Revision 1

Overview

The Zhou Kingdom is the fictional nation where The God Slayer takes place. It is an Eastern-inspired steampunk civilization at its peak of steam-powered industrial development, ruled by the divine Celestials following the catastrophic events of The God Fall. The kingdom's name evokes the historical Zhou Dynasty (1046 to 256 BC), one of the longest-lasting dynasties in Chinese history, but the game's setting is an entirely fictional mythological reimagining rather than a historical recreation.

The playable area centers on the kingdom's capital city, a sprawling metropolis built at the confluence of two rivers that empty into the Eastern Sea. The total map covers approximately 5 km by 5 km, with the urban center occupying roughly 3 km by 3 km. Creative director Zifei Wu has emphasized that the world is intentionally smaller than the open worlds found in Assassin's Creed or Grand Theft Auto. The design philosophy prioritizes density and storytelling over raw square footage.

Design Philosophy

Wu has been clear about the reasoning behind the map size. Rather than spreading content thinly across a vast open world, Pathea Games chose to pack every street, rooftop, and underground tunnel with interactable content. The result is a city that rewards vertical exploration and repeated visits to familiar neighborhoods. A single city block might contain a hidden entrance to a Star Fall Society safe house, a vendor with rotating stock, an NPC whose schedule creates a narrow window for a stealth approach, and a rooftop vantage point for scouting an upcoming mission.

This density-first approach also reflects the game's budget realism. Wu has been candid about Pathea's constraints compared to AAA studios, noting that a smaller, richer world was both a creative choice and a practical one. The 40-hour main campaign takes place almost entirely within the capital, with surrounding areas (rice fields, ancient temples, small villages, underground networks) providing supplementary exploration rather than sprawling wilderness filler.

Geography

The capital sits at the mouth of two rivers that flow into the Eastern Sea, creating a natural harbor and a city defined by waterways. The terrain is hilly and uneven, with major elevation changes throughout the urban terrain. This geography directly influences gameplay: water sources empower Water element attacks along the riverside, while the layered terrain provides natural advantages for Earth abilities in the hillier districts. The rivers also serve as transportation corridors, with steamboats carrying passengers and cargo between districts.

Chongqing Inspiration

The city's design draws heavily from Chongqing, China, where Pathea Games is headquartered. Chongqing is famous for its vertical urban development. Built across dramatic hillsides where the Yangtze and Jialing rivers meet, the city stacks buildings on top of one another in ways that defy conventional city planning. Monorails run through the middle of apartment buildings. Pedestrians exit an elevator on the eighth floor and step out onto a street. This layered, almost impossible architecture translates directly into the Zhou Kingdom's explorable spaces, where players can climb through multiple elevation levels within a single neighborhood.

Political Structure

Before The God Fall, the Zhou Kingdom was a human civilization with its own king, military, and growing population of Elemancers. The Celestials' assault destroyed this political order in a single night. The king was slaughtered, the military was broken, and Elemancers were hunted to near-extinction. In the aftermath, the Celestials installed themselves as divine rulers. Most citizens now worship them as gods, their loyalty sustained by a combination of genuine religious devotion, fear, and the absence of any viable alternative.

Beneath this surface, resistance simmers. The Star Fall Society operates in secret, and various unnamed political factions, nobles, and officials jockey for power within the constraints of Celestial rule. The kingdom's social fabric is taut with tension, and Cheng's actions across the seven-chapter campaign pull at those threads.

Technology and Culture

The Zhou Kingdom is described as being "at its height in steam technology." Steampunk innovations permeate daily life, from airships and monorails to air-conditioned homes for the wealthy. But this technological achievement sits alongside traditional Chinese cultural elements: pagodas, ornamental gates, calligraphy, and market stalls selling traditional goods. The fusion of old and new defines the kingdom's visual identity and distinguishes it from Western steampunk settings.

The kingdom's industrial capacity comes at a cost. Industrial districts are choked with soot and filled with exploitative factories, creating a visible class divide between those who benefit from steam technology and those who toil to produce it. This social stratification is woven into both the game's narrative and its mission design, with players navigating the tensions between wealthy neighborhoods and impoverished factory wards.