{"id":65171,"date":"2026-04-13T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=65171"},"modified":"2026-04-23T15:08:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T06:08:41","slug":"developers-of-dark-fantasy-visual-novel-based-on-real-life-yangzhou-massacre-to-add-new-what-if-route-after-too-brutal-and-tragic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/developers-of-dark-fantasy-visual-novel-based-on-real-life-yangzhou-massacre-to-add-new-what-if-route-after-too-brutal-and-tragic\/","title":{"rendered":"Developers of\u00a0dark fantasy visual novel based on real-life Yangzhou massacre\u00a0to\u00a0add\u00a0new \u201cwhat-if\u201d route after\u00a0\u201ctoo\u00a0brutal\u00a0and tragic\u201d story causes mixed reactions\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The hit historical visual novel The Hungry Lamb, which has sold over 1 million units since its release in 2024, recently got a standalone sequel titled The Weeping Swan: Ten Days of the City’s Fall<\/strong>. Releasing on April 3 on Steam<\/a>, the new title is already off to a strong start, with over 95k units sold during the first week. However, when it comes to reception, the game currently sits at a \u201cMixed\u201d rating, which prompted developer ZerocreationGame to address players in a new message of \u201cgratitude and apology.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Weeping Swan is a fantasy visual novel set in the mid-17th<\/sup>\u00a0century,\u00a0during the final years of\u00a0China\u2019s Ming Dynasty.\u00a0The protagonist,\u00a0a\u00a0scholar\u00a0and aspiring novelist\u00a0called\u00a0Fang\u00a0Zhiyou, suffers\u00a0emotional\u00a0trauma from the\u00a0sudden\u00a0death of his childhood love,\u00a0causing him to lose some of his memories and suffer from a strange\u00a0affliction that\u00a0causes him to\u00a0see people as beasts. One day, after drinking heavily, he finds himself trapped in\u00a0The Lion Camel Kingdom, a macabre story\u00a0he\u2019d\u00a0written himself based on the Journey to the West.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The kingdom is being attacked by armies of demon\u00a0soldiers, and amidst the\u00a0horrific\u00a0violence and pillaging\u00a0(inspired by the real-life tragedy of the Yangzhou Massacre), Fang\u00a0Zhiyou\u00a0encounters\u00a0a\u00a0young girl resembling his childhood friend. He vows to\u00a0keep her alive, and\u00a0from there,\u00a0the\u00a0game follows a dual-timeline story as the protagonist\u00a0uncovers the truth behind his lost memories\u00a0while navigating\u00a0numerous\u00a0life-or-death situations.\u00a0The title comes with warnings for depictions of violence,\u00a0psychological horror and suicide, among other\u00a0mature\u00a0themes.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, some parts of The Weeping Swan\u2019s dark story seem to have been too much for its audience, leading to dissatisfaction among a portion of reviewers. In their recent message to players, the developers say that after reflecting the feedback, they\u2019ve realized they \u201cfailed to fully account for the player experience\u201d in their pursuit of a creator-driven narrative. \u201cCertain explicit depictions and tragic elements caused discomfort, distress, and even offense for some players. We are truly sorry for not providing an appropriate emotional outlet.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response, the\u00a0developers\u00a0plan to add an\u00a0additional\u00a0route to The Weeping Swan. It\u00a0will be a short,\u00a0biographical-style\u00a0\u201cwhat if\u201d route that will\u00a0presumably offer\u00a0some\u00a0kind of\u00a0emotional relief\u00a0against the game\u2019s tragic themes.\u00a0ZerocreationGame\u00a0plans to release the new route within the first month\u00a0of the game\u2019s launch, alongside two interactive CGs and\u00a0a new music\u00a0track.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On a separate note, The Weeping Swan is also set to get a full voiceover for an additional language within the year. While the game is currently voiced only in Simplified and Traditional Chinese, it supports English, Japanese and Russian text. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Weeping Swan: Ten Days of the City’s Fall is out now for PC via Steam<\/a>.  Its predecessor, The Hungry Lamb, is available on PC (Steam<\/a>) and Nintendo Switch<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related: <\/strong>Nintendo Switch store brings back dark Chinese visual novel The Hungry Lamb after 3-month suspension<\/strong><\/a><\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Weeping Swan is set to get an additional “what if” route following an apology from developer ZerocreationGame.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":65177,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[18],"class_list":["post-65171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-global-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nDevelopers of\u00a0dark fantasy visual novel based on real-life Yangzhou massacre\u00a0to\u00a0add\u00a0new \u201cwhat-if\u201d route after\u00a0\u201ctoo\u00a0brutal\u00a0and tragic\u201d story causes mixed reactions\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Weeping Swan is set to get an additional "what if" route following an apology from developer ZerocreationGame.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/developers-of-dark-fantasy-visual-novel-based-on-real-life-yangzhou-massacre-to-add-new-what-if-route-after-too-brutal-and-tragic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Developers of\u00a0dark fantasy visual novel based on real-life Yangzhou massacre\u00a0to\u00a0add\u00a0new \u201cwhat-if\u201d route after\u00a0\u201ctoo\u00a0brutal\u00a0and tragic\u201d story causes mixed reactions\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Weeping Swan is set to get an additional "what if" route following an apology from developer ZerocreationGame.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/developers-of-dark-fantasy-visual-novel-based-on-real-life-yangzhou-massacre-to-add-new-what-if-route-after-too-brutal-and-tragic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-13T13:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-23T06:08:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/20260413-65171-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1710\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"853\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Developers of\u00a0dark fantasy visual novel based on real-life Yangzhou massacre\u00a0to\u00a0add\u00a0new \u201cwhat-if\u201d route after\u00a0\u201ctoo\u00a0brutal\u00a0and tragic\u201d story causes mixed reactions\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","description":"The Weeping Swan is set to get an additional \"what if\" route following an apology from developer ZerocreationGame.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/developers-of-dark-fantasy-visual-novel-based-on-real-life-yangzhou-massacre-to-add-new-what-if-route-after-too-brutal-and-tragic\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Developers of\u00a0dark fantasy visual novel based on real-life Yangzhou massacre\u00a0to\u00a0add\u00a0new \u201cwhat-if\u201d route after\u00a0\u201ctoo\u00a0brutal\u00a0and tragic\u201d story causes mixed reactions\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","og_description":"The Weeping Swan is set to get an additional \"what if\" route following an apology from developer ZerocreationGame.","og_url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/developers-of-dark-fantasy-visual-novel-based-on-real-life-yangzhou-massacre-to-add-new-what-if-route-after-too-brutal-and-tragic\/","og_site_name":"AUTOMATON WEST","article_published_time":"2026-04-13T13:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-04-23T06:08:41+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1710,"height":853,"url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/20260413-65171-header.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Amber V","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_site":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Amber V","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/developers-of-dark-fantasy-visual-novel-based-on-real-life-yangzhou-massacre-to-add-new-what-if-route-after-too-brutal-and-tragic\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/developers-of-dark-fantasy-visual-novel-based-on-real-life-yangzhou-massacre-to-add-new-what-if-route-after-too-brutal-and-tragic\/"},"author":{"name":"Amber V","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/fdc6517a00e35b6917ffdb02e8b574d9"},"headline":"Developers of\u00a0dark fantasy visual novel based on real-life Yangzhou massacre\u00a0to\u00a0add\u00a0new \u201cwhat-if\u201d route after\u00a0\u201ctoo\u00a0brutal\u00a0and tragic\u201d story causes mixed reactions\u00a0","datePublished":"2026-04-13T13:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-23T06:08:41+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/developers-of-dark-fantasy-visual-novel-based-on-real-life-yangzhou-massacre-to-add-new-what-if-route-after-too-brutal-and-tragic\/"},"wordCount":582,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/developers-of-dark-fantasy-visual-novel-based-on-real-life-yangzhou-massacre-to-add-new-what-if-route-after-too-brutal-and-tragic\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/20260413-65171-header.jpg","keywords":["News (Global)"],"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/developers-of-dark-fantasy-visual-novel-based-on-real-life-yangzhou-massacre-to-add-new-what-if-route-after-too-brutal-and-tragic\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/developers-of-dark-fantasy-visual-novel-based-on-real-life-yangzhou-massacre-to-add-new-what-if-route-after-too-brutal-and-tragic\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/developers-of-dark-fantasy-visual-novel-based-on-real-life-yangzhou-massacre-to-add-new-what-if-route-after-too-brutal-and-tragic\/","name":"Developers of\u00a0dark fantasy visual novel based on real-life Yangzhou massacre\u00a0to\u00a0add\u00a0new \u201cwhat-if\u201d route after\u00a0\u201ctoo\u00a0brutal\u00a0and tragic\u201d story causes mixed reactions\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/developers-of-dark-fantasy-visual-novel-based-on-real-life-yangzhou-massacre-to-add-new-what-if-route-after-too-brutal-and-tragic\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/developers-of-dark-fantasy-visual-novel-based-on-real-life-yangzhou-massacre-to-add-new-what-if-route-after-too-brutal-and-tragic\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/20260413-65171-header.jpg","datePublished":"2026-04-13T13:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-23T06:08:41+00:00","description":"The Weeping Swan is set to get an additional \"what if\" route following an apology from developer ZerocreationGame.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/developers-of-dark-fantasy-visual-novel-based-on-real-life-yangzhou-massacre-to-add-new-what-if-route-after-too-brutal-and-tragic\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/developers-of-dark-fantasy-visual-novel-based-on-real-life-yangzhou-massacre-to-add-new-what-if-route-after-too-brutal-and-tragic\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/developers-of-dark-fantasy-visual-novel-based-on-real-life-yangzhou-massacre-to-add-new-what-if-route-after-too-brutal-and-tragic\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/20260413-65171-header.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/20260413-65171-header.jpg","width":1710,"height":853,"caption":"The Weeping Swan"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/developers-of-dark-fantasy-visual-novel-based-on-real-life-yangzhou-massacre-to-add-new-what-if-route-after-too-brutal-and-tragic\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u30db\u30fc\u30e0","item":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Developers of\u00a0dark fantasy visual novel based on real-life Yangzhou massacre\u00a0to\u00a0add\u00a0new \u201cwhat-if\u201d route after\u00a0\u201ctoo\u00a0brutal\u00a0and tragic\u201d story causes mixed reactions\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","name":"AUTOMATON WEST","description":"AUTOMATON is a website that covers the Japanese gaming world. We bring you the news on video games from Osaka and Tokyo.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization","name":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","width":374,"height":190,"caption":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/AUTOMATON_ENG","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCabvYnvuUUbbGUrxkaFRgSA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/fdc6517a00e35b6917ffdb02e8b574d9","name":"Amber V","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","caption":"Amber V"},"description":"Editor-in-Chief since October 2023. She grew up playing Duke Nukem and Wolfenstein with her dad, and is now enamored with obscure Japanese video games and internet culture. Currently devoted to growing Automaton West to the size of its Japanese sister-site, while making sure to keep news concise and developer stories deep and stimulating.","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/author\/amber-vjestica\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65171"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65656,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65171\/revisions\/65656"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}