This game is a nod to 80s Chinese horror flicks, lets you slay monsters inspired by Asian culture

Are you familiar with the jiangshi? Jiangshi is the term for Chinese vampires, the ones dressed in Qing dynasty clothing that hop around with their arms outstretched. The only way to beat them is to slap a paper talisman on their foreheads.

Jiangshi were a huge trend back in the 80s, spawning horror films that were both terrifying and hilarious. And they make up just a small part of Asia’s diverse local folklore – a treasure trove of ideas and inspirations not often tapped on by local game developers. Malaysia’s Tomato Animation was one of the few Asian game companies to make use of this often overlooked supernatural phenomenom back in 2011, when it released its hit game Chinese Zombie War.

“We knew we couldn’t compete with big game companies, so we decided to focus on the Asian market. That’s one of the reasons why we chose Chinese vampires,” explains Nas Rahmat, speaking for the studio.

The action game features you venturing down dark paths filled with ghosts and ghouls, battling jiangshi among other beasties. Visually, it’s got some pretty awesome 3D modeling and animations – probably some of the best I’ve seen out of Southeast Asia – and proves to be a fun time slapping talismans onto vampiric heads.

A team of five worked on the Chinese Zombie War games, and made sure only to use well-known legendary or mythical characters as bosses. The games do have fictional characters like protagonist Sung and his companion the Ghost Girl, but those were developed with traditional Chinese culture in mind. Rahmat says that the game has an average of 50 to 60 hours of gameplay.

Tomato Animation later went through the 1337 Accelerator in Malaysia to market Chinese Zombie War and work on a sequel. Following a solid performance on the App Store as one of the top five overall apps in China, the sequel, Chinese Zombie War Demon Arise, was released.

With more than 750,000 downloads to date, it definitely makes sense to continue developing the Chinese Zombie War series. Rahmat tells Tech in Asia that the team is working on a major update due May 2015 as well as an animated series. Tomato Animation is also a traditional animation studio, and its 3D animation in the game has been nothing short of stellar. I’m expecting its cartoon will look the same.

Chinese Zombie War Demon Arise is available in Chinese on iOS and in English on Android.

See: More gaming startups need to work together. Malaysia’s 1337 Accelerator is why.