As international exchanges become more frequent, the value of learning a foreign language is becoming increasingly apparent, and Chinese is becoming the language of choice for an increasing number of people. Virtual reality technology has the ability to create fully immersive environments, and games are believed to have the potential to create virtual worlds rich in cultural and social values, which brings new life to foreign language learning and cultural experiences. Many scholars at home and abroad have conducted research on the combination of VR technology and Chinese language education, and made valuable suggestions for designing better VR Chinese games, but they are limited to the theoretical level due to the difficulty and high cost of game development; there are also many VR games that can be used to help adult beginners learn Chinese and experience traditional Chinese culture. But there are few VR Chinese educational games suitable for higher level of Chinese learners, and academic research also needs to be further explored. Therefore, it is of theoretical value and social significance to study the design of VR Chinese educational games that serve cultural awareness.
　　This paper takes adult intermediate and advanced Chinese learners as the main target users, and investigates the design methods of VR Chinese educational games serving cultural cognition step by step according to the five steps of design thinking.
　　(1) Theoretical research: This paper cites the development status and limitations of domestic and foreign virtual reality games applied to Chinese language learning from three aspects: academic literature, existing games and online resources, and then organizes the teaching process of VR Chinese language educational games based on theoretical research related to educational game design and Chinese culture teaching.
　　 (2) User research: Through questionnaire research, user interviews and user feedback, we collected users’ needs and expectations of VR Chinese educational games, drew out the personas of main and secondary users, and summarized the core needs of target users to establish the foundation for the design and development of VR Chinese educational games.
　　(3) Design practice: Based on the users’ needs in terms of Chinese learning and game experience, this paper defines the goals of the game in terms of teaching and experience, proposes an innovative overall game design strategy, and puts it into practice by creating a game prototype. In other words, this paper designs and develops a VR Chinese educational game for adult intermediate and advanced Chinese learners, which focuses on cultural experience and is complemented by language skill learning. In terms of game teaching, learners can experience Chinese culture and learn language skills through online dialogues with teachers, as well as completing the main plot tasks with the help of the game teaching module, while learners can also choose to complete side quests to add fun to the game. In terms of game experience, this paper creates the atmosphere, game scenes and characters according to the characteristics of VR devices and game themes, and reduces the cognitive load of learners with simple and clear interface layout and interaction methods, in an attempt to optimize the game experience and ensure the teaching effect at the same time.
　　 (4) Testing and evaluation: After completing the game prototype, several users were invited to conduct a series of evaluation tests. Their feedback verified that the design strategy of the VR Chinese educational game serving cultural cognition is feasible in practical application.
　　The innovation of this study is that through extensive theoretical research and combining the real needs of adult intermediate and advanced Chinese learners and Chinese teachers, the design strategy of VR Chinese educational games serving cultural cognition is proposed, which expands the categories of foreign language learning games and provides new ideas for future Chinese education research.