Frequently Asked Questions

Most questions we receive come down to the same five misunderstandings about how Road to Empress works:

• Deaths are content, not failure. Every Bad Ending includes an inner monologue that reveals character motivations you cannot see otherwise. Dying ten times in your first chapter is the intended experience.
• Affinity is tracked per character, silently. The game never shows you a number. Small polite choices (+1, +2) accumulate; a handful of pivotal moments are worth +8 or +9 and decide which routes stay open.
• QTEs are rare but absolute. Failing a quick-time event always leads to a Bad Ending — there is no "retry from checkpoint" inside a scene.
• RtE II's prologue choice is permanent. Main Story and Side Story are two separate campaigns locked behind an irreversible first decision.
• Historical knowledge helps, but won't save you. The game follows Tang Dynasty history loosely. Knowing what happened to the real Wu Zetian tells you the destination, not the road.

Still stuck? Browse the FAQ pages below, or check the chapter walkthroughs for the exact choice you're facing.