■ Late Northern Song, and the court is in the hands of the treacherous minister Gao Qiu

The magistrates bleed the people dry, and the bled turn to the hills.

You are one of them — no land, no power, a fugitive from the start.

There is only one path to victory: strike down Gao Qiu. But first, you must earn the Emperor's edict.

■ Two Scales — the heart of this game

The edict comes not by force, but by legitimacy.

Feed the people and win the support of the prefectures, and your Righteousness rises — reach 250, and Emperor Huizong hands down the edict, opening the gates of Kaifeng.

On the other side stands the Imperial Court's Attention. Raiding magistrates brings gold and land, but attention climbs — reach 100, and the punitive army of the Ten Military Commissioners marches down.

No single action fills both scales — which way to lean is the question of every turn.

■ 154 Biographies — the people are the story

Song Jiang, Lu Junyi, Wu Yong, Lin Chong, Wu Song, Li Kui... 154 characters, from the novel's 108 Stars of Destiny to the rest, each with a face and a biography of their own. Two characters bound by fate deal double damage fighting side by side, and any general at 100 loyalty can be sworn as a blood brother to grow your ranks.

■ A story across three acts

Act 1, "Fugitive" — start with no land and no power, fleeing the magistrates' pursuit to found a stronghold.

Act 2, "Stronghold and Edict" — gather followers, build Righteousness, and seize Gao Qiu at Kaifeng.

Act 3, "Jiangnan and Fang La" — march on the Emperor's orders against Fang La; after Hangzhou falls, the final council at the Hall of Loyalty and Righteousness splits three ways (tragic loyalty, Way of Heaven, or a kingdom beyond the South Seas). Then, in 1127, the Jin arrive.

■ Terrain is tactics

Battles unfold across three stages — opening, midgame, decisive — each ten days apart, where you choose a stance each time.

Cavalry dominates open plains and dies in rough terrain; naval forces are unstoppable on water — this isn't a game about memorizing a matchup chart, it's a game about choosing where to fight.

■ Hypothetical scenario: "Hero War"

Eighteen of the 108 Stars, each holding one city, locked in a "what if" no one ever gathered at Liangshan. Everyone starts with the same means — what's left is character alone.

■ This game is for you if

· You love Koei-style turn-based strategy simulations

· You're curious about the people of Water Margin, the era before Three Kingdoms

· You want an ending decided by legitimacy, not unification

■ Please note

· Offline single-player only. No servers, no login — saves live only on your device.

· The characters, places, and events are drawn from the novel Water Margin, adapted for the game.

· Some character portraits were produced with generative AI, then hand-selected and touched up by a human.