China is the world’s largest video game market, both in terms of the number of players and total dollar value. Last year there were 665 million gamers in the country, which is almost half of the total population.
However, the international gaming community pays relatively little attention to Chinese video games. This is somewhat understandable as China has a reputation for producing mediocre mobile games that emphasize microtransactions and profit over exciting and addicting gameplay.
The government, meanwhile, has made understandable but sometimes bizarre attempts to limit screen time for under-18s. There was even a total ban on gaming consoles in the country that started in 2000 and didn’t end until 2015.
Another damper on the game development industry in China was a video game license freeze that spanned from August 2021 to April 2022, causing thousands of video game-related businesses to shut down.
But despite these limitations, developers in China have been stepping on the gas in recent years, so to speak. Many excellent games are already out there, and as the industry continues to thrive, many more are in development.
Here we have outlined 10 Chinese games that every video game fan should check out. We’ve tried to list great games you haven’t heard of, so there won’t be Genshin Impact here or anything with Honor, Legend, or Kings in their titles.
1. Naraka: Bladepoint
PC, with Xbox and PlayStation 5 versions coming this year
If you’re into the hugely popular battle royale genre (think titles like Fortnite, Call of Duty, and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds), this could be the game for you. On the same subject : How can GamStop users win while playing video games?.
Developed by Hangzhou-based 24 Entertainment and first published by NetEase Games Montreal on August 11, 2021, Naraka: Bladepoint is in many ways your classic battle royale. Expect a variety of weapons, superhuman characters, and an encroaching arena that will shrink until a single player remains.
In other respects, however, this Chinese video game is entirely self-contained. For starters, while you can kill a competitor from afar in the aforementioned titles, Bladepoint emphasizes close-range combat. You can still attack from afar, but a successful strategy requires virtual violence at close range and in person. We’re talking swords, daggers, nunchucks, and a so-called “bloodripper” that looks a bit like a demonic chainsaw equipped with a circular saw at the end. Not particularly practical in real life, but certainly ready to get the job done in the realm of the imagination.
The intimate fighting style reminds us a bit of arcade fighting games like Tekken and Mortal Combat, with moves and an aesthetic reminiscent of the movies Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and House of Flying Daggers. The characters, or “heroes” as they’re called, are all refreshingly unique in their combat styles and weapons. You can also customize fighters, resulting in some slightly awkward renderings of Squidward, Yoda, and more.
Prepare to be repeatedly hacked to pieces in the beginning as the gameplay has a bit of a learning curve.
2. Lost Soul Aside
PC, PlayStation 4 and 5
Remember when Lost Soul Aside was first announced in 2016? By now you’ve probably completely forgotten or gone insane from waiting. To see also : This New Show Just Beat The Boys On Prime Video. Half a decade ago, the game only had one developer, Yang Bing, and audiences were amazed at how a sole proprietorship could look so damn cool.
Although the development team has grown significantly since the game was announced, it is still led by UltiZero Games. Based on the gameplay trailer released in April 2021, viewers have compared it to Final Fantasy XV and Devil May Cry for its fast-paced gameplay and epic visuals.
The main character has a seemingly endless array of superhuman abilities and is accompanied by a floating robo-dragon (of a kind). The game will have open-world abilities, and combat is meant to be quite challenging. Although there is no release date yet, we expect it to arrive in 2022.
3. Bright Memory: Infinite
PC, Xbox
No list of games would be complete without a good old fashioned first person shooter (FPS). Enter Bright Memory: Infinite, an FPS that also includes combat with a variety of swords. Players start out with a single blade and a machine gun, and are armed with some cool combat moves – a metaphysical pull function, block, and dodge. On the same subject : The 10 longest running video game franchises, ranked. As you progress through the game, you can collect several additional weapons with their own feel and function.
The game is a remastered and expanded version of the original Bright Memory that was released in early 2019. Both were developed by FYQD, originally a one-person studio headed by Zeng Xian Cheng. It’s still a fairly minor operation, which makes the second game’s tangible improvements all the more impressive.
Bright Memory: Infinite was released on November 11th, 2021 and so far the response has been great. The title follows the story of Shelia Tan, an agent for the Science Research Organization who is tasked with investigating a mysterious force in the sky that is sucking in her surroundings. You probably won’t get too wrapped up in the narrative though, as there’s almost nothing but action after the intro, which we’re okay with.
4. Black Myth: Wukong
PC, “mainstream consoles”
One of the most well-known folklore figures in China is the Monkey King Sun Wukong. Sun appears in countless texts, both ancient and contemporary, but is most associated with the 16th-century novel Journey to the West, in which he is a traveling companion of Tang Sanzang, a character based on the true Buddhist Monk Xuanzang based.
The Monkey King has also appeared in numerous theatrical productions, films, television shows, and more than a dozen video games (even the Dragon Ball anime television series incorporates elements from the story). But that doesn’t mean that Black Myth: Wukong isn’t something special.
Developed by indie studio Game Science, Black Myth: Wukong is a third-person action-adventure game in which players take on the role of the protagonist, Monkey King. It’s easily the most hyped Chinese game yet to be released, and with good reason: the diverse landscapes and characters are packed with nods to Chinese history and cultural aesthetics, with stunning visuals and battle scenes that are downright badass.
Small details in the game correspond to the original Monkey King mythology. Take, for example, the scene in a gameplay teaser where Sun stretches out his staff and balances it on end to defeat a giant white dragon. He can lengthen the magic golden staff in the original mythology at will.
Daniel Ahmad, senior analyst at Niko Partners, says Sun will have 72 skills in total. So expect more mystical moves that echo original folklore – things like shapeshifting and splitting into infinite versions of himself.
No specific release date has been set yet, but players are anticipating a 2023 release.
5. F.I.S.T.: Forged in Shadow Torch
PC, PlayStation 4 and 5
Welcome to Shadow Torch, a colonized city of anthropomorphic animals known as “Furtizens”. This is a Metroidvania, which for the uninitiated is a subgenre of action-adventure games in which players navigate an open world, unlocking abilities and new areas of the map as the game progresses.
Rayton, a souped-up rabbit and ex-soldier in the war against the Machine Legion, plays the main character. He wields a massive, versatile “fist,” a device recycled from an ancient war machine Rayton once piloted, which contains his main weapons. The city is clearly inspired by steampunk, and the different districts have their own look and feel.
The game is two-dimensional and uses left-right scrolling to navigate the map. It has a fantastic storyline – albeit with some subpar English-language voice acting – and features cameos from a variety of fascinating humanoid animals, from cats to rats and bears to red pandas, not forgetting robotic canines.
F.I.S.T was developed by TiGames and was released in October 2021 via Antiidelay. With relatively simple and user-friendly gameplay, it serves as a great introduction to the oversaturated Metroidvania market.
6. Conqueror’s Blade: Paragons
PC
If you’ve always wanted to control the whims of a mad warlord conquering foreign lands, you might want to embark on a soul quest. Alternatively, you can lean right in and try out Conqueror’s Blade.
Like many popular games made in China, this massively multiplayer online game (MMO) is free to play. Fortunately, while there are some pay-to-play elements, most of these are cosmetic and not necessary to succeed in the game.
Developed by Booming Games, Conqueror’s Blade is a turn-based game that contains action and tactical gameplay elements. What’s incredibly cool is the fact that it includes both Eastern and Western style medieval warfare. The latest update released on March 17, 2022 – Conqueror’s Blade: Paragons, as seen in the video above, was inspired by medieval France.
It’s classified as a “sandbox game,” meaning players have a great deal of control and creativity over gameplay, and don’t necessarily have to follow any set goals or objectives (think Minecraft and Grand Theft Auto).
7. Wuchang: Fallen Feathers
PC, unspecified next-gen consoles
Set in imperial China during the collapse of the Ming Dynasty, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers combines history, folklore and otherworldly dystopian elements for a surprisingly fresh take on the ancient era.
Inspired by the turbulent times, players are thrown into a country plagued by unrest. Warlords, banditry and violence abound. Adding to the chaos is a mysterious condition that is causing people to grow feathers and lose touch with their humanity. The protagonist’s task is to uncover the cause of the strange disease.
This is the first title developed by LenZee Games from Chengdu, formerly Recano Chengdu Hurricane Zone. Fallen Feathers, an action role-playing game, is influenced by games like Bloodborne, Dark Souls, and Sekiro. Don’t hold your breath to fall fast though: the game is slated for release in 2024.
8. Let’s Hunt Monsters
Mobile
We hesitated to include this in the list as it’s strikingly similar to Pokemon Go (and we don’t want to be responsible for avoidable deaths). Still, the animated creatures are too cute to miss!
To be fair to the developers at TiMi Studio Group, Pokemon Go was never available in China, which explains their drive to fill a much-needed gap in the niche market. After all, like many mobile games, they require the player to be literally mobile.
Like Pokemon Go, Let’s Hunt Monsters is an augmented reality (AR) game in which players capture digital creatures using their real-world geolocations. However, instead of Pokemon, it hunts for creatures inspired by Chinese mythology. To catch all 302 monsters, players use “Spirit Orbs” (basically yin-yang Pokeballs) derived from “Prayer Drums”.
You can also build structures within the game that mirror gameplay in MMOs. Tencent-developed blockchain will even allow players to trade digital “kittens” in a feature not dissimilar to the Ethereum blockchain game “CryptoKitties.”
Let’s Hunt Monsters was first announced by Tencent in April 2018 and has been available in Chinese app stores since April 11, 2019. While there have been numerous attempts to recreate the success of Pokemon Go, none have quite matched, although Let’s Hunt Monsters has come closer than the rest. Five months after its release, the game generated more than $50 million in revenue on iOS alone.
9. Tower of Fantasy
Mobile, PC
Tower of Fantasy is an action RPG with narrative elements and open world gameplay. If you think this sounds a bit too Genshin Impact-y, then you’re not the only one; The game’s developers even dubbed their creation the “Genshin Impact Killer.”
However, Smack Talk isn’t the only scandal they’ve been embroiled in: They were previously blasted with plagiarized content in a promotional video and later, apparently not learning from their own mistakes, allegedly used reviews for Genshin Impact to boost their ratings of their own game.
Nonetheless, Tower of Fantasy has been in China for a year and is slated for a global release in 2022, much to the excitement of global players. In March of this year, it was reported that the title would enter closed beta testing in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Germany.
While Tower of Fantasy is similar to Genshin Impact in many ways, the former is set in the future and combines elements of sci-fi with anime-inspired characters. It also allows for character customization and the use of different weapon types no matter which character you choose, further setting it apart from its rival.
Published by Hotta Studios and published internationally by Perfect World, the game is set on the post-apocalyptic planet Aida. The planet’s once thriving and technologically advanced energy source, Omnium, has become its undoing, as the radioactive material has caused some of the planet’s remaining inhabitants to mutate.
10. Icey
iOS, MacOS, PC, Android, Nintendo Switch
Originally developed by the Shanghai FantaBlade Network in 2017, Icey is a two-dimensional side-scrolling action game – with a few twists. Led by an almighty narrator called “Developer” who guides you in your every move (should you obey), the goal is to control the eponymous humanoid robot Icey.
In this melee-style hack ‘n’ slash adventure, Icey is armed with a sword and tasked with defeating a powerful enemy named Judas while uncovering the meaning of her existence. From start to finish, the developer aggressively asks you to follow him in every direction, but the greatest fun is defying his overbearing, sometimes passive-aggressive commands.
The game is cheap to buy, and the story doesn’t last more than a few days, although in subsequent sessions you can start again and break down the story differently. As such, it’s the perfect game for the casual gamer or anyone looking to have a pleasant few hours of digital distraction.
Honorable Mention: Stray (Formerly HK_Project)
PC, PlayStation 4 and 5
Stray is breaking a new niche and isn’t technically a Chinese video game, but is set in a dystopian future in Hong Kong. It was developed by BlueTwelve Studios and published by Annapurna Interactive based in Southern France and California respectively. The game is scheduled for release in July 2022.
Players take on the role of a stray cat tasked with navigating the chaotic streets and buildings of a once-thriving megacity now inhabited exclusively by robots. His ultimate goal is to be reunited with his family.
The game aesthetic is heavily influenced by the Kowloon Walled City, which was demolished in the 1990s at the behest of Hong Kong authorities. It was once the most densely populated place on earth and operated independently of the British colonial government and law enforcement agencies.
Needless to say it was a fascinating place and we regret not having visited before it collapsed. But thanks to Stray, a Kowloonesque adventure is still possible. Navigating the city as a furry cat gives players a unique perspective on the digital world, allowing for mobility and challenges that a chunky two-legged human just can’t handle.
Tales of Wind (Free to Play) It is similar to Genshin Impact and if you are interested in such games, Tales of Wind is worth trying. With cute characters, graphics and a soothing experience, this game has so much to offer you. You can customize your character with tons of outfits to your liking.
What Genshin means?
Genshin is considered the founder of the Enshin school of Tendai Buddhism and an advocate of “original enlightenment”. Teaching or Hongaku (本覚), where one is originally enlightened but not aware of it. In all, Genshin left more than 30 works that continue to influence Pure Land’s thinking to this day.
What is Genshin known for? Genshin Impact’s unique character designs are great for a variety of reasons. For starters, it’s easy to identify a character as soon as you see them. Other games tend to have issues where a player cannot tell who they are looking at. In Genshin, all playable characters have a unique appearance.
What is Genshin in Japanese?
Hearing, Judge, Trial.
What is Genshin in Chinese?
Genshin Impact (Chinese: 原神 Yuánshén) is a free-to-play action role-playing game developed and published by HoYoverse.
What language do they speak in Genshin?
Genshin Impact supports 13 text languages and 4 voice-over languages. You can change them independently and use any combination you want! Supported Text Languages: English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, Thai, Vietnamese, German, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian.
Is Genshin Korean or Chinese?
What languages are spoken in Genshin?
Currently, Genshin Impact supports many different game languages to choose from. First of all, these include Dutch, Vietnamese, Korean, Russian and more. However, the voice-over choices are much more limited. At the moment the game only supports English, Japanese, Korean and Chinese.
Is Genshin Chinese or Japanese?
Beating Japan with its own (video) game: A smash hit from China. Genshin Impact, a near-picturesque reproduction of Japanese fantasy RPGs, has raised billions of dollars and sent shock waves through the world’s aging video game superpower.
What language do they speak in Liyue?
The Teyvat language (unofficial name), also known as the slang, is a written language found in the open world in Mondstadt and Liyue, as well as in tutorial images. It will likely be a universal written language throughout Teyvat.
Who owns Genshin Impact now?
Genshin Impact has been published by miHoYo since its release in September 2020. miHoYo are also the main developers of the game along with their other games like Honkai Impact and Tears of Themis.
Does miHoYo still own Genshin Impact? Genshin Impact developer and publisher miHoYo has announced that it will rebrand itself internationally to reflect its current expansion plans. miHoYo, the developer and publisher of the hugely popular online game Genshin Impact, is the latest company to announce a rebranding in the ongoing “Verse” trend.
Does China own Genshin Impact?
There’s only one catch: it’s Chinese. Released in late 2020, the game is the first true international hit for the Chinese video game industry. In its first year on the market, it grossed $2 billion, a mobile gaming record, according to Sensor Tower, a company that monitors mobile apps.
