Where Winds Meet now has an extraction mode. Transdust Ruins, built as a collaboration with Escape from Tarkov, opened on September 23, 2026 at 6:00 (UTC+8), according to a dev letter Everstone Studio posted on the official site on September 21. It is the second big drop of Version 2.2, Perilous Eminence, which went live on September 16, 2026 and wrapped up the Hidden Mountain storyline. As with the rest of Version 2.2, the mode is part of the free-to-play game on PC, PS5 and mobile.
What's new in Where Winds Meet: Transdust Ruins
The official dev letter describes Transdust Ruins as a take on Tarkov's risk-and-reward loop, rebuilt around wuxia combat. There are no firearms. Fights rely on blades, Lightness skills, Mystic Skills and close-range Martial Arts.
- Where it takes place: a desert map in Hexi, with dunes, ruins, caverns and waystations. Random sandstorms can force you to change your route.
- Team size: solo, or with up to two teammates. Game8 lists four queues: Solo, Trio, AI Solo and AI Trio, with Solo and Trio sharing one rank.
- How a run works: the studio splits each match into four phases: preparation, search, contest and extraction. You pick weapons, armor, skills and supplies from your warehouse or the shop, then loot containers such as chests, jars, carts and bookshelves before the timer runs out.
- Player-versus-player options: you can fight openly, ambush, assassinate, disguise yourself or avoid other players. A signature skill, Celestial Seize, lets you take an item off an opponent without defeating them first.
- Extraction: exit points come with conditions. Some limit how much weight you can carry out, others charge a toll. A Safety Case protects a few valuables if a run goes wrong.
- Rewards: loot you extract is converted into Golden Treasure Tokens, used to buy gear and shop rewards, plus Floral Weave for cosmetics and accessories. The collab cosmetics include a Tarkov-inspired Deathknell Knight mask and a Wind-kov avatar, both limited-time.
Per Game8's guide, you need to be level 20 or higher and to finish the "Sands of Perils" exploration quest. The mode sits under Wandering Paths, then Arena. Game8 also reports that Floral Weave is capped at 2,000 per week and that the current Transdust Ruins season resets rank, warehouse contents and Golden Treasure Tokens when it ends on January 7, 2027.
Version 2.2 Perilous Eminence: the rest of the update
Transdust Ruins arrived on top of an update that was already large. Released on September 16 after a maintenance window from 5:00 to 10:00 (UTC+8), Perilous Eminence brings:
- The Hidden Mountain finale. Game8 lists two main-story chapters, "A Bitter Winter and Sea of Sunfire" and "Reckoning with Qianye", which require Hidden Mountain Chapter III. The official dev letter says the story turns on refugees arriving after the mountain gate falls and the Mohists deciding whether to take them in.
- Skyward City Ruins and Halcyon. The campaign boss is a former Grandmaster with a mechanized arm. The studio describes three phases, including an aerial chase on mechanical birds and a final phase where her arm becomes a magnetic whip.
- Two world bosses: Goshawk, a hammer user who spreads iron sparks, and Golden Colossus Taicu, a construct about a hundred meters tall that you climb to break its joints.
- Guild changes, per the official patch notes: an editable roster homepage, Guild War season statistics, honorary titles for top performers and a blacklist for the Guild Base.
- A temporary closure: the Reflection Temple entrance is shut until the Jiangnan region arrives. Stage progress is kept.
The patch notes list no Path or weapon balance changes for Version 2.2.
What it means for players
If you like PvP but find arena duels too narrow, Transdust Ruins adds a new kind of risk: you can lose what you bring in. The Safety Case and the AI queues soften that, so it is possible to learn the map without facing full squads right away. The level 20 requirement also means fairly new accounts can join.
For story players, the practical point is that the finale is locked behind Hidden Mountain Chapter III. If you have not finished it, that comes first. Players who use the Reflection Temple should note that it stays closed until Jiangnan launches.
What's next
The official news feed shows a new appearances drop for September 25 to 27. Game8's event tracker also lists a Mid-Autumn special event from September 25 and a Hide-and-Seek event from September 30, and gives October 15, 2026 as the end date of the current battle pass.
Everstone Studio has confirmed that Jiangnan is coming, since the patch notes tie the Reflection Temple's reopening to it. However, it has not officially dated Jiangnan or Version 2.3 as of September 28, 2026.
