Loulan: The Cursed Sand has been officially revealed, and this action-RPG will see players take control of a skeletal warrior–who goes by the on-the-nose name of Cursed Sand–on a quest to rescue his beloved princess. Thanks to magical sand powers, the resurrected warrior stands a fighting chance against the monsters standing between him and the princess as he travels along the ancient Silk Road.
In a PS Blog post, game director Hongwen Huai revealed that the design of Cursed Sand is inspired by the Loulan mummies and the desert sand of China’s western regions. This resulted in developer ChillyRoom creating a “dual-form” protagonist, who wraps himself in golden sand to take on a human-like appearance. When he uses his powers, he shifts from Sand Form to Bone Form, which Huai described as a powerful stance built for one-against-many combat.
“On his journey, he will face powerful factions ranging from the Loulan royal family–who embody the power of the sun–to the frost-bound spiders of the Western Regions,” Huai said. “We’ve reimagined iconic landscapes of the western region through a fantastical lens, from vast deserts to flowing rivers of sand.”
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Loulan: The Cursad Sand is one of several projects supported by Sony’s China Hero Project. The team producing the game includes several veterans who have worked at Santa Monica Studio, From Software, and Platinum Games, and Huai added that Loulan uses a retro-inspired top-down camera perspective to blend classic arcade-style combat with modern gameplay ideas. Loulan doesn’t have a release date yet, but it is coming to PC and PS5.
Several more games inspired by Chinese folklore are also currently in development. Where Winds Meet launches next month and is a free-to-play action-RPG, and in the future, you can also look forward to Phantom Blade Zero and Black Myth: Zhong Kui.
