Maybe it's my dumb westerner worldview speaking, but I feel like just a few years ago china was mainly known for bootlegs and knock offs in terms of game development. I'm happy they're making really cool games like this and others these days.
So it’s China Souls? Cool.
And you’re right OP, almost no big games came out of China until very recently, the first big one in the US was Genshin Impact and that was only like a year ago.
Hm, the comments are surprisingly positive. What's going on here?
(cw) remember when Blizzard was bad for caving to China, instead of for sexually harassing employees to suicide?
gamer brain see good game say me want play. also no politicals in the trailer
Can't be political when everyone's a shapeshifting monkey
:think-about-it:
Tencent hate is insane (bad company, but not for reasons Redditors say).
The developers of this game used to work for Tencent Games. Tencent is the Electronic Arts of China, their games are just designed to be cash cows. Here's a meme on Bilibili to give you an idea: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1z64y1c7ne
People really want a reason to justify that they've bought next gen consoles.
G*mers are all China bad until their sick next gen game drops.
The only constant is change. The frothing sinophobe you met on reddit one year can, in the span of as little as a year, become a tankie in line with the modern anti-imperialist trend.
I really hope Chinese media can break through to the west. It seems like Japanese and (South) Korean media have started to break through, but it seems like Chinese media has a very hard time it seems (I'm sure there are explanations for that). If anyone has recs, I would love to check them out. I like this band called Carsick Cars. They make me think of sonic youth. I also know Genshin, but that's really all I know for Chinese media.
There's been some incredible movies from mainland China over the years, they're just often overlooked in the West. Anything by Jia Zhangke is phenomenal, particularly 24 City. Long Day's Journey into Night was an indie darling and has a truly breathtaking last 40 minutes all done in a single take. And An Elephant Sitting Still is one of the best movies of the 21st century thus far. They don't need an A24 production company because the quality of films some folks in China are putting out is already there, just need better buzz.
I think they might need to relax some of their censorship laws and overcome some of their taboos to do a true A24 like movie tbh (I'm probably wrong about that).
Edit: Ty for showing how I'm wrong about this.
See this comment for details, but they already have those types of movies. Censorship and taboo isn't a concern here, the indie movie scene in China is already developed.
Aw fuck, thanks for letting me know. Changing it now!
EDIT: wait lol how do I link to that comment, I feel confused.
:sankara-salute: There's some seriously good cinema from China that I'm excited for you to check out!
I definitely have an unfortunately western view of China (like most other Americans). I'm glad you corrected me. I hope more good cinema from China becomes talked about (maybe even a Parasite big film).
theres this show about the romance of the three kingdoms thats pretty cool (theres like 100 episodes)
its apparently the most expensive chinese show ever, its pretty hammy sometimes but its good shit, just constant betrayals and backstabbings etc and its sorta-historical and the guy who plays cao cao is amazing
Hell yeah, that Cao Cao has some strong Toshiro Mifune, stubborn ronin vibes going on. Awesome.
I wonder what sort of common idiosyncrasies in Chinese games I'll notice as they start to become more common in the west. Like there are notable differences in UI conventions between Japanese and US games. Even European games have certain common traits that are peculiar to them. I dunno, it'll be interesting to see.
Like there are notable differences in UI conventions between Japanese and US games.
like what?
X being confirm in Japanese games while O is confirm in American games is one, I'm at a loss for what else though because it seems to me like every game ever has a bespoke UI.
I wouldn't be surprised if all the people that grew up on western games are deciding to make their own games (and their industry is developing).
It would be nice if china could use their games industry to break the poor perception in the west. it probably wont happen and it probably doesnt matter, but I'm envisioning a policy similar to the "cool japan" thing japan is doing. improve their soft power by using cultural influence through making good games. something like that.
edit: I see you basically said the same thing before me lol.
It seems like the right thing to do. Soviets always struggled with soft power (I know that China isn't trying to be a like the Soviets, but Soft Power is good.
I would love to see major game industries grow in other countries. In too many games you're either an American soldier or a Japanese high school student, I'd love to hear other people around the world telling their stories
more and more games are using those snow effects and I am so fucking here for it
Only older game I can think of is Alice: Madness Returns, which was directed and written by westerners but produced by Spicy Horse, a Chinese studio.
I didn't know Alice: Madness Returns was developed by a Chinese studio. Good to know.
Before, I thought it looked like a tech demo more than anything. Now...
:monke-return:
