The games industry in China is thriving at the moment, thanks in part to the success of Black Myth: Wukong. This year's Phantom Blade Zero could be another big moment for the country's development scene, and now it appears Sony's own China Hero Project is bringing promising titles to the table.
A Whisper of Fall: Jinyiwei is an upcoming action RPG from Chinese developer CangMo Game Entertainment, and it's being supported by the China Hero Project that Sony runs. It blends martial arts combat with parkour moves, and you can sample four minutes of gameplay in the trailer above. It's set for release on PS5 and PC.
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It doesn't sound like the game is open world; rather, it's split up into multiple open sandbox levels that you travel through time between via the use of a "deduction" ability. Here's the plot pitch:
In A Whisper of Fall: Jinyiwei, you play as an ordinary boatman. Due to an unexpected incident, you are forced to infiltrate the Jinyiwei (Imperial Guards of the Ming Dynasty) as an undercover agent for the black market. Within the Jinyiwei, you hone your martial arts skills and carry out missions for the Imperial Guard Bureau while also completing tasks assigned by the black market. As the investigation into cases deepens, you catch a glimpse of a massive conspiracy.
There even seems to be a deduction/mystery side to the game, as you need to solve cases by interrogating people and identifying criminals.
"Caught in the whirlpool of conspiracy, will you choose to become a knight-errant who fights for the nation and its people, a bureaucrat content with a corner of peace, or perhaps find another path," a press release asks. "The choice is entirely yours."
There's no release date attached yet, but you can add the game to your PS Store wishlist now through the link. Do you like the look of A Whisper of Fall? Share your first impressions in the comments below.
Comments 11
Where the Phantom blades meet Wukong: Whispers edition
Listen I'm loving the fact that China are taking console gaming seriously, but they are starting to ever so slightly look the same...
They had me at the first trailer way back when!
Graphic and combat looks solid. And i like the premise of playing as an ordinary boatman who forced to become an undercover agent, 'detective', and also martial artist.
I think this and Loulan are two promising games from China Hero Project. But the good thing is they not release this year or they'll lose the spotlight to PB0.
@Oram77 Seriously, these Chinese games look way too damn similar. Either they're anime gacha games or grim wuxia soulslikes. Like, if you told me these were screenshots from Phantom Blade Zero, I'd believe you.
Look, I get this sort of historical fantasy wuxia stuff is really popular in China, but I really wish we could get a big budget AAA game set in modern-day China; sorta like the Yakuza series, but not necessarily gang-related and with less fantasy. Sci-fi/cyberpunk would be good, too, I suppose.
East Asia is such a big part of the gaming industry, but there are a shockingly few amount of AAA games set in modern-day East Asia. At least not ones that aren't anime-style or whatnot.
Looks good! These Hero Projects from Sony are such good initiatives, i hope they’ll expand to even more regions outside China, India and Middle East. Like South American and South East Asia perhaps. Love seeing games made from different perspectives and cultures besides the mainstream ones
Not saying the game looks bad what so ever but these types of games are all beginning to just blend together.
They're just to many of them for me at this stage.
Time will tell, they may end up doing very well.
@Questionable_Duck "Sci-fi/cyberpunk would be good, too, I suppose"
Edit: oh wait, you want AAA so forget my list.
Unreal Engine 5 was a mistake; so many games looking identical without any art direction =[ But the gameplay looked solid, too many souls-adjacent games to even consider playing another however
@Oram77 Yeah, they all do seem to blur together for me as well. It’s not unlike the zombie and certain horror games also, the ones with “Dead” in their names — Dead Island, Dead by Daylight, Dead Rising, Dying Light, House of the Dead, and many others with zombies in them, either in the title or gameplay — Zombie Army, Zombi, World War Z, and so on. I know for those who play these and are well-informed, unlike me, these games are all very different. I’m sure it’s true of the samurai style action games. And I know samurai is a Japanese term, and many of these are Chinese, so not sure the right term… Google say maybe “Youxia”? I’m not sure what a feudal sword wielding warrior would be called in the Chinese culture. But yeah, I’m sure the games all have their distinct qualities and perhaps are nothing alike one another, but the previews and gameplay footage do seem quite similar.
Edit: or Sci-Fi / Cyberpunk, as a good callout by @PuppetMaster
Edit 2: Ah, “Wuxia”, that’s the term. Thanks @Questionable_Duck
Feel a bit queasy about all these 'Chinese games look the same' comments - the UE5 criticism is more valid though. Personally find all these new titles refreshing after seemingly decades of Western games based around guys running around shooting each other.
@Oram77 Right. It’s like they’re all trying to copy Ghost of Tsushima at its core, the setting is always similar and the whole game design resembles each other. It’s great for fans of this style but it’s starting to feel diluted somehow.
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