Happy Mid-Autumn Festival in advance, dear Sect Masters!
Since Zongmen Origin launched, we have received a great deal of feedback and suggestions from all of you, including bold ideas for new gameplay and candid criticism of the problems you have encountered. These voices have always driven the game forward! We would like to extend our sincerest thanks to every player who has taken the time to write suggestions and submit reports!!!
We know that Zongmen Origin still has its share of problems, and is far from perfect. However, as a small studio made up of only a few people, we will do everything we can to keep our promises and make the game better, until it becomes the game we hope it can be.
This update is officially called Version 1.2, although strictly speaking, it may still count as 1.2 beta ːsteamfacepalmː. We have added some city exploration gameplay, but the workload has been enormous and there is still a great deal of content to fill in, so some problems are inevitable and the overall amount of content may feel limited. More importantly, however, we have resolved many of the stuttering and AI logic issues from Version 1.1. These are underlying improvements that are not immediately visible to players and took a great deal of time, so they may not feel like new content. Nevertheless, we hope they will make the overall experience as smooth as possible.
With city exploration now in place, many of our future ideas can finally become reality!
For example, in cities, we may be able to recruit disciples, arrange marriage matches through martial contests, go on dates with female disciples, have children, and become involved in conflicts between urban gangs...
However, we are still a management simulation game, and we do not have the resources to become a massive, all-encompassing MMORPG. We will therefore keep the activities available in towns reasonably focused, so that the revival of your Sect remains rooted in the management-simulation experience.
The updates have not stopped. We will keep working to complete this game!
Here is a summary of the updates and fixes included in this release
I. City Exploration
The jianghu is more than just the Sect gate. This update opens up city exploration in Kaifeng. Click Enter in the city interface to bring your disciples into the city.
The city contains many stalls where you can trade with local merchants. The current version includes three categories: “Silk,” “General Goods,” and “Antiques.”
The city is filled with all kinds of people, and some characters will offer special tasks.
Hidden treasures may occasionally appear in the city. Keep an eye on the corners of the streets and alleys; you may find an unexpected surprise.
For now, only Kaifeng is available, and the selection of stalls and tasks is still being expanded. Based on your feedback, we will gradually open more cities and introduce richer city gameplay in the future.
II. World Secret Realms
Secret Realms will appear randomly at locations throughout the open world. When a Secret Realm appears, a special road will connect to it. Once the Secret Realm disappears, the road will disappear as well.
Secret Realms only exist for a limited time—if no one participates, or the participation limit is reached, they will disappear automatically. Opportunities never wait for anyone.
1. Ten Thousand Mountains
One team may participate, with up to five disciples selected to enter.
Strange beasts, treasure hunters, treasures, and other encounters will appear randomly inside the Secret Realm.
Defeat the final guardian beast deep within the Secret Realm to complete it. Any treasures obtained can be brought back to your base.
Note: If you leave partway through, you will not be able to take any treasures you have obtained with you.
2. Heroes' Hunt
Up to four teams may participate, with up to five disciples selected for each team.
One Energy Point is generated every 3 seconds during the event. Sending out disciples consumes the corresponding number of points based on their realm level.
At the end, teams are ranked according to the total damage they dealt to the boss. The higher your ranking, the greater your rewards.
3. Duality Clash
Only two teams may participate, with up to five disciples selected for each team. Energy generation and consumption follow the same rules as above.
The difference is that you must destroy the Energy Core in the enemy base to win, and only the winning side receives rewards.
III. Sect Sparring: Let Your Disciples Prove Themselves in the Arena
A new building, the Competition Arena, has been added and can be unlocked through jianghu technology.
You can assign disciples to spar at the Competition Arena and test their relative abilities. Sparring ends when one side yields and causes no real damage to the disciples.
After sparring ends, you can view the battle report at the Competition Arena and review the details of the most recent 10 sparring matches.
To prevent either participant from waiting indefinitely, the Competition Arena has a preparation time limit. If a participant fails to reach the designated position before the time expires, the match will be terminated.
IV. Graves and the Ancestral Hall: Remember Every Disciple Who Fought for the Sect
New burial-related technologies have been added. Once unlocked, they allow you to build a Cemetery and an Ancestral Hall.
All those who die at the Sect gate can be buried. Otherwise, the mood of Sect disciples will decline, and the closer someone was to the deceased, the greater the impact on their mood.
If you choose to bury someone in an individual grave, you can erect a memorial stele for the deceased.
The room system can be used to create an Ancestral Hall. Once you have one, you can set up memorial tablets for buried disciples and make regular offerings.
If a fallen Sect Master is enshrined in the Ancestral Hall, they can provide additional benefits to Sect disciples.
Cemeteries and Ancestral Halls must be cleaned regularly. Otherwise, resentful energy may build up and cause the dead to rise.
V. Collaboration Content: Mandate Order
New buildings related to the collaboration with Mandate Order have been added and can be built once unlocked. We would like to thank the Mandate Order development team for their support, and we hope everyone enjoys this gift from a battlefield-torn age.
VI. Other Additions and Adjustments
Added random height and weight data for disciples, making their appearances more varied.
Added the Truce Order to Sect principles.
Adjusted the unlock sequence for Sect War-related technology types.
BUG FIXES
Fixed an issue where loading an old save prevented players from obtaining the relevant new technologies.
Fixed an issue where the Cooking skill did not increase slaughtering yields.
Fixed an issue where disciples would still run to the original location and “carry air” after the item they were supposed to transport had been moved or merged with another item.
Fixed an issue where disciples repeatedly tried to transport items that could not be placed in storage.
Fixed an issue where changing equipment caused disciples to take an entire stack of equipment with the same name, making extra equipment disappear and causing them to wear an unintended item.
Fixed an issue where disciples continued to retrieve equipment after changing equipment had been canceled.
Fixed an issue where some items were still not transported into storage after clicking “Select All” in the storage settings to allow them to be stored.
Fixed an issue where, after loading an old save following a version update, newly added technologies remained locked and could not be researched even when their prerequisites had been completed.
Fixed an issue where some disciples displayed an incorrect realm after loading a save and could not read books with realm requirements.
Fixed an issue where the appearance of a recruited character did not change after they joined the Sect and equipped different armor. This takes effect after loading a save for recruited characters who are already in the Sect.
Fixed an issue where, under certain circumstances, the reward for the same task could be claimed repeatedly.
Fixed an issue where, in some cases, NPC Sects would neither start a siege battle nor retreat after laying siege to a city, leaving their troops stationed outside the city.
Fixed an issue where cities that were no longer under siege still displayed a siege icon after loading a save.
Fixed an issue where attacks launched by wandering forces were canceled after loading a save, causing the attacking troops to retreat immediately.
Fixed an issue where the two sides in Duality Clash could get stuck while moving.
Fixed an issue where the open-world walking animation did not match the force's own animation when traveling to a Secret Realm or city.
Fixed an issue where merchant goods in Kaifeng did not refresh.
Fixed bugs related to tombstone damage states.
Fixed building issues caused by map changes that made tile coordinates inconsistent with the coordinates recorded in saves, including rooms not being recognized, building clicks being offset, and construction placement being offset.
Fixed an issue where models placed in the scene affected mouse-click responses and caused click positions to be offset.
Fixed an issue where resources selected within an area could not be clicked or inspected by hovering over them.
Fixed an issue where outlines were offset while an object was selected or hovered over.
Fixed an issue where dismantling merged buildings such as roofs caused the wrong structures to be dismantled.
Fixed an issue where dismantling merged buildings returned an incorrect building position.
Fixed an issue where items already assigned for use still appeared in the Receiving Area. Items currently in use, assigned for use, or being transported will no longer appear in or be operable from the Receiving Area.
Fixed an issue where canceling an operation after clicking “Dismantle” and “Relocate Building” in the building details UI caused the “Relocate Building” button to become unusable, preventing the building from being relocated again.
Fixed an issue where disciples dispatched to visit a city from a location other than the capital could not enter the city after arriving.
Fixed an issue where there was no background music or battle music after entering a city.
Fixed an issue with the display of Technique Damage statistics in daily Competition Arena sparring reports.
Gameplay and Experience Improvements
Improved building creation logic. Foundations, roofs, and walls will now merge after construction is complete, further reducing the number of buildings and the overhead of large Sects while improving runtime and save performance.
Improved the warning shown when there are not enough coins to dispatch a team to a Secret Realm.
Added an event notification panel to Crystal Secret Realms.
Simplified disciple card controls in Secret Realms.
Improved disciple following behavior in solo Secret Realms. Disciples will no longer overlap one another.
Improved the walking animations of pedestrians in cities.
Improved the walking animations of player-controlled characters in cities.
Improved pedestrian pathfinding in cities.
That concludes all current update content for V1.2 [Realms Unveiled].
Thank you for accompanying us, urging us on, criticizing us, and encouraging us throughout this journey. With the content expansion and bug fixes for Version 1.2 in place, development of V1.3 is already underway.
Finally, we would like to share one more small thing with you~~
Zongmen Origin Official Soundtrack · Out Now
The official Zongmen Origin soundtrack was released on Steam on September 15, 2026.
The soundtrack includes 10 pieces of background music from the game, with a total runtime of approximately 1 hour 51 minutes. It was composed and produced by our good friend Richard. The melodies that accompanied you through late-night management, expeditions, and city defense can now travel with you.
[dynamiclink href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/5075060/_Soundtrack/"]
Track List:
01 Pine Mist · 11:12
02 Cloud Echoes · 10:47
03 Peak Homage · 10:08
04 Valley Awakening · 11:48
05 Skyway Song · 12:48
06 Homebound Echoes · 12:07
07 Southern Tide · 10:15
08 Seafarer's Song · 09:24
09 Island Chorus · 10:25
10 Beyond Nine · 12:24
Bundle: Zongmen Origin X Official Soundtrack — save 5% on both items
After purchase, you can listen directly from your Steam Library or download high-quality audio files for local use.
Thank you to every Sect Master willing to pause and listen to these melodies. We would also love to hear which track is your favorite in the comments.
