The last few years has seen China make greater pushes into the larger gaming industry outside the country's borders. While companies like NetEase have done so by investing in notable developers like Bungie, developers within studios are making greater efforts to get worldwide attention on their own games. The latest developers to do so are Beijing Joyfun and Wangyuan Shengtang with Faith of Danschant: Hereafter, a game looking to combine the epic, action-RPG action of God of War with the style of Wuxia martial arts films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or Hero.
Faith of Danschant: Hereafter is a sequel to 2017's Faith of Danschant, a turn-based action-RPG set in a fictional world inspired by Chinese mythology. The game put players in the boots of a young adventurer looking to restore balance to a world thrown into chaos after two mythical stars vanish. While the game did not receive international release on console, it is currently available to download on Steam and holds an 89% user rating.
The newest trailer for the sequel was released as part of the Wangyuan Carnival, a special event Wangyuan Shengtang held as part of its July 2021 investor conference. It appears Joyfun and Wangyuan are ditching the turn-based style of the first game for a faster gameplay style, akin to the God of War or Devil May Cry series. It also seems to be taking a cue from God of War as the protagonist squares off with a mythical being in a large scale battle akin to Kratos' epic battles against the Greek and Norse gods.
To help the game stand out, the developers appear to be taking cues from China's numerous and popular Wuxia martial arts films. The trailer shows the protagonist effortlessly running up and across bamboo trees, much like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. This style of traversal appears to give the protagonist more freedom in not only traversal, but in combat encounters to get over and around tougher enemies.
Joyfun and Wangyuan seem to be following in the footsteps of Chinese developer Game Science, which made a splash online in August 2020 with a 13-minute pre-alpha gameplay video for its upcoming game, Black Myth: Wukong. Both games look to be among the first of a new wave of Chinese games trying to make a splash in Western markets by taking familiar gameplay styles and giving them a fresh aesthetic twist. One factor working in both game's advantage is how few games have explored or used Chinese mythology to this point. The most prevalent series is Dynasty Warriors, which is a fictional retelling of China's Three Kingdoms period, while Ninja Theory's Enslaved: Odyssey to the West is loosely based on the popular Chinese myth Journey to the West.
Faith of Danschant: Hereafter has no official release date and is confirmed to be releasing on PC and console. The game will be localized for release in foreign markets.