are here to meet people and use the game’s social systems.
From Shared Journey you gain easier access to:
- Overworld player interactions (inviting someone nearby into co‑op activities straight from a prompt on their character).
- The Social menu, where you can join group chats, manage friends, or send private messages.
- Casual multiplayer mini‑games like Wrestling, where you directly invite other players to compete.
- Role‑play adjacent features, like helping other players heal certain injuries that NPC medics cannot fix alone.
Shared Journey is optional. You never have to use it to clear bosses, unlock builds, or access combat systems. It exists alongside Solo mode as a way to make the Jianghu feel inhabited when you want company, without forcing you into a full MMO grind when you do not.
Instanced co‑op (“Fellowship” and parties): where the real multiplayer lives
Both Lone Wanderer and Shared Journey sit on top of a common layer of instanced multiplayer content. This is surfaced primarily through the game’s co‑op menus:
- A global co‑op menu (often labeled around Wandering Paths or Fellowship) that lists bosses, challenges, and events accessible from either mode.
- The Solo / Co‑op toggle on the Solo side of the mode selection that creates private rooms.
From these menus, you can match with other players or invite friends directly into:
- Instanced bosses and campaigns with shared first‑clear rewards for everyone in the host’s world.
- Outposts and “challenge” campaigns, where the host gets first‑clear rewards and all players can spend energy to claim additional loot.
- Sentient Beings (special overworld challenges) that can accept parties of up to 10 players for tougher fights.
Some key mechanics inside these instances:
- Exploration rewards are shared within a certain range, so solving puzzles together will pay out for nearby players.
- When you visit another player’s world, only quest items the host owns are usable. You bring back only the quest items you had originally when you return to your world.
- Progress on side stories and campaigns often has a shared completion flag for that specific instance, but you’ll need to host in your world to secure your own first‑clear rewards where applicable.
These instanced activities are the connective tissue between Solo and Online. You can queue or host them whether you are playing as a Lone Wanderer or standing in a Shared Journey social hub.
How to switch between Lone Wanderer and Shared Journey
Switching modes is deliberately quick, because the game expects you to move between solo narrative and social play frequently.
| Step | What to do |
|---|---|
| 1 | Open the main in‑game menu. |
| 2 | Look at the top of the screen for the mode icon:
|
| 3 | Select that icon to open the mode selection screen. |
| 4 | Choose Solo mode or Online mode and confirm. |
| 5 | (Optional) In Solo mode, press the Solo / Co‑op button on the left side of this screen to create a private co‑op room tied to your world. |
You can do this almost any time; you are not locked into your choice from the start of the game, and early hours are largely solo‑focused regardless of what you initially picked.
Tip: If you intend to sync progress across platforms, link your account from the game’s User Center → Link Account screen on the title menu before creating characters on secondary platforms. This is required for cross‑progression to work cleanly and is described in more detail on the official site at wherewindsmeetgame.com.
How co‑op invitations and matchmaking work
There are two broad ways to bring other people into your adventure: direct invitations and opportunistic interactions.
| Method | Where it starts | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| Solo / Co‑op toggle | Solo mode selection screen | Create a private room in your world for up to 4 players; invite via player IDs or listed profiles. |
| Nearby player prompt | Shared Journey or any space where you can see another player | Click a nearby player to open a contextual prompt with options to invite, party up, or start specific multiplayer activities. |
| Fellowship / Wandering Paths menu | Main menu in either mode | Queue for instanced bosses, challenges, and events, either with friends or via matchmaking. |
When inviting by ID, you can search a friend’s account name or select from a list of suggested players. Hosts retain control over who enters their co‑op rooms; uninvited players generally have to apply to join.
What you can do together in multiplayer
Once you are in a party or co‑op room, the game offers a surprisingly wide range of shared activities, some mechanical and some more social.
Combat and progression activities
- Explore the open world in the host’s instance, clearing puzzles and world events.
- Fight bosses and Sentient Beings, including large overworld threats that support up to 10 players in a group.
- Run Side Story quests and campaigns together, sharing first‑clear rewards while in the same world.
- Participate in raids, outposts, and other challenge modes that consume energy and pay out high‑end loot.
As you adventure together, you also generate:
- Intimacy Points, which raise your intimacy level with specific players and unlock more interaction options between your characters.
- Adventure Slips, which can be spent at Wandering Path shops for supplies.
Social and support activities
- Use the Social menu to participate in group chats and send private messages.
- Heal each other from certain severe injuries (including bone fractures and illnesses) that NPC medics cannot fully treat. This is only possible with another player.
- Join or interact with sects, which function as factions/guilds and add another layer to multiplayer identity.
Mini‑games and lighthearted play
- Invite nearby players into mini‑games like Wrestling, archery contests, fishing competitions, and more.
- Take part in various Sentient Being events that are effectively multiplayer world challenges framed as contests or puzzles.
None of these activities turn the game into a pay‑to‑win arms race. Monetization is focused on cosmetics and minor convenience items; character power primarily comes from in‑game progression and is not gated behind cash purchases.
Solo vs Online: which mode should you pick?
Putting all of this together, the choice between Lone Wanderer and Shared Journey is less about locking yourself into a path and more about deciding what your default frame for the game should be.
| If you care most about… | Start here | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Story, exploration, and structured progression | Lone Wanderer (Solo) | It is the only mode where the main story advances, with enemies, dungeons, and quests behaving like a traditional RPG. |
| Hanging out, chatting, and casual mini‑games | Shared Journey (Online) | You can see random players, access social tools easily, and launch mini‑games or co‑op prompts directly from nearby characters. |
| Boss runs, raids, and repeatable challenges | Either mode, via co‑op and Fellowship menus | Instanced content is reachable from Solo and Online alike; your host choice just decides whose world state you’re progressing. |
| Short sessions with friends in a controlled environment | Solo + private co‑op room | Hosting a room in Solo lets you keep immersion and story pacing while still pulling in up to 4 friends on demand. |
In practice, most players will run the main campaign as a Lone Wanderer, dipping into co‑op from that base and occasionally toggling to Shared Journey when they specifically want to socialize or recruit people from the wider player pool.
The important thing is that you are never punished for experimenting. Your character is shared across modes, your progress from Solo carries into Online activities, and you can bounce between being a lone wuxia hero and a social wanderer whenever the mood shifts.
