Netease's New DOTA-Like Game "Heroes of the Three Kingdoms" Expands Beta

It’s no secret that China is in love with MOBA games like DOTA and League of Legends right now. In fact, as of last month, League of Legends was the most popular PC game in China. But could a domestic contender sneak in and steal the crown? Netease will certainly hope so, as it continues to roll out Heroes of the Three Kingdoms, its own MOBA game based on (as you might guess) the Three Kingdoms lore so prevalent in lots of Chinese games.

We’ve been keeping an eye on this game since Netease made a point of pushing it at a competitive gaming event back in April; it’s obvious the company hopes that in addition to garnering regular players, its game can carve out some space for itself in China’s growing competitive gaming market. That might be a tough sell, as most of China’s top gamers already have a MOBA game of choice (generally either LOL or DOTA), and there doesn’t seem to be much unique about the game’s play style; even Netease’s own gaming portal called it “a Chinese League of Legends“.

But the game does claim to offer an improved social experience and fixes for some of the other player complaints about LOL and DOTA, and it seems to be garnering some attention. The familiar setting and characters may offer some reason for Chinese gamers to put down the fantasy heroes in League of Legends and start playing with the kinda-historical heroes in Heroes of the Three Kingdoms. (Most of the games characters are based on historical figures, but this is definitely not a historically accurate game).

If this sounds interesting to you, you can go here to download the beta and give the game a spin for yourself. But even if it doesn’t, this game is worth keeping an eye on. MOBA games only seem to be getting more popular in China, and it seems likely that in addition to the foreign imports there will be at least a couple of domestic offerings that can attract a significant following. Heroes of the Three Kingdoms may not be the most creative game on earth, but it is already attracting some attention, and this latest beta release is likely to garner more as Netease has apparently responded to player complaints by fixing a few unpopular elements of the game.

(It’s nice to see that kind of developer responsiveness becoming a trend in China. Personally I find the eternal cycle of betas to be frustrating sometimes — just release the damn game, already! — but when it’s coming from the developers genuinely wanting to tweak their game in response to player feedback rather than just a desire to build up some marketing hype, that’s definitely a good thing).