Medicine Quest ESC Menu Freeze Fix Guide in Where Winds Meet

A growing number of Where Winds Meet players are running into a frustrating bug where pressing ESC freezes the menu for several seconds. This becomes a serious problem when you enter the menu by accident during combat or while interacting with quests.

Many players report that the issue started right after doing the Medicine/Healer quest, suggesting that a stuck tutorial may be the cause. If you’re dealing with this, here’s a full breakdown of what’s happening and how to fix it. Check out our Where Winds Meet Codes for more rewards!

Why the ESC Menu Freezes

The slowdown seems connected to a tutorial pop-up that never appears properly. Several players noticed the bug started after:

• Doing the Medicine Quest
• Healing someone during that quest line
• Completing the crafting medicine tutorial requirement
• Reaching certain main story points

Because the tutorial box fails to trigger, the menu keeps trying to load it every time you press ESC—causing several seconds of delay before the menu responds.

Working Fixes Players Have Tested

Here are the solutions that multiple players reported as successful. You may need to try more than one.

1. Trigger the Missing Tutorial

Most players say the bug disappeared immediately after the hidden tutorial finally showed up. Ways to trigger it:

• Craft any medicine
• Clean or reorganize your inventory
• Teleport to certain quest locations (Riverside Station/Prison seems to trigger it for some players)

Once the missing medicine tutorial pops up, the ESC menu returns to normal.

2. Do a Cat Trial (Red Sword Trial)

Another reliable fix was discovered recently:

• Start the Cat Trial that uses the red sword
• Let the timer run out
• When the game tries to teleport you back, press ESC
• The healer/medicine tutorial should finally appear
• After it completes, the freeze goes away

This method worked for multiple players and is currently the most consistent workaround.

3. Restart + File Repair

Some players fixed it after combining these steps:

• Restart your PC
• Verify game files through Steam
• Use the Repair option at the login menu (bottom-left corner)

This alone doesn’t always fix it, but it may help force the tutorial to load next time you teleport or open ESC.

Additional Notes From Player Reports

• The bug almost always links back to the Medicine/Healer quest.
• It does not seem tied to hardware, graphics settings, or controller use.
• Once the hidden tutorial appears once, the issue seems permanently fixed.
• Some players said the bug appeared hours after the quest was finished, so the trigger can be delayed.

The ESC menu freeze in Where Winds Meet is annoying, but the good news is that the fix is simple once you understand what’s causing it. A stuck medicine tutorial is usually behind the issue, and forcing it to appear—whether by crafting medicine, doing the cat trial, or teleporting to specific quest areas—clears the freeze instantly. If you’re stuck with the bug, try the methods above, and one of them should get your menu working again. Enjoy smoother gameplay once everything is back to normal.