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JIAOHUN Psychological Horror Takes Players Back to Y2K-Era China
Shanghai-based developer 12AM BLACKOUT has unveiled JIAOHUN, a cinematic first-person psychological horror game heading to PlayStation 5 and PC in 2027.
JIAOHUN takes players to Fairy Town in Baishoi County, an isolated Chinese town seemingly frozen on the eve of the new millennium. Calendars remain stuck at the end of 1999, while banners welcoming the new century still hang across a place whose inhabitants appear to have met a far darker fate.
Draws Its Horror From Chinese Folk Culture
The title itself hints at that influence. 叫魂, pronounced Jiào Hún, refers to a traditional Chinese folk practice centred on calling back the soul of someone believed to have been separated from it following fright, trauma or illness.
That cultural foundation extends into Fairy Town itself. Rather than filling the world with obviously supernatural locations, 12AM BLACKOUT draws horror from ordinary spaces such as weathered residential flats, brick homes, neighbourhood cinemas, small shops, and rain-soaked alleys.
It puts JIAOHUN among a growing group of horror games leaning more heavily into specific regional cultures, something Konami has also considered for future Silent Hill settings following Silent Hill f.
Changing Aspect Ratios Echo Lost-Footage Feel
Built in Unreal Engine 5, JIAOHUN combines environmental exploration and puzzles with a walking-simulator structure, putting atmosphere and storytelling ahead of constant combat.
One of its more distinctive visual ideas is a dynamic shift between 4:3 and 2.39:1 aspect ratios. Together with cinematic first-person performances, directed camera work and its VHS-inspired presentation, the effect is designed to make parts of the experience resemble lost footage recovered from an ageing television.
Beneath the supernatural mystery is a story built on obsession and the anxiety of social change at the turn of the century. The developers draw on local culture and their own nostalgic memories of the period, exploring how unfulfilled desires and fear can gradually consume the people living in the town.
JIAOHUN is also the debut title from 12AM BLACKOUT, which formed in Shanghai after the team’s shared interest in Chinese retro culture grew. The game launches for PlayStation 5 and PC in 2027, and players can already wishlist the game on Steam.
