Wu Xing

Choose an element to channel, a gem to find, and face the dangers of an element in the hands of the wrong person.

In this roguelite dungeon crawler inspired by chinese philosophy and norse mythology, you have to use the magical capabilities one can achieve by channeling the element of an element gem, in order to fight the guards and bosses in the fortresses set up by the thieves who stole the gems from Xiong Bao, the keeper of the element gems.

Now, the gems have to be brought back together, or else, their separation will cause the physical world to slowly dissolve out of existence, a process which has already started.

Wu xing means five elements or five phases. It is a fivefold conceptual scheme / philosophy that many traditional Chinese fields use to explain a wide array of phenomena, from cosmic cycles to the interaction between internal organs, and from the succession of political regimes to the properties of medicinal drugs.

It consists of fire, earth, metal, water, and wood, and there are four cycles in which they relate to each other. The two most prominent cycles are the generative cycle, and the destructive cycle, which are used in the game to determine how effective one element is against another.

You play as Adam, a young, seemingly normal guy who is currently living in China as an exchange student when he meets Xiong Bao, an old man who has been waiting a long time for the right person to show up. Xiong Bao knows Adam is the right person when he meets him, and tells Adam his story…

Xiong Bao is the keeper of the five element gems. The five elements are responsible for everything in the universe, from matter, to feelings, to time. The five elements are represented, in the physical world, as gems, which are usually kept safe in an enchanted locket. The locket encapsulates the energy flowing between the gems, allowing them to cooperate without disturbance, keeping the physical world intact. When not in cooperation, the physical world will slowly start to dissolve.

Many years ago, Xiong Bao was given an enchanted ring, coming from somewhere outside of the physical world. He discovered that one can temporarily channel the element of a gem thRough your body, by attaching the gem to the ring. This meant removing a gem from the locket, disrupting the balance. Xiong Bao started to experiment, and practice controlling the magical capabilities the gems provided, making sure not to test the boundaries of how long they could be separated without consequences. One day while practicing, he noticed the gems hidden among his belongings, had been stolen, leaving him with only the ring and one gem.

The thieves, who somehow learned how to channel the power of the gems without using the enchanted ring, travelled to the different realms, where they built giant fortresses to protect themselves and the gems. 

Today, several years later, Xiong Bao is starting to notice the consequences of the separation of the element gems. If not brought back together soon, the physical world will dissolve out of existence.

Xiong Bao is old, and although skillful at controlling the powers, he has never used them offensively, and is not exactly fit for fight. In order to take back the other gems, one has to find their way through the fortresses, filled with enemies to fight and puzzles to solve. Xiong Bao has, ever since the incident, waited for that one right person, who is capable of retrieving the four stolen gems, and that person is you, Adam.