Kapital Koopas: A Gamer's Guide to Chinese Culture and History
Press F to pay respects to all the fallen goombas. It's time for a deep dive into China's gaming culture in our column, Kapital Koopas.
In recent years, video gaming has evolved far beyond its humble beginnings into, in many cases, a unique art form – more than just a hobby to test the limits of our mental dexterity, but an opportunity to sincerely expand one's own worldview. In that spirit, we present a series of games inspired by traditional Chinese cultural and artistic heritage that will help you better understand your adopted home through enjoyable, immersive experiences.
These games all have English localization, are free to play, and are available on app stores via their Chinese titles.
Ink Mountains and Mystery 绘真 妙笔千山
Traditional Chinese ink painting is known for its unique panoramic approach when depicting a breathtaking landscape. And the national heritage 千里江山图 Thousands of Miles of Mountains and Rivers demonstrates this technique perfectly with its out of this world skills. The game inspired by this painting bestowed this long scroll with the depth of the third dimension and movements to vividly show the stunning views of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River in a poetic way. A joint effort by developer NetEase and the Forbidden City Museum, Ink Mountains and Mystery offers players a chance to explore this beautifully designed masterpiece, interact with residents of yore and listen to their stories, all while solving challenging puzzles.
The Everlasting Regret 画境长恨歌
In fairytales, the prince and princess generally live happily ever after. In the real world, however, love does not always last. And while we all love a happy ending, poets and writers have always been equally enamored with stories of starcrossed lovers, fated to live in worlds at odds with one another. The romance between 唐明皇 Emperor Xuanzong of Tang and 杨玉环 Yang Yuhuan is one that starts with passion but ends with sorrow. And the name of this game comes from one of the most famous romantic poems based on their story, The Song of Everlasting Regret. You may not be able to change their destiny in this puzzle game, but sometimes it is the loss of love that makes it all the more irreplaceable.
Nishan Shaman 尼山萨满
Not all games inspired by Chinese culture and tradition are about ink painting or Han culture. From the shadow play of its visual design to the storyline and music, every detail of Nishan Shaman is rooted in the mythology of northern China's minorities. In this game, you play as the shaman of a tribe and use her drum as a weapon while waging war against an unmerciful god. Essentially, it is a beat game – think DDR or Rock Band for fingers only – but unlike the traditional ones, these beats propel the narrative development, with particularly climactic moments culminating in unique tribal growls that are enough to put goosebumps on your arms.
Mortise & Tenon 匠木
Looking for something quick and fun during your morning commute? Try solving some wooden joint puzzles like the ancient Chinese! Mortise and tenon were not invented to merely entertain ancient Chinese folks after a long day in the fields. Rather, they became an integral part of furniture and architecture design. In fact, those grand traditional Chinese palaces and temples don’t require a single nail thanks to the advent of mortise and tenon. In this game, you get to assemble masterpieces like an old-time carpenter, from cutting the timber all the way through to applying the final layer of polish. What's more, it's full of interesting little tidbits about the differences between various mortises and tenons and their functionalities.
And now for a little Chinese gaming vocabulary lesson...
吃鸡 chī jī Based on the line, “Winner winner, chicken dinner,” it soon became the name of a particular game genre in which players compete on an ever-shrinking island with random weapons until one player is left standing. In other words, games like Fortnite.
肝帝 gān dì the king of grinding. Refers to people who either can't or are unwilling to sink a large amount of money into gameplay, but willing to invest their time instead. These gamers need to work even harder to close the gap between themselves and 人民币战士 rénmínbì zhànshì RMB warriors or people who pay money to get certain advantages in a game.
小学生 xiǎoxuéshēng primary school kids. A way to provoke rivals and make fun of players who are constantly bragging about how good they are, but fail to win a single match or contribute in any useful way to to the team.
Images and videos courtesy of the corresponding game developers and publishing companies and platforms
