There are a lot of tough bosses in the recently released wuxia MMO Where Winds Meet, but none of them can match the sheer power of the goose.
Check the subreddit or the Steam forums and you'll see threads of befuddled players with titles like "Goose??" and "please be careful around geese" and "throw every goose you see." Where Winds Meet isn't really a game about killing wildlife, but like the chickens in Zelda games, these geese pack a punch.
Most players run into a quest early on where you need to heal a goose, but failing it causes the goose to transform into a demon known as Maniacal Goose. Not to excuse the goose or anything, but it does turn red, gain a boss health bar, and start chasing you, so you'd think people would realize what they're getting into. But there's an achievement involved for killing it and we all know that's gamer kryptonite.
As players of the new game wrestled with the demon goose and the other geese you can find hanging out in the open world, a strategy formed: throw them into the water and let nature take care of it. For whatever reason, geese can drown in the world of Where Winds Meet. They won't even attempt to escape as they slowly take damage and fade away.
Where Winds Meet had over 10 million pre-registrations on the leadup to its release and is now hovering around 160,000 concurrent players on Steam every day. It appears that knowledge of this special goose-slaying tactic hasn't spread fast enough to save all the new players who keep running into them.
Meet the greatest boss from r/WhereWindsMeet
"I was just exploring the map when all of a sudden I get jumped by a random white goose who does some roundhouse kick and immediately kills me," Reddit user Final-Trifle1765 says. "Is this normal?"
SebaElite1975 on Steam also seems like they missed the memo and went to the forums to demand some answers. "MAKE A VIDEO HOW TO KILL A GOOSE," they write. "I DONT WANT LETTERS I WANT A VIDEO. IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO KILL HIM."
"It's red and attacks me," is all Steam user Tarobun says in their "keep dying to goose pls help" thread. Everyone in the replies urges them to simply pick it up and throw it into the water, or, alternatively, stun the goose and run away. Tarobun posted on Monday and never responded, so I can only assume we lost another good soldier in this brutal war.
Untitled Goose Game was a warning and Where Winds Meet is the punishment for not heeding it. Geese are far more powerful than they look and can't be defeated through normal means. If you're planning on logging into the MMO soon, watch out. In the wise words of Reddit user VeryZok: "He's a god, not a goose, respect him."
