NetEase game Blood Message may have the best video game graphics ever

After Black Myth: Wukong put China on the map in terms of single-player action games, new title Blood Message seems to be going a step further.

Up until the last couple of years, the Chinese video games industry has had virtually no visible influence on the Western market. Giant publishers like Tencent and NetEase do own numerous Western developers, and shares in publishers, but no one would play a game like Marvel Rivals and assume it came from China.

But all that has changed recently, with last year’s Black Myth: Wukong (and Stellar Blade from Korean studio Shift Up) cementing a new era of Asian video games that are not from Japan.

You would think that the lack of experience, with console style single-player games, would require a long period of learning and experimentation, but in terms of graphics that has not been the case at all. To the point where new game Blood Message is already looking better than almost any other game in development.

All we’ve got to go on is the trailer below, but the game is published by NetEase and developed by 24 Entertainment in Hangzhou, China. It’s described as a ‘cinematic, single-player, linear story-driven action adventure’ for consoles and PC.

A lot of the first wave of Chinese single-player games have been heavily influenced by FromSoftware and the Soulslikes genre, including the upcoming Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, but Blood Message seems to be closer to Sony titles such as God Of War and The Last Of Us.

There’s little further information about the gameplay, except that it blends ‘visceral, realistic combat’ with ‘stealth and survival mechanics.’

The story is based around the final years of the Tang Dynasty, in the 9th century, and casts you as an unnamed messenger trying to travel East, with his young son, during Dunhuang’s Uprising. We’re unclear how much of it is based on historical reality but there doesn’t seem to be any magic or fantasy elements.

Unreal Engine 5 is being used for the visuals and if the trailer is an accurate representation of what the game is going to look like in action, then we should all be in for a treat.

There’s no word on a release date or year, which is usually an indication that the game is a long way off, but hopefully we’ll find out about that soon.

‘As our first completely single-player focused experience from NetEase Games, after two decades of deep dedication to the gaming industry, we are prepared to deliver a truly epic and cinematic experience for players around the world,’ said Zhipeng Hu, Lead Producer and NetEase Executive Vice President.

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