miHoYo-Backed Mystery Game's Beta Protagonist Named After ZZZ's Controversial PR Lead — Silent Rename & Forum Deletion Spree Follow

Ever wonder if the protagonist in a game you paid for might literally be named after one of the developer's controversial employees? Well, buckle up.

On May 1, 2024, an NGA user dropped a post that sent shockwaves through the Chinese gaming community. A mystery game set in late Qing Dynasty China called 《山河旅探》(Shanhe Lvtan) — backed by miHoYo's investment — was found to have named its protagonist 'John Shen' in the beta demo. That name is identical to miHoYo's Zenless Zone Zero global PR lead, a figure who's been a lightning rod for controversies tied to their public LGBT identity and advocacy.

The first screenshot in the OP's post lays it out plain as day: the beta version clearly labels the protagonist as 'John Shen.'

The second screenshot pulls up info on the miHoYo employee in question. The OP captioned it with a loaded one-liner: 'miHoYo has its own Sister Xing now too' — a tongue-in-cheek reference to similar controversies at other Chinese game studios.

A commenter in the thread dropped a more direct screenshot confirming the person's identity. But another user quickly clarified: 'John Shen is the PR person, right?' and a third added: 'It's not this writer — it's ZZZ's global PR lead, the one in charge of marketing who's openly LGBT.' The controversy isn't about creative writing ability; it's about whether a studio employee's personal identity and name being embedded in a product is appropriate.

Here's where it gets really suspicious: the game's protagonist has a perfectly normal Chinese name — 沈仲平 (Shen Zhongping). The surname Shen (沈) checks out. But a mystery game set in 19th-century China giving its main character the distinctly Western first name 'John'? That raises eyebrows. And as one commenter revealed, the demo version used 'John Shen' before being quietly renamed to 'Shen Zhongping' for the official release.

The relationship between miHoYo and this game is worth examining too. One user tried to downplay it by saying miHoYo is 'only responsible for investment,' but another commenter called out the elephant in the room: 'This is huge news, yet it's getting less engagement on the gossip board than a gacha game hitting #1 on the charts — community mods really are something.' Meanwhile, every post on Baidu Tieba discussing the 'John Shen' connection was mass-deleted. An angry commenter wrote: 'This is absolutely pathetic. Every single post about this got wiped from Tieba. miHoYo really delivered today.'

One unlucky player even showed up in the thread to share their pain: 'I actually bought this game on Steam — didn't even know miHoYo was involved. I thought an investment was no big deal, but now I can't even get a refund.' Others piled on, calling the game's vibe 'suspiciously agenda-driven' and mocking its aesthetic choices.

To be fair, some voices urged caution. One commenter noted: 'It's kinda funny, but there's a real chance this is just a coincidence. The protagonist's surname is Shen, so maybe John was just a random pick for the English first name.' That's technically possible — but the subsequent silent rename and the mass deletion of forum discussions make that coincidence a lot harder to swallow for most players.

As of now, the official release of the game has the protagonist listed as 'Shen Zhongping' in English. miHoYo has made no public statement on the matter. Whether 'John Shen' was an intentional easter egg or an unfortunate coincidence may never be known for certain. But one thing is crystal clear: try finding a thread about it on Baidu Tieba — they've all been scrubbed clean.