When did the Homestead update release in Where Winds Meet?

Version 1.8 'Companions Make Home' released on June 25, 2026 across PC, PS5, Xbox, and mobile, and it remains the current version. It shipped two headline systems: the Homestead estate itself and the new pet companions. If you're returning after a break, note that this was the sixth major version since the November 2025 launch — the estate system did not exist before it. A follow-up called 'Beyond Artistry', adding creative design tools for customizing and showcasing your residence, arrives as July 2026 content, so estate customization is about to get deeper than what launched in 1.8.

Where is the Homestead located?

Your Homestead estate is the Blissful Retreat, the village in Qinghe where your character's story began and which earlier story chapters left in ruins. Version 1.8 turns that ruined settlement into a working estate with three interlocking systems: you recruit local villagers to staff the buildings you construct, you build production structures — inns, porcelain kilns, farms, and breweries — that generate goods on independent cycles, and you route those goods through trade paths that convert production into income. It isn't a cosmetic housing instance; nothing produces anything until you assign a worker to it. The practical loop: rebuild to unlock worker slots first, stagger your production buildings, then open trade routes as goods pile up.

What pets are available in Version 1.8?

Three cats arrived with the June 25 launch — Maverick, Scar, and Pudding — each with a distinct personality, and Goldie the goose joined the roster one week later. Pets are more than estate decoration: they react to weather, world events, and your presence as you move around the Blissful Retreat, which is why the version is subtitled 'Companions Make Home'. They arrive alongside the estate system rather than being tied to any production mechanic, so you can enjoy them from day one of rebuilding without optimizing around them.

Where Winds Meet Homestead Guide – Version 1.8 Companions Make Home

Companions Make Home: your own estate in Blissful Retreat

Version 1.8 "Companions Make Home" (released June 25, 2026 on PC, PS5, Xbox, and mobile) adds the system wuxia life-sim fans have been asking for since launch: a Homestead you own, staff, and grow. This guide covers what the system is, how the estate economy works, and what the new pet companions actually do.

Last verified against official Version 1.8 announcements on July 6, 2026. Exact unlock thresholds and building costs are being verified in-game and will be added as we confirm them.

What the Homestead Is

Your estate is the Blissful Retreat — the village in Qinghe where your character's story began. If you played the early chapters, you watched this place get reduced to ruins. Version 1.8 turns that story background into playable ground: the ruins become your personal estate and an ongoing community project.

This is not a cosmetic housing instance. The Homestead is a working settlement with three interlocking layers:

People — recruit local villagers as workers. Each recruit staffs the buildings you construct and keeps production running while you are out in the world.
Production — construct and operate functional buildings: inns, porcelain kilns, farms, and breweries. Each produces goods on its own cycle.
Trade — manage trading routes that move what you produce. The trade layer is what turns a decorated village into an income source.

How to Approach Your First Week

The estate rewards a rhythm rather than a grind: set production going, leave to play the game you were already playing, and come back to collect and reinvest.

Rebuild before you specialize. Early construction unlocks more villager slots, and workers are the constraint on everything else.
Stagger your production buildings. Inns, kilns, farms, and breweries run on different cycles — starting them all at once means one big idle gap later, while staggering keeps something ready every time you return.
Open trade routes as soon as goods pile up. Stockpiled goods do nothing; routed goods compound into the resources you need for the next construction tier.

The Pet Companions

Version 1.8 also introduces pet companions, and they are more reactive than standard MMO vanity pets. At launch you can meet three cats — Maverick, Scar, and Pudding — each with a distinct personality. One week after launch, Goldie the goose joined the roster.

Pets react organically to weather, world events, and your presence. They are estate residents rather than combat units: expect them around your Homestead behaving like animals that live there, not like followers waiting for orders.

What's Coming Next

NetEase has already announced the follow-up: "Beyond Artistry" arrives as July content, adding creative design tools to customize the look of your residence and showcase it to other players. If you care mostly about the decoration side of housing, that is the drop to watch — Version 1.8's core is the economy, and Beyond Artistry is the paintbrush.

For where 1.8 sits in the bigger release picture — and what came in versions 1.2 through 1.7 while you may have been away — see our 2026 update timeline.