Game Science Announces Black Myth: Zhong Kui

In late August, Game Science announced its next game, Black Myth: Zhong Kui.

My first reaction wasn't excitement. It was curiosity.

China has so many gods to pick from. Why him?

Sun Wukong and Zhong Kui sit at opposite ends of the Chinese imagination.

Wukong is the one who won't submit. Born from a rock, buried under a mountain for five hundred years, and the first thing he does on getting out is still to swing at heaven. He belongs to no system. He is the thorn outside it.

Zhong Kui isn't. Zhong Kui is the one who guards the gate.

He sits inside the order. He is the order's blade.

This time you play Zhong Kui, the demon queller. Sit with those two words for a second. Wukong is the demon. Zhong Kui is the one who hunts them. One blows outward, the other draws inward.

Honestly, picking him for the second game takes nerve. Wukong's appeal is obvious. Rebellion, freedom, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven. Say the words and people's blood is already up. But getting players to step into an enforcer, and still think he's cool?

That's genuinely hard.

The fifteen-minute gameplay reveal did give up a fair amount. Grim old temples, the underworld, a boss big enough to be unsettling. I won't pretend to judge how it plays. Doing that from a screen is nonsense. No release date. Not a word.

What's actually interesting is something else. After Wukong broke records, Black Myth stopped being the name of a game. It became the name of a series. A Chinese studio, using a prefix to hold its own mythology.

Last time it was a monkey swinging at heaven. This time a gatekeeper steps up, still watching over the darkest part of it.

/ By Zhong Kui Team

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