 |
| Pictured - an ingame screenshot from the game Legend of Mortal Cultivation (凡人修仙传奇). |
Forget intense boss battles and complex skill trees. A new RPG on Steam is betting that what players really want is to sit back, relax, and let their character do the work. Legend of Mortal Cultivation (凡人修仙传奇), which launched in its final form on January 30, 2026, is carving out a unique niche as the laid-back antithesis to high-stakes, high-stress role-playing games.
Blending the incremental progress of an idle clicker with the expansive world of an MMORPG, the game offers a different take on the popular "Xiuxian" (cultivation) genre. Instead of demanding your constant attention for intricate action combat like Eldegarde, it focuses on the passive, lifelong journey of a mortal who discovers the god-tier Haotian Mirror.
The "Second Monitor" Cultivation Sim
At its core, Legend of Mortal Cultivation is about automated growth. Your character perpetually cultivates spiritual energy in the background, whether you're actively playing or not. Player agency comes from managing and upgrading the Haotian Mirror, which directly influences the potency of loot dropped from world bosses and stage encounters.
It’s a deeply numbers-focused, incremental system designed for what players are calling "second-monitor gaming." You can make meaningful progress while working, browsing, or watching a show, checking in periodically to upgrade your mirror, refine your loot, and set your character on a new path.
But does the game deliver on its promise of a stress-free ascent to immortality? The initial user reviews offer some clear insights. A look at the early player feedback on Steam shows a community that understands the game's niche appeal, but points to one towering barrier for a global audience.
 |
| (Image source: Steam) |
 |
| (Image source: Steam) |
The Great Wall of Text: A Significant Language Barrier
The most prominent caveat for international players is stark: Legend of Mortal Cultivation is not available in English. The interface, menus, quests, and all narrative content are exclusively in Chinese. Without proficiency in the language, navigating the game's systems is a significant challenge.
This hasn't stopped dedicated players, however. The community has quickly adopted workarounds, using machine-translation tools like XUnity.AutoTranslator or screen-capture translators such as Google Lens to parse menus in real-time. Many are employing mod frameworks like BepInEx to inject English text overlays directly into the game's Unity engine, a testament to the demand for a title like this outside its home region.
Performance & Accessibility: Lightweight but Cramped
Technically, the game is a lightweight powerhouse. With modest requirements of just 4 GB of RAM and a small storage footprint, it runs effortlessly on older or budget hardware.
For Steam Deck users, the verdict is mixed. The handheld lists the game as "Unverified." It runs, but the experience is tailored for a desktop. The UI is heavily dependent on mouse precision, forcing heavy use of the trackpads. Furthermore, the Chinese text is reportedly tiny and difficult to read on the Deck's 7-inch screen, compounding the language issue.
For those interested in the deeper technical stats and history, sites like SteamDB provide a detailed look at the game's rollout and data.
The Verdict: A Niche Worth Watching
Legend of Mortal Cultivation presents a fascinating proposition: a truly passive MMORPG-lite experience. It successfully eliminates the grind associated with its genre by making that grind the entire, automated point. The satisfying loop of accruing power and boosting loot quality has clearly found an audience.
However, its current form is best suited for Chinese-speaking players or exceptionally patient international fans willing to embrace third-party translation tools. If the developers add official language support, they may find a much wider audience ready to embrace cultivation the chill way—one automated meditation session at a time.
Legend of Mortal Cultivation is free-to-play and available now on Steam.
 |
| (Image source: Steam) |