EXS1～EthnologySister：Cultural functionalism

EXS1: Cultural Functionalism is a Chinese-language visual novel adapted from a magical-realism novel of the same name by Zhou Nongqing, building on themes of philosophy, ethnology and academic-discipline references woven into the fiction. The game is currently available only in Chinese, with no English translation provided — players who don't read Chinese will struggle, since text is the entire experience.

The setup is grounded in slow disorientation. A Chinese boxer who attends high school meets a blonde nun on a small island in the southern seas. She turns out to be his childhood sweetheart from years ago, considerably changed from how he remembers her. The joy of unexpected reunion only barely hides that something is wrong with the picture — and the longer he stays, the more layers of mystery, suspense, supernatural elements and detective reasoning come into focus. A woman like a crow has arrived on the island to kill, and the truth behind everything is the campaign's destination.

The game is openly framed as the author's labor of love — a tonally varied work that shifts between combat, mystery, supernatural horror, healing moments and pure deductive reasoning, layered together in a way the developer calls a 'thousand-layer cake' of structure. Subsequent updates have added character portraits, expression sets, CGs, additional story content and voice acting, with future continuations planned. Substantial credits acknowledge inspiration and asset licensing from the Smile Tech RPG Ragnania and contributions from voice actors, illustrators and musicians who contributed to the project.