Through a Wes Anderson-esque stop-motion trailer, publisher Game Science announced the release window for their upcoming action RPG Black Myth: Wukong. A game that looks a bit like Elden Ring if set in Chinese mythology.
We can expect Black Myth: Wukong to be released around mid-2024. It may seem like a while for those still wearing 2022 hats, but it’s actually only 18 months. Which isn’t all that long, unless you’re a rabbit.
This is the spin Game Science is putting on things with the Black Myth: Wukong launch window teaser. The animated video shows a rabbit who has been waiting all his life to play. Look, this is a bit elusive and you should just watch it to see what I mean.
While it’s clear from the trailer that Black Myth: Wukong is headed to PC, Game Science has still not confirmed which consoles the title will come to. Let’s hope we see Black Myth on PS5 or Xbox Series X| S as the game will come to “other mainstream consoles” according to Game Science website (opens in a new tab).
Bigger picture
Black Myth: Wukong takes place in an Eastern-inspired fantasy world where you play as the legendary character Wukong, traveling through a desolate and unforgiving landscape, defeating fantastical enemies. Inspired by the 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West, Wukong will meet many strange and mythical characters on his way.
There’s a giant fleshy spider out there somewhere, and to be honest, it scares me already
While the new trailer only features a snippet of gameplay, in 2020 Game Science announced Black Myth with 13 minutes of gameplay footage (opens in a new tab). The new clip is reminiscent of the Elden Ring in its tired and grayscale landscape; we see Wkong fighting what looks like a huge tiger, wielding a menacing longsword. In this short fight, it seems like the best way to defeat this tiger is to hit it and then get out of there before it strikes. In this sense, the attacks also mimic Elden Ring’s hit-and-dodge fighting style.
Inspired by Chinese myths and recreating the world of Journey to the West, a fantasy epic in the style of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, we can expect a vast landscape full of strange monsters. Exploring these stories in an RPG will allow us to get close to these monsters, for better or for worse: there’s a giant fleshy spider out there somewhere, and to be honest, it scares me already.
A long time ago
While I don’t think 2024 is too long to wait, that may be because I’ve only just found out about Black Myth. The project has been in development since 2011; it took Game Science 12 years of painstaking work to get this far.
Game Science tells the story of the struggles involved in completing this monumental task Black Myth: Wukong’s information page (opens in a new tab); he questions if he did enough work or even if it was worth it. “For countless nights of overtime, exhausted, we half-jokingly asked ourselves – what does it matter?” says game science.
Fortunately, Game Science believes in its long-awaited RPG and is going full steam ahead to hit its target 2024 release window. In the meantime, we can sit back and wait for more news about Wkong and where he’s headed next.