Loulan: Unearthing the Sands of Cursed Destiny — an Action RPG Featuring a Skeleton Warrior

The Chinese studio ChillyRoom has officially unveiled  Loulan: The Cursed Sand, an action RPG developed with the backing of the PlayStation China Hero Project. The game has also released its first screenshots and trailer, which can be found here.

Set against the backdrop of the western regions of China along the historic Silk Road, «The Cursed Sands» follows a royal guardian who has been mysteriously resurrected. His primary quest is to locate his missing love, a princess. His journey takes him through the vanished kingdom of Loulan, where he must solve puzzles and defeat anyone who stands in his way. Among the adversaries he encounters are frost-covered spiders from the west, members of a royal family that embody the power of the sun, and more.

The protagonist returns to the realm of the living in the form of a skeleton, possessing the ability to shift between two forms: sand and bone. In his sand form, he commands the grains around him, while the bone form is optimized for combat against hordes of foes. The camera perspective in Loulan: The Cursed Sand is positioned above the main character, lending the gameplay a feel reminiscent of Diablo-style titles.

The developers drew inspiration from mummies discovered in the Taklamakan Desert near Loulan, as well as the region’s sandy landscapes, while crafting Loulan: The Cursed Sand. This area once housed a significant country along the Silk Road, but due to severe desertification during the Tang dynasty, the local settlements were abandoned.

Loulan: The Cursed Sand is being developed for PC (Steam, Epic Games Store) and PlayStation 5, with the release date yet to be announced. The game will not support the Russian language at launch.