Tencent Games has announced Code: To Jin Yong, an open-world martial arts game set in ancient China.
Code: To Jin Yong is being developed in Unreal Engine 5 by Lightspeed Studios (PUBG Mobile and Apex Legends Mobile), the studio’s first AAA game. It will be based on the novels of the legendary Chinese writer Jin Yong.
A two-minute trailer was released during Tencent’s 2022 gaming conference (below), showing a fast-paced and frenetic sword fight between two characters.
The fight will also feature some sort of magic, with what appears to be the protagonist wielding wind and throwing his opponent’s hands (literally).
Tencent promised that Code: To Jin Yong will pay tribute to the late author, bringing to life his wuxia (martial art fiction in ancient China) novels that are incredibly popular and have already spawned numerous film, TV and game adjustments.
However, this will be the first modern game in Jin Yong’s universe, and seemingly the first to target an English-speaking audience. Tencent has not given any indication of a release window, although the trailer makes it clear that these images are not final, and the game’s platforms are also unclear at the moment.
The Shenzhen, China-based publisher has moved further and further into the game industry in recent years, acquiring developers including Riot Games and Turtle Rock Studios.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He’ll be talking about The Witcher all day long.
