This article is part of Sixth Tone Voices & Opinion’s end-of-year series reviewing how China’s AI, film, game, and VR industries evolved in 2025.
After last year’s breakout success in the Chinese game industry, 2025 was comparatively quiet. Black Myth: Wukong, the much-hyped hit of 2024, failed to snag the coveted Game of the Year Award, and there were no new AAA titles to take its place. Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, an action game set in the late Ming dynasty (1368–1644), may have tried to replicate the knockout success of Black Myth, but only made headlines for its controversial storyline.
Yet this year’s comparative silence may actually be a good sign, since it communicates to game developers hoping to coast on tried-and-true formulas of success that it’s time for more novel and creative gameplay. There was a time when “soulslike” games — games characterized by difficult, unforgiving combat and instant resource loss — were a guaranteed box office hit in the Chinese gaming market. However, tastes have changed. Lost Soul Aside, a game clearly influenced by the soulslike model, was a total dud, with reviewers panning it for a lack of originality, shattering any developers’ wishful thinking. Players were similarly unimpressed with rehashes of previous successes, like the lackluster sequel to 2023’s hit game Love Is All Around, which seemed to prove that the original’s ability to tap into male fantasies may have been a fluke of specific circumstances and timing. It just may be that the norms were the exceptions all along.
Instead, the big domestic hits this year were low-budget, indie titles. Unlike the formulaic sheen of polished commercial games, these small-scale titles bucked convention and showcased boundless creativity. The hit game Sultan’s Game, released at the end of March, sold 450,000 copies in just three weeks and 1 million by early July. This game offered players something entirely new with its blend of strategy, court intrigue, branching storylines, and card-pulling mechanics that actually affected the storyline rather than relying on luck. Somehow, the developers combined “One Thousand and One Nights”-style fantastical stories, fan culture, and political intrigue reminiscent of Chinese palace intrigue to create a highly playable game.
Another trend that emerged in 2025 was putting a new spin on classic formulas, as seen with this year’s summer blockbuster, Road to Empress. At first glance, it appears to be just another interactive movie game, but is elevated by a novel story. While most games set in the imperial harem portray gaining the emperor’s highest favor as the best outcome, Road to Empress draws inspiration from real Tang dynasty (618–907) ruler Wu Zetian — China’s first female emperor, who rose from the harem to the throne — making the goal to become emperor. The developer, New One Studio, did not reinvent the wheel in terms of gameplay; however, by combining powerful narrative elements, they filled a market gap that should have been addressed long ago, allowing fans of the genre to at last appreciate a more polished treatment. According to data provided by the developers, the game sold 1 million copies within 12 days of its release.
Another creative retooling of an existing genre is the shooter Escape From Duckov, which became wildly popular both domestically and internationally in October. Even casual players can see that the game is a parody of the classic game Escape From Tarkov — a first-person shooter whose core mechanics and objectives revolve around searching for resources, fighting, and reaching an extraction point to escape in time. However, instead of battle-hardened soldiers, a gritty setting, brutal gameplay, and a high level of difficulty — all of which helped to make it a beloved game among hardcore players — Escape From Duckov deploys cute, blundering ducks to tell its story. Suddenly, the gravity of the situation falls apart amid their silly antics and flippant attitudes, suggesting a contempt for over-seriousness that taps into the broader sense of frustration and cynicism among young people today. What started as a parody, even down to the name, turned out to be surprisingly captivating.
Of course, we cannot ignore the global market. With Wuchang: Fallen Feathers failing to meet expectations and indie games having a relatively limited impact, Chinese players had lowered expectations for a 2025 “cultural export.” Some even voiced disillusionment with international awards altogether after Black Myth: Wukong failed to win Game of the Year at The Game Awards last year, decrying industry efforts to secure global recognition. However, come November, a martial arts game that had otherwise been flying under the radar blew up in the international market.
Where Winds Meet, an action role-playing game themed around wuxia developed by NetEase, garnered a stunning 9 million international players within two weeks of officially launching its international servers. Whereas Black Myth: Wukong seemingly catered to more familiar Chinese folklore to attract international attention, Where Winds Meet follows no such trend, set in the lesser-known and turbulent late Tang dynasty and Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (907–965). When it first launched domestically at the end of 2024, it received a lukewarm reception from Chinese players familiar with wuxia games. However, since its global launch, the game has been gaining steam.
Refreshingly, Where Winds Meet has been unapologetic about its Chinese-ness, from the character design and setting to the combat style, and despite a planned international release, is seemingly unconcerned with future international ambitions. Although it is too soon to tell how successful Where Winds Meet will become, or what this success means for the domestic game market, it signals a shift. Somehow, this wuxia game — catering more to domestic player interests — became the very cultural export so many game developers have been vying for all along. If anything, it shows how efforts to please international audiences are not what make for a beloved game.
As The Game Awards unveiled its 2025 winners earlier this month, there were no high hopes for Chinese games, unlike with Black Myth: Wukong. Yet in a sense, it’s a sign that Chinese developers are still digesting the jolt of the Black Myth phenomenon and are moving toward making games for more mature, discerning players. 2025’s hit games have challenged the norms, prioritizing innovative gameplay and themes. Together, they prove that instead of merely paying lip service to “internationalization,” developers are better off focusing on what they do best: honing cultural elements, themes, and gameplay.
Black Myth: Wukong will always function as a landmark in the Chinese gaming industry, but in its wake, it’s as if the clouds once hanging over the industry are dissipating. Now, Chinese developers are relieved of the pressure to prove themselves, and instead find time to just play. Once the industry breaks free from the myths of the tried-and-true success, the Chinese game industry will no doubt find its next Black Myth.
Translator: Hannah Lund.
(Header image: Visuals from VCG and Steam, reedited by Sixth Tone)