With Witcher 3's scale and Sekiro's combat, this free open-world game just hit ten million sign-ups days before launch

Where Winds Meet is nothing if not ambitious. Hailing from developer Everstone Studio and published by NetEase, the sprawling action-adventure will take us back a millennium to ancient China. My current favorite open world game is a toss-up between The Witcher 3's iteration of the Continent and Dragon's Dogma 2's Vermund and Battahl, the latter mostly for the realistic traversal and devastating encounters if you stray too far from your comfort zone. But NetEase's latest promises to rival even the greatest worlds we've seen, boasting Witcher 3-level scale and Sekiro's fast-paced, parry-based combat. Don't believe it? Ten million pre-registered players already do.

While I, too, will wait to go hands-on before passing judgment, it's easy to see why so many have pre-registered. First of all, it's completely risk-free. This is a free game, not a pre-order for a $100 special edition. There's nothing to lose - other than your time - if this doesn't pan out.

But Where Winds Meet looks impressive, too. From the trailers and screenshots already shared, the characters seem interesting, the sunsets breathtaking, the monsters horrifying, and towns are bustling with NPC activity. The strange catfish-like creature alone is enough to coax me in.

With the Where Winds Meet release time fast approaching, NetEase has finally announced the game's download times. You can preload Where Winds Meet from Wednesday, November 12, at 2pm PST / 5pm EST / 10pm GMT / 11pm CEST.

With over 10,000 NPCs and 1,200 artifacts promised in the ancient city of Kaifeng alone, this is a game that might just never end. You can expect some cosmetic monetization, but I'm pleased to hear that Everstone has already pledged to avoid gameplay-altering IAPs.

Where Winds Meet releases on Friday, November 14. You can download it on Steam here.

Whether you want to find every 10th-century Chinese artifact or master all 12 of the game's martial arts, Where Winds Meet is set to cause a stir when it launches later this week.