What Even Is A Jiangshi?

Let's not be backwards in being forward here - what even is a jiangshi? As you may have guessed, it's an Asian (more specifically, Chinese) vampire. But it combines the Western ideas of a vampire with that of a zombie. Jiangshi are often depicted as walking corpses - in some versions of the myth, they hop or teleport instead - and rather than sucking your blood or even physically attacking you at all, they can drain your life force with a touch of their hand.

And we could do with a jiangshi in video games. When I reviewed Horrified: World of Monsters, in which the jiangshi joined the party, I was inspired to write about the distinct lack of creature features we seem to have in horror games. Its only legacy in gaming seems to be Tiger Road and Phantom Fighter, which released in 1987 and 1988 respectively. It's also the mascot for mahjong series Shikinjou, but that's like claiming Count Chocula is a cereal 'about' vampires.

Of course, there are some flaws in this reasoning. Owing in part to film adaptations of the myth, Jiangshi are most commonly associated with the early Qing dynasty of the 17th century, 300 years after the game is set and 1,200 years after the Huns died out. Also, just because you have an Asian that's a vampire doesn't mean it's the Asian vampire, although I would expect this lineage to be a narrative factor somewhere. Finally, we do see the creature feast on blood in the trailer, which suggests even if it is a jiangshi, it's leaning closer to a Western vampire than a traditional depiction.

Still, it makes me very interested to see what The Blood of Dawnwalker has up its sleeve. This feels like a different take on vampires, helping the poor and weak instead of feasting on them, breaking crowns (symbolically dismantling power structures) rather than usurping them, and lamenting a careless loss of life instead of relishing in the violence. Including a character whose racial background could lead to fresh stories (jiangshi-related or not) is part of that take. Those hot, bubbling cranberries sure look a lot like blood, and I can't wait to see if The Blood of Dawnwalker has the gameplay to back up the hype this summer.