Shengshi Tianxia: The Path to Empress I & II Bring Tang Dynasty Politics to Life
Automaton published play impressions of the live-action interactive drama games Shengshi Tianxia: The Path to Empress I and II, set in China's Tang Dynasty around 640 AD.
1 source Jun 20
Reporting from 1 source: Automaton.
Why it matters
The games offer a detailed, choice-driven simulation of Tang Dynasty court politics, with the sequel adding complex route branching that rewards replaying to find correct paths.
Key Facts
- The games are set in China's Tang Dynasty around 640 AD, during the reign of Emperor Taizong Li Shimin.
- The player character is Wu Yuanzhao, a woman modeled after Wu Zetian, the only female emperor in Chinese history.
- The first game focuses on survival within the harem, involving framing by childhood friends and cruelty from a consort.
- The second game begins after the emperor's death, sending harem women to a nunnery before a return to power struggles.
- The sequel introduces a prologue route split between a historical path and an if path, with choices like which item to offer as a bribe determining later branches.
The games follow Wu Yuanzhao, modeled after Wu Zetian, through harem power struggles and succession disputes. They are available on PC, iOS, and Android, with a Nintendo Switch release planned. The sequel introduces branching historical and if routes with choices that affect later story branches.
The two live-action interactive drama games, set during the reign of Emperor Taizong Li Shimin, cast the player as Wu Yuanzhao, a woman modeled after the only female emperor in Chinese history. The first game focuses on survival within the harem, where the protagonist faces framing by childhood friends and cruelty from a consort while the emperor's succession dispute adds layers of conspiracy. The second game, after the emperor's death, sends the harem women to a nunnery before a return to power struggles. Its key innovation is a prologue route split between a historical path and an if path, with choices like which item to offer as a bribe determining later branches and leading to game overs that require replaying earlier selections.
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