I don't think I'm personally among China's biggest fans these days. And you know what, I bet on some obscure server database somewhere, good in the company of hundreds of thousands others, that feeling is very much mutual. But if I try to focus this blog back to it's original purpose and think of the influences that China has had on the gaming market- no, their practises still stick me off. (Go figure.) The Chinese 'Game Market' has consisted entirely of low-effort online ports of popular worldwide franchises and an absolutely nauseating amount of mobile games that are seeped in microtransactions. Just absolute bottom of the barrel garbage has dominated the gaming industry in one of the most populated countries on Earth, what kind of sick twisted joke is that? And to make things worse, through Tencent they've managed to slowly start spreading their toxic practises to the rest of the world too, most notably for that no-show Diablo Immortal. But what if there was the one game to break the mould, to rewrite the playbook on 'what a game made in China can be' and to actually hold up on the world stage? Well that game exists, ladies and gentlemen, and it's called 'Black Myth: Wukong'.
Hailing out of the Middle Kingdom, 'Black Myth' is a game not within the stable of any of the big Chinese game companies, it doesn't even have Tencent for a publisher, this is a title that is independent with eyes on being AAA in today's market. The team currently working on it, moderately sized at about 40, consists of new comers to game development as well as veterans of Tencent's gaming division, and what they all share seems to be undeniable talent in their respective fields. This trailer, as much as it was a statement of intent, was apparently call for recruitment for any talent out there as they wish to settle into an active development routine, and if what we've seen so far is anything to go by then this team certainly have the vision to drive such a project. What started as perhaps something of an insulated project with big dreams has hit absolute payload in the past week with this footage, and I'm curious if this 'Game Science' team had any idea just what a ripple this would have on the gaming world; although I'm happy that it has.
So what is the footage to this indie game like, how does it's aspirations of shaping up to AAA stand? Shockingly well, as facts would have it. The game looks breathtaking in it's design, concept, movement, cinematography and just the plain tech making it all run. And bare always in mind, reader, that this isn't some highly polished cinematic or a final-look gameplay demo; it's a first look. A proof-of-concept before the actual hard development takes form for the next 2 years, at least. What I'm saying is, this game has no right to look this good. The only other game I can think off which looked this fine at this stage would have to be Cyberpunk 2077, and that was from a game being made by a much bigger team with a huge influx of the industries finest working there. Now to be fair, Wukong doesn't quite match Cyberpunk's fidelity or scale, but it looks just as tantalising fun to get one's hands on, and isn't that what it's all about?
Trying to evaluate all that happens in the footage is hard, as it is about 13 minutes long with extended gameplay footage and even a full-blown trailer at the end. (But I'll do what I can.) Firstly, I must say that it's heartening to finally have one of the most well-known stories in gaming make it to consoles without having to coat it in some sci-fi paint or stick it in an orange jumpsuit. (Sorry 'Enslaved: Odyssey to the West' and 'Dragon Ball', sometimes I just want the original.) This story is set to follow Sun Wukong and his famous 'Journey to the West', although some of the trailer's dialogue, along with the tag on the title 'Black Myth', leads me to believe that this will adopt some sort of 'the untold story behind the tale' vibe to it. The character of the Monkey King, Sun Wukong, has been adapted so many times in media that it's hard not to feel an instant connection to him. Of course there's the aforementioned references in 'Monkey', and Goku; but you also have some Easter eggs in games like 'Sleeping Dogs' and even outside of gaming there's the classic show 'Monkey Magic'. (Actual great show)
Straight away it's notable how much the team chose to draw from the, naturally, rich lore of the Monkey King and his many powers. Transformation is a big part of his story and as such we see that it seems to be the basis for the diversity in the fighting system in this game, and maybe even some of the traversal. (As Sun starts off as a cicada.) Sun Wukong famously has 72 transformations that he can adopt at any time, and this seems to have translated into a sort of fluid combat system that borrows it's stances from games like Yakuza. But that isn't the only inspiration. There are crowd control effects from 'God of War', intense one-on-one fights with plenty of dodging from Dark Souls, a split-second parry system that appears similar to Sekiro, and just a bevy of ludicrously fine animations to back all of it up. Seriously, even now I can see the personality from Sun Wukong's fighting style and I positively love it.
Speaking of combat, the enemy design also got a look over in this gameplay and, again, it looks great. There's a definite Souls inspiration from what I've seen so far, not so much in the animal soldiers that comprised the first half of the trailer but certainly the second half. Firstly we see that great shaggy white-haired wolf who looked right out of Bloodborne with his pleasing fur physics, then there were the insectile creatures who literally look like Sewer Centipedes from Dark Souls 3, and even some Lizard soldiers who look- like Man-Serpents. (Obviously.) But then there are the huge monsters that seem reminiscent of Bayonetta or God of War in their scale, or the armoured soldiers of heaven whom I didn't get the best look of but which all looked great on the other side of Sun's Jingu bang.
In fact, this entire trailer looks good. And I'm not just talking about graphical fidelity here. (Although, on that note, it does look graphically great as well.) When adapting a story about an epic adventure, heck, the epic adventure, it behoves one to focus on capturing that spirit of adventure and diversity in location and struggles. And whilst the first half of the trailer showed off an incredibly solid basis for gameplay, the following footage after Wukong gets interrupted by his older self, nails the adventure concept to a T. We see beautiful sweeping shots that all appear to be captured in the one-shot style that the recent God of War popularised, adversity in the pain the Sun appears to be wracked with in the presence of a Yaoguai statue and character development in that we see Wukong as his kingly self, riding his nimbus and taking on the armies of Heaven in a Dynasty-Warrior-style bout that just oozed epic scale. Quite simply, this game looks like a trip. One I desperately want in on.
Game Science have been a little overwhelmed by the way their incredible looking title has blown up all over the world, and the founder, Feng Ji, has been eager to temper expectations. He's already called for people not to take the footage too seriously, as it apparently doesn't represent their best work. (Almost makes it sound like he's flexing on us from another light.) He comments that the water physics aren't done yet, (Didn't even notice it) the frame drop in the fight against the heavenly warriors (Didn't care, scene looked dope) and that the music didn't always fit. (But where it did fit, the effect was magical.) But it's good that the team is remaining humble, they're not going down the Star Citizen route and proclaiming themselves god incapable of making mistakes. What's more, they plan to disappear and get their nose into making this game without feeding into their new found fame, now that's the mark of a studio in it for the craft. Personally, I always love to see an indie game that looks this good hit the world, just as I'm excited to see stories told from culture you don't get exposed to too often. Black Myth: Wukong looks like everything I could possibly want out of a Chinese game, and I didn't even know I wanted a Chinese game. Good luck to the team, and I await any and all updates with bated breath.
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