Ballads of Hongye Brings an Alternative Experience of City-building GamesBallads of Hongye Brings an Alternative Experience of City-building Games

Author: Seasun Games

The new ancient Chinese city-building game, "Ballads of Hongye", will be available for the first Alpha test on Steam on April 18. The game is developed by the 14-member incubation team from Seasun Games, and the team recently released the first gameplay trailer on its official Youtube channel.

https://youtu.be/lA-xJYITCdA 


The Beauty of Ancient Chinese Architecture


"Ballads of Hongye" is a fictional world built on ancient China. The game has over 200 types of buildings, each of which is symbolically redesigned on the basis of its historical features, together with many NPC animations, thus making the buildings distinguish, whether look up close or from a bird's eye view. And this not only brings players a clear view on operating the buildings, but also gives the buildings iconic features in a historical look. For example, the "flying eaves and corbeled columns", which are representative of ancient oriental architecture, provide a touch of sophistication and romance to the buildings on top of their beautiful lookings.


What Can You Do in 30 Minutes?
Like the "harsh" winds in "Ballads of Hongye", the gameplay will not be a leisurely experience.


Unlike traditional city-building games that usually focus on the "process" - where players have a large set of production and processing chains in the game to obtain the infinite development possibilities of the city; the experience of  "Ballads of Hongye" is more focused on "Goals". Due to the time constraints of the challenge, players will focus more on coordinating the resource output of different buildings in different seasons to achieve the required population or resource goals; rather than focusing on "Is the wheat grown for brewing or making bread?"


The types of buildings available to the player will change randomly with every challenge, and such randomness will test the player's reasonable use of the limited types of buildings available to him in a short period of time, which is the most unique and worthwhile experience of "Ballads of Hongye".


Beyond Those Common "Variables"


As a city-building game, in addition to common disasters such as pest, fire, crime and famine, large natural disasters such as earthquakes, droughts and floods are utilized to examine the player's risk management ability in a tight game pace. 


And the advisor system is also a highlight feature. There are many different kinds of advisors. Some of them have unique skills. You can collect and train them to let them become your best assistants. You can even poach advisors from other cities. 


In the gameplay, "happiness" is an important indicator you need to pay attention to. Blind construction or leading poorly will definitely cause "happiness" to go down. Players need to learn how to balance the needs between the people and the development. But in "Ballads of Hongye", if you care about the people with all your heart, they may surprise you at some difficult moments in return. 


The Sun Always Shines After The Storm


After players complete demanding missions and win ownership of the plots, they can temporarily be released from the pressure of challenging goals and time limits. Whether you want to optimize the layout of the city, or enjoy the life on the streets and experience the changing beauty of the seasons; or simply to get familiar with the building's functions, conceive a development scheme, and accumulate resources for launching the next challenge. While it's slowing down, the winds in Hongye seem to be less "harsh".


We will hold our first alpha test on April 18th. Join us on Discord now for a chance to become a tester and discover more of what Hongye has to offer! We welcome community feedback and suggestions that help us improve and we would love to hear yours.

Steam Store | Discord | Youtube | Twitter