Look, let's be honest: sequels rarely capture the raw, tragic lightning of their predecessors. However, the follow-up to the critically acclaimed 'Hungry Lamb', set against the backdrop of the late Ming Dynasty, finally arrived on Steam this past 3rd. Its title? 'The Weeping Swan: Ten Days of the City's Fall'.

Developed by the Chinese studio ZerocreationGame, this title stays firmly rooted in the late Ming era. While it shares the same universe as 'Hungry Lamb', the developer claims it functions as a standalone experience, meaning you won't be lost if you missed the first outing.

To refresh your memory, 'Hungry Lamb' followed 'Liang', a man turned bandit during the Great Famine. He was tasked with escorting girls sold into human trafficking—the 'lambs' of the title. It was a bleak, harrowing affair, famously praised for its uncompromising depiction of cannibalism and the sheer weight of its narrative.

Its successor, 'The Weeping Swan', pivots to a visual novel format centered on tragic romance. We follow Fang Jiyu, a scholar who loses his mind and his health to the bottle after his childhood sweetheart, the famous Yangzhou courtesan Su Lianyan, drowns. Three years later, he finds himself trapped in the very novel he penned—a world overrun by demons and slaughter. You have ten days to desperately save a girl who bears a striking resemblance to Su Lianyan. Once you hit the credits, a post-script chapter connected to 'Hungry Lamb' becomes available.

As of the 5th of April, the Steam user score stands at 'Mostly Positive' (79%) across roughly 1,300 reviews. Fans are praising the two captivating heroines, the consistent atmosphere, and a noticeable upgrade in illustration quality. That said, the criticism is equally sharp: some find the story lacking compared to the original, complaining of an abundance of filler bad endings. International players, particularly those relying on the English and Japanese translations, have also highlighted some rather clumsy localisation work.

At present, 'The Weeping Swan' does not support Korean. Given that 'Hungry Lamb' initially relied on a fan-made Korean patch on Steam before a formal version hit Stove in September last year, there is a glimmer of hope. Considering the predecessor's decent local following, one can only expect a similar path for this sequel via fan efforts or an eventual Stove release.