RPGs With Chinese Characteristics

I can’t always combine my love for China and games, but right now, I’m playing two different new Chinese releases. The first is RainBlood, an indie PC RPG from developer Soulframe. It’s technically not new, but the English translation is.  It’s a blend of mythic storytelling in fictionalized China, and hack-and-slash combat. I can’t tell yet if it’s a bit combat-heavy for my taste, or if the story is so intriguing that fighting bad guys is just a distraction.  RainBlood is beautiful, with hand-drawn greyscale backgrounds of curving Chinese village streets.

The second is Princess Fury, a classic combat RPG for the iPhone from Chinese developers Mo-Star. So far, this tends towards button-mashing, not my favorite gamestyle (I see button-mashers as the checkers of videogames — there’s nothing wrong with it, but wouldn’t you rather play something else?), but I’m really enjoying my adorable purple-haired princess with her giant sword and her male harem, er, adventuring party.