The protagonist from "Black Myth: Wukong" depicted in a screenshot from the game's cinematic trailer.

Black Myth: Wukong

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Updated Aug 20, 2024 at 01:51PM EDT by Philipp.

Added Aug 23, 2020 at 10:14PM EDT by Weskie.

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About

Black Myth: Wukong is an action role-playing video game developed by Game Science, a Chinese indie company formed by former employees of Tencent. The game is inspired by the classical Chinese novel Journey to the West and centers on Sun Wukong, the titular Monkey King, and combines plot elements from the book with an original story. The game was released in August 2024, becoming a critical and commercial success and setting a record for concurrent players.

History

On August 19th, 2020, Hangzhou-based indie video game studio Game Science announced Black Myth: Wukong, presented as China's first AAA title.[1] The game is a retelling of the Chinese mythology epic Journey to the West, with players controlling titular protagonist Sun Wukong in a soulslike gameplay setting that features combat, exploration and stealth.

On August 20th, 2020, 13 minutes of pre-alpha gameplay footage was released by Game Science on Bilibili[2], gaining over 22 million views, 2.2 million likes and one million shares in five days. Later on the same day, the YouTube[3] channel for Black Myth: Wukong was launched, uploading the gameplay trailer (shown below).



On Chinese social media Weibo, the CEO of Game Science revealed that they uploaded the trailer to demonstrate their project globally in order to recruit more talent. On August 20th, 2020, X[4] / Twitter user ZhugeEX posted a thread about the upcoming game and the studio behind it.

On August 7th, 2024, the final trailer for the game was released on YouTube,[5] where it accumulated over 1.2 million views in two weeks (shown below).



The game was released globally for PlayStation 5 and Windows on August 20th, 2024.[6] The game is reportedly the first installment in the Black Myth series.

Gameplay and Features

Black Myth: Wukong is an action role-playing game that borrows certain elements from the soulslike genre. The player assumes control of the Destined One, a monkey character based on Sun Wukong from the classical Chinese novel Journey to the West.

The character is wielding a staff which is able to extend and shrink in size. The gameplay comprises elements of fighting, stealth and exploration, with combat involving landing attacks while dodging the enemies. The game is mostly linear, with the development of the character being the primary means of progression (gameplay video shown below).



Reception

The game was met with positive reviews from critics and audiences. On OpenCritic,[13] the game had an average critic review of 80 based on 39 critic reviews as of August 20th, 2024. On Metacritic,[14] the game had an average rating of 81 based on 60 critic reviews. On Steam,[15] the game had an Overwhelmingly Positive rating with 96 percent of positive votes based on over 110,000 reviews.

On August 18th, 2024, the official X / Twitter account for the game posted a video showcasing positive reviews from multiple gaming websites, with the post (shown below) gaining over 1,400 reposts and 10,000 likes in two days.

Diversity Controversy

Black Myth: Wukong Diversity Controversy refers to the several early reviews that gave the game average review scores, with a contributing factor it not being "diverse" or "inclusive," as it was reported to have turned down a consultation by Sweet Baby Inc. The controversy, primarily stemming from two prominent IGN and Screen Rant reviews of the game, came to a head when the game was fully released on August 20th, 2024, as many fans and social media users pushed back against the criticisms or mocked the video game journalists.


Vara Dark @Vara_Dark ScreenRant knocked down their Black Myth: Wukong score due to "lack of inclusivity and diversity” while spewing lies about the studio that originated with IGN Black Myth: Wukong SR 3.0 developers. Playing as a female gamer allowed me to notice issues surrounding inclusion and representation. As far as Chapters 1 and 2, while characters are clearly fictitious and fantastical creatures, there were no female or feminine NPCs, s present. The only enemies, or bosses i experience. ту запортал Pros Cons + Combat is fluid and fun + Cinematography can be breathtaking at times + Great diversity in items and mechanics It's worth noting the game is based on the novel, Journey To The West, which does consist of a few important female characters. To not include any women or to only include a few in an adaptation meant for a modern dience is quite disconcerting. 10:49 AM • Aug 16, 2024 427.6K Views Now we can finally feel represented yes, that's literally me BLACK MYTH WUKONG

Online Presence

Pre-Release

On August 20th, 2020, Game Science launched an official X[7] / Twitter account and Instagram[8] and Facebook[9] pages for the game. On the same day, subreddit[10] /r/BlackMythWukong was created on Reddit.

On August 21st, IGN[11] published an article about the developer responding to the influx of interest around the game's debut, which was later shared to Reddit[12] that same day. The post on /r/Games received over 2,800 upvotes and 529 comments in roughly three days.

On August 22nd, YouTuber[10] Maximilian Dood uploaded a reaction video (shown below), gaining over 226,000 views, 13,000 likes and 2,000 comments in less than 24 hours.



Post-Release

Within one day of the release, the game set a record for concurrent players on Steam,[20] peaking at over 2.2 million players and beating the previous player record of 1.3 million players held by DoTA 2. The game's immediate success became a subject of viral posts on social media (example shown below).


GermanStrands @GermanStrands Black Myth: Wukong with absolute cinema. WUKONG ELDEN RING 1,431,942 1,443,570 1,443,570 players right now 24-hour peak all-time peak 5 hours ago 46,698 players right now 91,569 6:25 AM. Aug 20, 2024 345.3K Views 24-hour peak 953,426 all-time peak 2.4 years ago

Due to the game revolving around the player being Sun Wukong, known as the "Monkey King," fans of the game began posting online about being monkeys, involving various GIFs and videos of monkeys, in a similar vein to the Return to Monke
and Apes Together Stronger memes. This can be seen in the August 20th, 2024, X post by user @RenbaRackham[21], showing a picture of several monkeys sprinting in one direction across a parking lot while claiming it to be the spiking Steam chart (shown below).


Renba @RenbaRackham Steam right now: #BlackMythWukong • 1:08 AM · Aug 20, 2024 172.9K Views

Do's and Don't List

On August 17th, 2024, a guideline email for content creators containing Do's and Don'ts for the game was leaked online.[16] The list included several points which advised content creators against mentioning "feminist propaganda", "trigger words such as quarantine or COVID-19", and discussing topic related to China's game industry and policies. On that day, X[17] user @MauroNL3 posted a screenshot of the list, with the post gaining over 1.1 million views, 810 reposts and 2,500 likes on X in three days (shown below).


Notice By using the game key and creating content, you acknowledge that you have been informed of the following content, and your statements are not related to the marketing team. Do's & Don'ts DO'S • Enjoy the game! DON'TS • Do NOT insult other influencers or players. • Do NOT use any offensive language/humor. • Do NOT include politics, violence, nudity, feminist propaganda, fetishization, and other content that instigates negative discourse. • Do NOT use trigger words such as 'quarantine' or 'isolation' or 'COVID-19'. • Do NOT discuss content related to China's game industry policies, opinions, news, etc. Click to shrink...

The veracity of the list was later confirmed by several news websites, including Forbes.[18]

The spread of the leaked document was followed by a pushback as some streamers and content creators deliberately incorporated undesired elements from the list into their streams and videos. For example, on August 19th, 2024, X[19] user @MightyKeef posted a screenshot of streamer MOONMOON broadcasting the game with the title "COVID-19 ISOLATION TAIWAN (IS A REAL COUNTRY) FEMINISM PROPAGANDA". The post (shown below, left) received over 3,000 reposts and 35,000 likes in one day.


Mightykeef @MightyKeef This is the title of the highest viewed Black Myth Wukong stream Imao LIVE MOONMOON COVID-19 ISOLATION TAIWAN (IS A REAL COUNTRY) FEMINISM PROPAGANDA Black Myth: Wukong English About MOONMOON 11:06 PM - Aug 19, 2024 1.1M Views RT Ga deaths 05.11 br LIVE "Black Myth: Wukong" Review 10 points | IGN China 10 10 A Masterpiece "Black Myth: Wukong" is a domestically produced game that is truly competitive in the global market. I believe it will become a strong contender for this year's Game of the Year, and Game Science will undoubtedly become one of the world's top ARPO game developers after this battle by Charles Young MOONMOON COVID-19 ISOLATION TAIWAN (IS A REAL COUNTRY) FEMINISM PROPAGANDA Black Myth: Wukong English ⭑Subscribe 22,460 5:27:21:

Search Interest

External references

Recent Videos 6 total

Recent Images 27 total


Top Comments

Mistress Fortune
Mistress Fortune

in reply to Sir Snakeboat

According to some people, supposedly like 90% of the concurrent player count and sales are from China, which does make sense as hey it's a game made in China that actually looks and plays good rather than being some bland half-baked ripoff game. Hopefully this actually incentivizes more Chinese game companies to actually put in genuine effort to make good single player games that aren't just gacha live services like Mihoyo games.

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