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Development - Version 1 vs Version 2
Sep 12, 2026, 07:35 AM
Initial version (2026-09-12)
Sep 12, 2026, 07:37 AM
Updated internal link states after new pages were added (2026-09-12)
11Tianji: Shadow of the Ancients is developed and published by Justdan International Co., Ltd. It was announced on 8 September 2026 with a seventy-one-second reveal trailer and a Steam store page, and it is targeted at 2027 on PC, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2.22Justdan as Developer44The developer credit is worth stating plainly, because Justdan is far better known as a publisher and it would be easy to assume an outside studio built this. It did not. Four separate surfaces agree, three of them written by Justdan itself: the Steam listing names Justdan in both the developer and the publisher field in every storefront language; the specification block in Justdan's own reveal trailer descriptions gives Justdan as developer and publisher in Traditional Chinese, English and Japanese; and the official account run for the game states in its own profile that Justdan developed it. Coverage of the announcement described it independently as Justdan's first self-developed RPG.66No separate development studio is credited on any surface as of 12 September 2026.88Production Lead1010The announcement credits 蔡明宏 (Tsai Ming-hong), described as the father of the Xuan-Yuan Sword series, with leading production on the game.1212That credit needs care. It is absent from the Steam listing and absent from the specification blocks Justdan wrote for its own trailers, and it reaches the public only through coverage reproducing the announcement text. The word used for his role also varies between accounts: lead production, supervising producer, producer and director have all appeared. Nothing narrower than "leads production" is safe to state, and no other detail of his involvement has been published.1414He left Softstar Entertainment (大宇資訊) after more than thirty years working on the Xuan-Yuan Sword series, and Tianji is the first single-player title he has publicly revealed since.1616Tianji is a wholly new IP. The announcement states directly that it is a completely independent new work with no world-setting continuity with the Xuan-Yuan Sword series. The link between the two is a personnel one and nothing more: no character, location, system or plot from that series belongs in this game, and nothing about it should be used to fill gaps here. Tsai Ming-hong is also the only individual named anywhere on this project as of 12 September 2026.1818Reveal2020DateWhat happened1 September 2026A playable demo was shown at a showcase event in Shanghai, a week ahead of the public announcement. It is the only build anyone outside Justdan has played.8 September 2026Public reveal. The seventy-one-second trailer went up in Traditional Chinese, English and Japanese cuts, and the Steam store page opened the same day.2222Scale2323Figures attributed to the producer came out of the demo showing and have not been repeated by Justdan since, so they are an early estimate rather than a commitment.2525MeasureFigure givenPlaytimeRoughly 20 to 30 hours.Main story textAround 80,000 to 90,000 characters.Text including side questsAround 130,000 to 140,000 characters.Voice actingFull Chinese voice acting across the main story and the side-quest volume.2727Presentation and Design Direction2828The art direction is high-definition hand-drawn 2D work influenced by traditional landscape painting, with that brushwork applied to the exploration scenes. The combat layer is built on classic turn-based RPG structure with combo chains at its centre; see Combat and Exploration.3030One design note appears only in some languages. The Simplified Chinese and Japanese store descriptions both state that the game takes in some design concepts from action games, a line the English description drops entirely in favour of listing the traversal verbs. Reading only the English text therefore misses part of how Justdan frames the game.3232Uncredited and Unannounced3434DetailStatus as of 12 September 2026EngineNot named on any surface, first-party or otherwise.ComposerNot credited.WriterNot credited.Art director and character designerNot credited.Voice castNot credited, even though Chinese and Japanese voice tracks are confirmed.Budget, team size and production startNot published.3636Tianji was four days old when these gaps were measured. They are open questions at a very early point in the game's public life, not settled absences. See Release and Platforms for the release and platform picture.
