After the first PV exposure, can "Wanmin Changge: Three Kingdoms" enable NetEase to carry the banner of stand-alone games? | 36Kr Game Observation

Written by Feng Min 

Edited by Liu Shiwu 

Nine years after the release of "Reign of Conquerors" in 2015, NetEase's Reign of Conquerors team has finally announced that it will launch a new self-developed standalone historical war strategy game, "The Song of Ten Thousand People · Three Kingdoms" (hereinafter referred to as "The Song of Ten Thousand People"). 

On October 22, the actual gameplay footage of the game was exposed for the first time, which aroused many discussions and speculations among netizens. 

Because NetEase has not made a real standalone game in the past two decades, many netizens are skeptical about this new work: "Do you still remember 'Yan Yun Shi Liu Sheng'", "As we all know, standalone games and NetEase are not compatible". However, some players have shown strong expectations for this domestic standalone Three Kingdoms strategy-themed work: "As long as it can be made according to the actual gameplay demonstration, it should be quite fun", "I hope it can be done well. There are really no decent standalone games in China". 

Image source: Comments on the official account of "The Song of Ten Thousand People" on Bilibili

Previously, the "Reign of Conquerors" released by the Reign of Conquerors team, as a fully free real-time sandbox mobile game with the history of the Three Kingdoms period as the background and cards as the main combat method, has fulfilled the sandbox strategy war dreams of countless players. Since its launch, it has received many praises from all parties, and still has a monthly turnover of tens of millions of yuan after being online for many years. 

As a new attempt by NetEase in the standalone field, "The Song of Ten Thousand People" not only inherits the essence of the team's previous work "Reign of Conquerors", but also makes bold expansions and innovations on its basis. It uses a sandbox map that is realistically restored and seamlessly connected, allowing players to replay the history of the Three Kingdoms from their own chosen perspective and with their own will. The production team clearly stated that the game is "pure PC, pure standalone", which also conveys NetEase's determination to venture into uncharted territory and cultivate new users in the standalone category. 

What kind of "Three Kingdoms" does "The Song of Ten Thousand People" want to shape?

The game uses "Boundless battlefield, Boundless strategy; Eternal peace, The Song of Ten Thousand People" as its promotional slogan, which is both broad and deep. 

Image source: Poster of "The Song of Ten Thousand People"

The Three Kingdoms not only have wars and heroes, but also livelihoods and the common people. From the game naming of "The Song of Ten Thousand People", we can guess that the game should depict not only the thrilling and magnificent battles and the heroic figures with great spirit, but also the stories worthy of praising and the unnamed and faceless little people in the chaotic times. 

Breaking away from the elite narrative of most historical war strategy games on the current market, paying more attention to individual details and the perspective of the common people, bypassing the two "big mountains" of power and officials, and turning their eyes to the tiny "individuals" in the chaotic world, such a style may make the tone of the game more complex and profound. 

The art style of the game continues the tradition of "Reign of Conquerors". Although the official has not explained the gameplay in detail, from the official announcement and the images shown in the PV, it is believed that "The Song of Ten Thousand People" will integrate elements of classic Three Kingdoms strategy games such as "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Total War: Three Kingdoms". 

Among them, compared with "Total War: Three Kingdoms", "The Song of Ten Thousand People" incorporates the SLG infinite zoom mode. From the PV images currently released, the sandbox of "The Song of Ten Thousand People" covers various terrains such as mountains, plains, and various weathers such as sunny, cloudy, rainy, and snowy. The battles will be directly展开 on the big map in the form of army group confrontations, and the battle actions are quite clear. 

Image source: Actual gameplay of "The Song of Ten Thousand People"

In the actual gameplay demonstration released by the official, when the perspective is pulled away, players can overlook the entire land, appreciate the vast mountains and rivers, and observe the overall situation of the battle; when the perspective is pulled into the city, the army construction in the city can be seen, and even the steaming fog and flowing water in the mountains and forests can be clearly observed. The visual effect is quite stunning. 

Image source: Actual gameplay of "The Song of Ten Thousand People"

Technically, "The Song of Ten Thousand People" uses advanced graphics and physics engines to reproduce real battles and dynamic weather systems. The alternation of the twenty-four solar terms will bring changes to the atmosphere of the map scene, and small details such as roads, buildings, and even pedestrians in the city can also be clearly captured. At the same time, NetEase is likely to integrate more AI technology into this game to enhance the behavioral logic ability and environmental change richness of each AI player. 

It is worrying that since the battlefield performance is directly displayed on the big map, and there is no distinction between strategic map and battle map, the soldier model accuracy shown in the current PV is not very high. The current promotional video released by the official does not show more camera effects from the perspective of soldiers, and the stunning visual effect presented in the PV undoubtedly requires a huge amount of modeling support. Therefore, whether the refinement of specific characters in the game can meet the expectations of players is still a cause for concern. 

The Challenges of Three Kingdoms Games and the Mission of "The Song of Ten Thousand People"

Writing the history of the Three Kingdoms well and telling the stories of the Three Kingdoms well is the common wish of the developers of Three Kingdoms games. Previously, as the first 3A type SLG game of the Three Kingdoms, "Total War: Three Kingdoms" once became a model of Three Kingdoms type games with its excellent battle design and rich historical atmosphere in the narrative. However, it announced that it would stop being updated in 2021, which disappointed many players greatly.

Whether the launch of "The Song of Ten Thousand People" can "turn the tables" and create the history of the Three Kingdoms by Chinese game developers is still worth looking forward to. 

Image source: Actual gameplay of "The Song of Ten Thousand People"

It is worth mentioning that for NetEase, no matter which engine is used for development, it is not easy for "The Song of Ten Thousand People" to succeed. 

"Total War" as the leading game series in the track, has been developed for more than 20 years. Even though it has done a good job in the continuity of content and development pipelines, it still stumbled in works such as "Total War: Pharaoh". 

Image source: Actual gameplay of "Total War: Pharaoh"

A person in the game industry told 36Kr Games that in the later stage of the development of the "Total War" series, most of the development work of gameplay mechanisms has been mature, and the art style only needs to be customized according to different contents. However, SLG covers too many elements, and it is still a very difficult task to effectively integrate diversified gameplay to make the player experience smoother. 

Conclusion

Why does NetEase want to make standalone games, and even SLG? 

This is also a question that many people in the industry want to understand. Perhaps it is because of seeing the rise and hot sales of "Black Myth: Wukong" in the past two years, or perhaps it is because of the accumulation of many years of online game development and operation. NetEase believes that the time is ripe - as a first-tier game manufacturer in China, the supplement of standalone masterpieces has many benefits. 

Judging from the PV currently released, whether it is the sandbox scale, the art quality or the content modeling, "The Song of Ten Thousand People" has already reached the quality of a 3A game development. 

Image source: Actual gameplay of "The Song of Ten Thousand People"

As for whether this work, which has been questioned since the release of the first PV, is a "scam" or a "surprise", it can only be revealed after the game is officially launched. 

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This article was first published on "36Kr Games".