How do you deal with losing someone important to you? Do you continue to think of them every day, or do you try to move on quickly? Are you the type to isolate away, or will you continue on despite everything that’s happened? This is something we will all deal with, and we won’t truly know how we respond until it happens. These thoughts and questions kept going through my head the more I played The Weeping Swan: Ten Days of the City’s Fall, a sequel to The Hungry Lamb: Traveling in the Late Ming Dynasty.
Much like its predecessor, The Weeping Swan is a visual novel set in ancient China. In it, you play Fang Zhiyou, a scholar who wants nothing more than to be a writer. Fang also suffers from a mysterious ailment that causes him to see men as beasts, along with many missing memories. One day, his city of Yangzhou is invaded, and he must do everything he can to survive. Along the way, he’ll meet different people from his past as he remembers everything he repressed. This is a strong premise, and it’s one I was looking forward to after enjoying The Hungry Lamb. Sadly, The Weeping Swan disappointed me in more ways than one.
The Cast of The Weeping Swan: Ten Days of the City’s Fall
The Weeping Swan takes place in ancient China, near the end of the Ming Dynasty. It takes place in Yangzhou as it comes under siege. The story follows Fang, who has spent the last three years drinking away his sorrows and also lost quite a few memories. He must deal with his peculiar illness while remembering everything he repressed if he wants to survive this ordeal. Along the way, he encounters people connected to his lost love, Su Lianyan.
Su Lianyan is a top courtesan in the red light district and a childhood friend of Fang. The two would lose contact for years, only to meet again as adults and start to fall in love. Sadly, they would not be together as Su would end her life one day, causing Fang nonstop grief for years to come. It makes it that much odder when he meets a young girl who is the spitting image of Su. Her name is Little Yan (Su’s nickname as well), and he decides to protect her as the city is invaded.
Fang meets a few other people while surviving in the city. Scholar Wang is a friend of Fang whom he has known for years. He is also trying to survive and reunite with his family. Lin Pianpian is a courtesan Fang knew before, but drifted apart from after Su’s death. She is a top courtesan now and is using that to survive the invasion while helping Fang. Fang also encounters Hong’er, Cui’er, QiongHua, and Liang, the characters we followed from The Hungry Lamb.
This is where my criticisms of the game start. Despite having a strong foundation, none of the characters feel interesting. Most feel like they are just along for the ride in the narrative until something major happens. It doesn’t help that our main character is pretty boring and spends most of the journey alone. The only characters I can praise are the ones from the previous game. They all carry over well, and it was a delight to see them again. However, it ends up hurting the rest of the cast more when you go back to them.
Ten Days of Yangzhou
Fang must try his hardest to survive the invasion of Yangzhou. Throughout his journey, he will have various companions and uncover different memories. You will also be presented with difficult choices that will affect the game, too. Well, it feels like they should affect the game, but none of the choices you make in the game feel important. All the choices seem to have the same general outcome, unless it’s an obvious death choice. The only time choices actually affect something is at the end, and that’s only because of the multiple endings.
My biggest issue with The Weeping Swan is that the story isn’t good. The game starts strong but quickly fizzles out. It doesn’t help that half the chapters in the game don’t add much to the overall narrative, with some adding nothing at all. It doesn’t help that half the game consists of flashbacks that add little to the story. Each flashback I encountered was twice as long as it needed to be, and it became a slog to get through. The game wants to tell a romance story, but it never managed to make me care about the characters.
Another issue I have with the game is the endings. The game has 10 endings—2 of which are true endings. With so many endings, you would think at least one is satisfying, right? Well, you would be wrong, as even the true endings left me feeling disappointed. I wouldn’t say the endings are bad, but none of them had the impact I wanted. The closest thing to a satisfying ending wasn’t even one of the true ones, and that feels sad more than anything.
The only parts of the narrative I liked were continuations of the previous game, The Hungry Lamb. Scenes featuring characters from previous game felt satisfying, and The Weeping Swan fleshes them out even more. There’s also an epilogue for the previous game that you unlock after getting one of the true endings, and it was a great sendoff for those characters. There are some great moments in this game, it’s just disappointing that they only involve the characters from The Hungry Lamb.
The Beauty of Yangzhou
One thing I can praise is how great The Weeping Swan looks when it comes to its artstyle. All the art is immaculate, and I found myself staring at different set pieces. The art spreads in the game are beautiful and made me forget how slow the game’s pacing was at times. The game reuses the same backdrops a lot, but I didn’t have any issues with it. The game’s audio design is great too, the voice acting is stellar, and I enjoyed all the music and sound design. This game is an audio visual treat, and it really helps elevate the game’s presentation.
A Disappointing End
Despite what I did like, I was greatly disappointed by The Weeping Swan: Ten Days of the City’s Fall. While I had some issues with The Hungry Lamb, I still enjoyed the narrative and could recommend it. I can’t recommend this game to anyone who hasn’t experienced the first one. The only parts of the narrative I liked were epilogues to the first game, and everything new to this one was a big disappointment.
I couldn’t root for any of the characters, and I was bored for most of my time with it. This game is twice as long as its predecessor but has half the narrative depth. It may look and sound great, but that can only take you so far when the story does nothing for you. Still, I can’t say the experience was bad, just a letdown. I can only recommend The Weeping Swan to those who want an epilogue to The Hungry Lamb. Just know you’ll have to finish this disappointing story to get it.
Disclaimer: 2P Games and Zerocreation Game provided a Steam key of The Weeping Swan: Ten Days of the City’s Fall for review purposes.
