Withered Lands: Saving the World by Respawning at Bonfires

[Alternate history + Eastern Soulslike + Not a power fantasy + No System + No harem + Ensemble cast] The world has fallen into corruption. Unseen diseases suddenly run rampant, and familiar beasts, insects, and snakes have changed beyond recognition. Outside a plague-stricken village, beside a bonfire, a blind girl speaks of the upheaval of heaven and earth: the seasons are out of order, the gods have lost their way, and everything is sliding inexorably into decline. The people suffer. Where can they go to survive? The north is ablaze with war: foreign tribes clash, old ministers seek restoration, reforms falter, and old and new faiths contend. In the southern palace, intrigue runs deep: great clans vie for power, warlords grasp for control, the imperial clan plots to seize the throne, and pirates sweep across the southeast. Refugees travel a thousand miles in search of food, finding meager shelter in a few fortified villages as they cling to the fading dream of their homeland. A general holds a lonely city alone, while the notes of a reed flute give voice to all the sorrow of a stranger in a foreign land. Amid the chaos engulfing the realm, one person appears: neither rich nor noble, with no support and no one to rely on. Armed with wisdom and courage, and wielding a sword in one hand, they call divine power into themselves and carve their own path to salvation through the currents of the age. The jianghu, the court, faith, and peoples: an alternate history of remarkable realism and immersion. Dark, grand, profound, and epic: a singular Eastern Soulslike aesthetic. Gods, seasonal markers, bonfires, and young women: an entirely new system of progression. Wanderers, nobles, refugees, and heroes: an ensemble cast of vividly realized lives. A peerless vista lies ahead. We invite you to witness it!