Photo: Screenshot of the game

An online game calling on players to hunt down traitors who seek to separate Hong Kong from China and fuel street violence has reportedly begun to attract players across Chinese mainland social media platforms.

The game, "fight the traitors together," is set against the backdrop of the social unrest that has persisted in Hong Kong. The script asks the player to find eight secessionists hidden in the crowd participating in Hong Kong protests. 

Players can knock them down with slaps or rotten eggs until they are captured. Online gamers claim the game allows them to vent their anger at the separatist behavior of secessionists during the recent Hong Kong riots.

The eight traitors in the game, caricatured based on real people, include Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, Martin Lee Chu-ming and Joshua Wong Chi-fung, prominent opposition figures who have played a major role in inciting unrest in Hong Kong. There are also traitor figures in ancient China. 

"Hong Kong is part of China and this can't be meddled with by outside powers," reads the game cover page.

"The practices of these modern traitors have long been irritating," Yang Qian, one player told the Global Times. "While they are free in real life, at least in the game they should pay for what they have done."

In the game, amid a crowd of black-clad rioters wearing yellow hats and face masks, Anson Chan Fang On-sang, another leading opposition figure, carries a bag with a US flag, clutches a stack of US dollars and holds a loudspeaker to incite violence in the streets. The game also features Western faces, including characters that appear to be Julie Eadeh, a political unit chief of the US consulate general in Hong Kong.