Whore Of The Orient Video Footage Confirms You Get To Play An Asian Guy

Can you name how many Asian guys you've been able to play over the last couple of years in a game that wasn't strictly a fighting game? I grant you Sleeping Dogs... but what else? Maybe Catherine or No More Heroes? Well, in the former Team Bondi's upcoming Whore of the Orient, we finally get to play an Asian guy in a narrative based story... it's like gaming is becoming progressive or something.

Before Sleeping Dogs you would find yourself wrecking your brain trying to find a title that let you take the lead as an Asian guy or gal in a story-based title that isn't wholly set in a fantasy universe. The original True Crime – in which Sleeping Dogs is technically the spiritual sequel – you also played an Asian guy, but it was a goofy game made for B-movie laughs and a few kicks. Following that it was a hard find... of course, David Cage took a risk with Indigo Prophecy's lead protagonist but beyond that, again, you're back with the brain wrecking again.

Ethnic leads in games are far and few between, and it shocks me that given how many games come out of Southeast Asia and Japan, they actually don't star Asians in their narrative-based games outside of recognized series like Sega's Yakuza. It's also tough to count the J-pop JRPGs with ethnically blurred main characters, such as the ones from Final Fantasy. We rarely get a good feel of the culture unless someone like Rockstar steps up to the plate with something like GTA: Chinatown Wars, which was a nice step in the right direction but too small to be poignant. Luckily in this case, we have Team Bondi who came up with something like the Whore of the Orient.

It's at least cool that they're trying something new with both the story and the protagonist – because it just as easily could have been a brash, brave American in Shanghai (i.e., see the 2010 flick, Shanghai) – where you actually get to play someone from the region, with their insight, their personality and their experience being the backbone to the character development... or at least we can hope. Now if only we could find a studio willing to let you play as an Arab in a major AAA blockbuster instead of always killing them... pfft, who am I kidding?

Anyway, the game itself showcases very little polish as the title still seems to be heavy in development but captures a lot of promise, especially to be an open world game. I also love games that work as a period piece for the settings and locations, because it brings a whole new feeling of scope and atmosphere to the story and visual experience.

The fighting looks like a more crude version of Sleeping Dogs and the shooting seems to be taken right out of L.A. Noire. There's promise but there's also a need to see more progress before we can judge the game on the merit's of design.

The Whore of the Orient doesn't have a solid release date other than targeting next-gen consoles, and is currently still heavy in development, presumably. Don't be surprised if the game is a multi-gen release (assuming it ever gets released) so that they can make their money back.

Props to Videogamer for sharing the footage and allowing people to embed the video on other websites.