A screengrab of the Varsapura demo that shows what looks like the Capitol Kempinski hotel along Victoria Street. (Photo: Varsapura)

Varsapura or Singapura? Genshin Impact developer HoYoverse's newest game features familiar Singapore streets

The upcoming game features locales such as the Bugis area with landmarks such as Fortune Centre clearly identifiable.

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Varsapura's "Middle Road". (Photo: Varsapura)
Fortune Centre at Middle Road. (Photo: Google Maps)
Varsapura's City Hall-slash-Fort Canning area. (Photo: Varsapura)
Victoria Street. (Photo: Google Maps)
Varsapura's "Middle Road". (Photo: Varsapura)
The GSM building at Middle Road. (Photo: Google Maps)
Varsapura's "Waterloo Street". (Photo: Varsapura)
Waterloo Street. (Photo: Google Maps)

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If you've always wanted to roam the streets of Singapore virtually, the good news is that an upcoming game will let you do so.

Varsapura, from Genshin Impact developer HoYoverse, features the main character travelling in a map that looks remarkably like Singapore's Bugis and City Hall area and their surroundings. The game's title, which means "City of Rain" in Sanskrit, also seems like an obvious nod to the country's name in Malay.

In the 31-minute gameplay video uploaded on YouTube, the main character, who works for the Shadow Emergency Alliance (SEAL), can be seen, from the 21st minute, travelling through streets near Bugis, with familiar looking buildings such as Fortune Centre and Waterloo Centre, and office buildings like Duo Towers. 

You can also spot familiar buildings near Fort Canning, too. Note that some parts of the streets don't exactly align with the real world, but the game appears to have faithfully captured the roads and street signs. 

In terms of gameplay, Varsapura appears to feel thematically similar to 2019’s Control, a video game which features supernatural and paranormal elements that draws on the SCP Foundation, which is a collaborative writing project about a secretive non-governmental agency devoted to protecting the world.

There's no word yet on when the game will be released, or when a public test will be available. That said, the gameplay video is also doubling as job recruitment ad, and you can check out the openings available at the end of the video.

Source: CNA/mm

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