A new rumor claims that Genshin Impact, Honkai: Star Rail, and Zenless Zone Zero developer HoYoverse is developing a new fantasy game with a realistic art style departing from the company’s familiar anime-style aesthetic.
A screenshot from Genshin Impact (2024), HoYoverse
According to a post from Yenuzu in the GamingLeaksAndRumors subreddit, HoYoverse is working on a fantasy action game that will feature an “epic narrative” and have a realistic art style.
The game will reportedly be inspired by the Chinese classic text, The Classic of Mountains and Sea of Shanhai jing.
A screenshot from the GamingLeaksAndRumors subreddit
The poster also shared a link to Imgur that showed off apparent concept art for the game that showed a lone swordsman at the bottom of a waterfall facing off against what appears to be a giant gryphon-like creature.
Alleged concept art for unnamed HoYoverse game in development
If you are unfamiliar with The Classic of Mountains and Seas, Penguin Classics, which publishes the work describes it as a “major source of Chinese mythology (third century BC to second century AD) [that] contains a treasure trove of rare data and colorful fiction about the mythical figures, rituals, medicine, natural history, and ethnic peoples of the ancient world.”
The publisher adds that the work “explores 204 mythical figures such as the gods Foremost, Fond Care, and Yellow, and goddesses Queen Mother of the West and Girl Lovely, as well as many other figures unknown outside this text.”
It also “contains crucial information on early medicine (with cures for impotence and infertility), omens to avert catastrophe, and rites of sacrifice, and familiar and unidentified plants and animals. It offers a guided tour of the known world in antiquity, moving outwards from the famous mountains of central China to the lands ‘beyond the seas.'”
The Classic of Mountains and Seas (2000), Penguin Classics
What do you make of this rumor about this upcoming realistic fantasy game from HoYoverse?
