Xuande playtest

About Xuande

New playtest applications open periodically in limited batches. If you’re interested in the game, please add it to your wishlist.

Step Into a Virtual Ancient Court

Xuande is a simulation centered on life in an ancient imperial court and the governance of an empire. Drawing on Ming-era institutions and court material culture, it creates a virtual ancient world that you can step into. You take the role of the sovereign, live within the palace, and take part in the daily workings of government by speaking with its people, reviewing memorials, and issuing imperial writs and edicts. From matters within the palace walls to affairs across the provinces, you decide how the court responds.

This court is more than a set of administrative menus. Officials move through the palace, carry out their duties, attend audiences, and submit memorials. Imperial orders pass through specific offices and officials, while local affairs advance through their own processes. Observe court life as it unfolds around you, or learn about the empire through memorials, records, court bulletins, and the Complete Map of the Nine Provinces.

Talk with Characters Portrayed by Large Language Models

Characters in the game are portrayed with the help of a locally run large language model. Configure and load an AI model through the “Fengwen Tianji” screen, then talk with people you encounter. Ask officials why they have come, hear their reports, summon ministers for an audience, or speak with characters in everyday situations. Their responses and actions take part in the game’s events and administrative processes.

The game also includes some AI memory features, so certain conversations can continue to have an effect later. Learn how characters respond through dialogue, or use an imperial writ to make your intentions clear to the relevant court offices. Each office handles matters within its responsibilities, bringing conversation, official duties, and government affairs together in play.

Handle Court Affairs Through Imperial Writs

The blank imperial writ on your desk is an important way to issue orders. Set out what needs to be done and send the writ to the appropriate office. Available matters include civil appointments, local governance policies, public works, taxation, and a range of grain, treasury, and trade affairs.

• Civil appointments: Direct the Ministry of Personnel to appoint or dismiss civil officials in central or local posts.
• Governance policies: Set priorities for a prefecture, a provincial administration, or the whole empire, and revoke existing policies when needed.
• Local works and public affairs: Allocate funds for local construction, improve local attributes, conduct household surveys, or survey land.
• Tax administration: Adjust tax rates in a selected region or across the empire.
• Grain and relief: Direct local authorities to use state granaries to stabilize grain prices, distribute grain, or transport it to a specified destination.
• Treasury and trade: Order the Grand Granary to buy or sell goods, issue or redeem paper notes, and settle deficit accounts.

Orders enter the relevant administrative process. Follow the actions of officials and departments as they carry them out, then consult memorials, daily briefings, and account books to see how the work is progressing.

Read Memorials, Add Red-Ink Annotations, and Consult Records

Officials at every level submit memorials to the sovereign. Review a memorial, add your decision in red ink, seal it, and send it on—or instruct a eunuch serving in the Directorate of Ceremonial to make the red-ink annotations on your behalf. The documents and account books exchanged across the court are an important way to follow government affairs.

Palace desks, bookcases, and storerooms hold imperial edicts, writs, decrees, memorials, the Complete Map of the Nine Provinces, tax-tribute registers, provincial finance and grain records, and inventory ledgers and annual account books for the Grand Granary, Guangji Storehouse, and Inner Imperial Treasury. Inspect supplies in the Inner Imperial Treasury, follow tax shipments on their way to the capital, or use records of construction, state granaries, household surveys, and land surveys to track related work.

Oversee the Empire’s Two Capitals and Thirteen Provincial Administrations

The Complete Map of the Nine Provinces shows regions at the prefecture level and above across the empire’s two capitals and thirteen provincial administrations. Review local political information and watch movement in real time: when an official travels to a new post, their sedan chair moves across the map from one place to another; tax-tribute shipments bound for the capital appear there as well. Recent map-weather effects add rain and snow across different regions, letting you observe changing conditions throughout the empire.

Local governance centers on the circumstances of each prefecture. Set local priorities, fund construction and other public works, adjust taxes, survey households and land, allocate grain from state granaries, and respond to grain prices and relief needs. The map, official reports, and related records give you different ways to follow local administration and the movement of public funds and supplies.

Walk Through and Interact with the Palace

Move through palace scenes yourself, using the keyboard or mouse to navigate, and rotate or zoom the view to examine your surroundings. For distant destinations, ride in the imperial sedan chair: speak to the bearers, tell them where you want to go, then adjust their speed or ask them to stop along the way. Location descriptions cover the Hall of Imperial Supremacy, Hall of Central Supremacy, Hall of Establishing Supremacy, Qianqing Palace, Jiaotai Hall, Kunning Palace, Meridian Gate, Duan Gate, the Six Offices Corridor, the Grand Secretariat Hall, and the Inner Imperial Treasury.

People and offices in the palace each have their own duties. Court eunuchs announce visitors, attendants summon the sedan chair, bearers carry it, copyists deliver documents, and the Imperial Music Office arranges the palace’s time signals. Summon ministers for an audience, or call eunuchs to carry objects to a chosen location. Some items can also be managed and purchased through the Directorate of Imperial Accouterments’ inventory and workshop register.

Observe Court Order and Daily Operations

Palace spaces have defined areas, posts, and routes. Embroidered Uniform Guards patrol and stand watch at the main halls and around Meridian Gate and the Grand Secretariat, carrying out duties in their assigned areas. After appointing officials, you can watch officials from the central departments give thanks at Meridian Gate. When someone must be dealt with, you can direct the guards to carry out your order.

The Imperial Music Office keeps time in the palace. Consult its schedule of time signals, or speak with a court eunuch to adjust the bells and drums for a particular hour. Sedan rides, moving objects, audiences with officials, memorial processing, and palace timekeeping all contribute to the order and daily workings of the court.

From the game's Steam page.