With Gamescom still delivering on new announcements and trailers during its several day run, a game that I have slept on all the way through it’s development process has quickly climbed the charts to make a claim as king of the current gaming jungle.
Hail to the king
Black Myth: Wukong, an action title inspired by the old Chinese novel Journey to the West has, been in development for multiple years now, going all the way back to 2018. Having been developed by unknown studio Game Science, which is based out of China, you’d be surprised to hear about the games break out success if you weren’t paying better attention. The game just launched a few days ago, but it’s already sold a staggering 10 million copies in that short period of time, rivaling other giants in the industry like Elden Ring and Cyberpunk 2077’s epic launch numbers. The game, which is a souls like single player experience, also made waves by having more than two million concurrent players on Steam on launch day, placing it as one of the most played games on the platform. Wukong was also a winner of a couple of Gamescom awards, having won “Best Visuals” and “Most Epic” at the 2024 version of the expo, with Wukong continuing to show off why the old legend chronicling the adventures of the monkey king inspiring a new generation is worthy of praise.
Not a totally unheard of happening, I might add
Needless to say, gamers are impressed. With both critics and players alike rating the experience quite highly, and the game having only been out for a matter of days generating massive hype behind the title, I have a feeling we have a new industry darling on our hands, and the first entry in a must play series down the road. No doubt that the game’s Chinese background and focus on the country’s cultural heritage has given the game a huge boost, as doing well in a market as massive as the Chinese one is no doubt going to push the game to insane heights of popularity. Studio Game Science seemed to be paying attention to what works and what doesn’t to replicate that souls-like pedigree, and looking at gameplay trailers and demos reinforces the notion that the game looks gorgeous, and plays with extreme fluidity, making it an ideal action packed romp with a focus on epic boss fights for anyone looking to enjoy another tough as nails experience to sink their teeth into.
Nothing says zen like reaching a flow state by beating the
ever loving shit out of your sworn enemies
As mentioned, the game has already launched on both the PC and the PS5, which means if you’re lucky enough to have a beefy computer or Sony’s latest, you’re in for a good time…a rare moment I lament not having a PS5. An Xbox release date has yet to be announced, but based on the games success, a port is not out of the question. You can check out a gameplay trailer below.
~Pashford
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