Return to Tang Releases 19 Minutes of Gameplay as Kim Hyung Tae Praises It

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Shift Up CEO Kim Hyung-tae praised Return to Tang on Weibo today, bringing more attention to the narrative-driven single-player action-adventure game from 24 Studio under NetEase Leihuo. The post landed the same day Return to Tang released a 19-minute gameplay demo. Adapted from the real history of Shazhou’s return to Tang, the game is being framed as a domestic AAA single-player release built around realistic combat and cinematic storytelling.

The bigger point is not simply that a prominent developer praised a Chinese game. More interesting is what Kim Hyung-tae highlighted after trying it himself: he said Return to Tang felt more serious and realistic than expected, and he also expressed admiration for the unique potential of Chinese games. For a narrative-driven action-adventure game, that carries more weight than standard promo talk. It suggests the game may have more going for it than visuals alone, particularly in how its combat and storytelling come together, especially coming from a key figure behind Stellar Blade.

The more interesting question around Return to Tang is not the AAA label, but whether it can genuinely fuse realistic combat with cinematic narrative. Plenty of games overinvest in spectacle while leaving the underlying systems thin, which leaves all that expensive presentation feeling hollow. Based on what has been shown so far, Return to Tang is emphasizing an immersive story that places the lives of ordinary people against a sweeping historical backdrop. If that approach holds, it would at least show the team is not betting everything on surface-level visual impact.

Kim Hyung-tae also said Return to Tang's pursuit of high-quality game development reminded him of his early experience leading the team on Stellar Blade. That feels less like politeness and more like recognition of a shared development mindset. More specifically, he seems to have seen a young team willing to keep polishing and willing to put in the work needed to fully realize the game. That kind of drive matters in single-player development, where projects often fall apart when teams pull back and sand complex systems down into something safer and flatter.

From a design standpoint, the most interesting promise in Return to Tang is not scale for its own sake, but the restraint implied by the word "realistic." If the combat really leans that way, then hit response, the back-and-forth between player and enemy, and encounter staging will have to do much more of the work. It will not be able to hide behind flashy effects. On the other hand, if it turns out to be a routine action game dressed in historical clothing, then it runs into the same old problem.

The caution is obvious: right now, all we really have is Kim Hyung-tae's hands-on impression and the official 19-minute gameplay footage. That is not enough to settle the game’s true quality yet. The next things players should watch are straightforward: whether the combat stays consistently realistic, whether the narrative can maintain its pacing, and whether the historical setting meaningfully shapes level design and moment-to-moment pressure instead of just dressing the game up.

If you are already interested in domestic single-player games, historical storytelling, or more grounded action-adventure design, Return to Tang is worth keeping an eye on. The best next step is simple: watch the full 19-minute demo carefully, then decide how much expectation to place on it. At this stage, the most valuable signal is not the praise alone, but the combination of peer praise, a real historical foundation, and a substantial gameplay showing all arriving at once. That means the project has at least shown more than just a pitch. Whether 24 Studio can turn that into a genuinely strong finished game is still the open question.