The 3 best games about China

When it comes to games about China, in the country itself people are spoiled for choice (especially if you’re a fan of the Three Kingdoms period). But not a lot of that tends to make it overseas, let alone in English. While it is improving, you still usually have to make do with the occasional level set in China, or Chinese faction to play as in a strategy title. Games in which China is the main focus are still relatively rare, but there are still some real gems among them.

Here below is my list of the essential games about China, or inspired by China.

(See: Why aren’t Chinese games popular abroad?)

1. Dynasty Warriors

Perhaps the most famous—or infamous—series to focus solely on China, Dynasty Warriors began life as a fighting game for the original Playstation. Subsequent installments, however, have been button-mashing action titles, where you wade through hundreds of enemy soldiers to achieve strategic objectives, or merely slay an enemy officer. The traces of the series’ fighting game roots are still there, though—as while you could beat the game just wildly mashing buttons, each title has also included a combo system reminiscent of Tekken or Dead Or Alive.

(See: Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends Complete Edition gameplay movie)

The earlier games in the series were impressive for their time, as the Playstation 2 was one of the first consoles powerful enough to render such huge battlefields and numbers of on-screen opponents. Before then, huge battles tended to be limited to top-down RTS titles. But Dynasty Warriors was the first game for many people that placed you on such a battlefield yourself. As the novelty wore off, however, the game remained a firm favourite for some as a source of mindless co-op fun.

For many, Dynasty Warriors was their first glimpse into Chinese history, and it’s not a bad one—most modern versions of the game have modes that stay true to the famous novel the series is based on (even if they also include nonsensical “what if” scenarios and free play modes). It’s not exactly a thorough education in Chinese history. But it could get you interested enough to want to fill in the gaps.

If you’re looking to get into the series for the first time, or haven’t touched it for a while, you’re in luck. Dynasty Warriors 8 is one of the best in the series, and had a solid recent expansion (that comes bundled with the full game in the Vita and Playstation 4 versions).

2. Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Even outside of the endless sea of made-in-China Three Kingdoms games, it’s hard to avoid them. Especially when they’re quite so good as the above Dynasty Warriors, or KOEI’s slower-paced Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Rot3K) series, it becomes impossible.

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