An anime adaptation of a game, completely retconning the original lore — have you ever seen that? In the latest setting reveal for the Honor of Kings anime, the "King's Continent" was changed from an alien planet to a post-apocalyptic reborn Earth, and the origin of heroes was rewritten from a creation myth to being born from a "Rain of Life." It essentially overturns the entire foundation of the original game's world-building.
According to the original post, the anime's changes to the lore are quite drastic. One helpful community member laid out a detailed comparison: In the original game's backstory, Earth was destroyed, and a group of scientists and soldiers carried humanity's seeds of civilization to a new planet. That planet became the "King's Continent," where new humans inherited the names of people from Earth, while those scientists and soldiers took on the identities of gods. In short — the game's heroes are all aliens, and the so-called gods are just self-appointed former Earthlings.
The anime, however, tells a completely different story: Earth suffered a catastrophe of extinction-level proportions, but the ancients' will to preserve civilization was so strong that it directly gave birth to a new human race. To sum it up: the game's heroes are aliens, the anime's heroes are Earthlings — two fundamentally incompatible worldviews.
However, some argue the situation is more nuanced than it appears. User "流风幻想" in reply #18 offered a key detail: the King's Continent has actually always been depicted as a reborn post-destruction Earth. In the game's original lore co-written by renowned sci-fi author Liu Cixin, Old Earth perished after a technological overreach, but before its destruction, arks carrying civilization and genetic material launched into a space-time leap, eventually returning to a planet that was both destroyed and reborn, where they created new humans from preserved DNA. The game's gods were indeed originally Old Earthlings.
Another user recalled a version from 2017: Earth exploded, the survivors departed in arks, and after an unknown period returned to a reborn Earth. They split into the Nüwa faction and the Athena faction, and the historical heroes in the game were materialized from these "gods" crystallized souls. It's clear the lore has been continuously revised — this latest anime change may simply be another iteration.
But the real show was in the comment section. Many players' reactions were absolute body blows: "Does anyone actually read Honor of Kings' story?" "The lore is garbage anyway, retcon it all." "Who cares about the story? Just give us skins." One user simply replied "nobody care zsbd" (TL: "Nobody cares, padding for word count") to express their stance.
Not everyone was dismissive though. Some pointed out that the game's storyline did indeed involve Liu Cixin, and the character Nüwa's dialogue was a direct homage to his works. "Out of respect, I at least took a glance" — and for a lore contribution of that caliber, the anime essentially starting from scratch does sting a little.
A user in reply #11 offered a business angle: the anime's lore overhaul is most likely to pave the way for "Honor of Kings World" (reportedly a new IP project), since the original sci-fi virtual-world setting "lacked gravitas." But reply #14 was quick to correct them — "The Honor of Kings lore never had a 'virtual world' setting" — suggesting some people's understanding of the original lore is itself pretty shaky.
The original poster later added a crucial update: as of now, the official Honor of Kings game account has not reposted or endorsed the anime's new lore. This suggests the revamped setting may just be the anime's own "armor-plating" (a protective measure to distinguish its own canon), and the game's lore likely won't follow suit. Still, the fact that a spin-off adaptation can so thoroughly alter its source material's identity is quite the spectacle in Chinese gaming IP management.
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