I remember a while back, when the world was still young and the Internet was shocked and dazzled by the reveal of a seemingly spectacular video game being developed out of a corner of the world mysterious to those outside of it. A Chinese video game developer, from a market known and dominated by mobile games and frankly terrible country-specific knock-off (yet somehow official) variant versions of their games, put together one of the most singularly impressive looking graphical games we'd ever seen. Whatsmore, it was a trailer for one of the most venerated genres of games ever, the noble Soulslike- which in itself could spell either glory or disaster depending on the fickle whims of one of gaming's most snooty and difficult-to-impress customers. (At least they didn't decide to cater to the MMO audience: there's no happy customers in that genre slice.) That game was Black Myth Wukong; and a lot has changed since we first saw it.
For one, the graphical notch of the tip-top of our industry has neatly caught up to the heights of Black Myth, in terms of sheer palette and the neatness of animations. Black Myth has still managed to stay on par with it's contemporaries, however, detailing just how ahead-of-it's time this game was during it's first reveal. And on another hand, this industry is being beset by dozens of new games eager to take the Soulslike crown, which marks competition for Black Myth which is beginning to resemble the Souls-like style of game more and more with each reveal, even though the game owes it's makeup to a lot of action adventure titles besides the likes of Sekiro and Dark Souls. And on the third branch on the ever-changing tree of the games industry: we're all getting a little tired of not hearing so much as a release date about this damned game!
We're getting to a point where the industry has enough great development studios making incredible experience piece games every other day that those impressive reveals that are sat on for years at a time lose the sticky fandom that they once would have maintained. Who has the time to hover around waiting for Silksong to get a release date announced when Blasphemous 2 is out and ready to be played today? It would take something giant and unmissable for a modern game to get away with a years-out announcement in today's industry- like a new GTA or a Bethesda announcement- but even those studios shy away from it because they know how much more cost-effective it is to keep things tight and concentrated. I sense an aura of frustration about how long Wukong has strung us along with promises of sheer mastery, even with the knowledge that a game done right is a game well remembered. We just don't want another 'Beyond Good and Evil 2' on our hands, please.
On the otherhand I can totally understand why the studio behind Black Myth would have announced their title in a relatively early stage of development. Remember that these are Chinese developers working for a company that specialises almost exclusively in mobile games and free-to-play online MMOs. These developers didn't even know there would be an audience for the game like the one they imagined in their dreams. Such to the point where the developers felt the need, during those early days of sudden fame, to make clear that this wouldn't be a free-to-play game- as if that even crossed the minds of the wider gaming world who were so enraptured by it. It's unthinkable for a game to be funded over this world with such a fundamental lack of understanding regarding the target market, but that just goes to show the distinction in gaming culture inside and out of the Western and Eastern world, or to be more international- inside and out of mobile gaming culture.
As of Gamescon we've started to see a little more of Black Myth and it feels like we're edging towards a potential release date. I hold hope that sometime within 2024 we're going to see this game in the flesh and hopefully enjoy in a retelling of one of the world's oldest tales in a manner most new and exciting. At the very least I hope that when the time comes that we actually do earn ourselves a release date, Black Myth is to that point of completion we've been waiting all this time for. I won't be very happy with any last minute delays like a certain Hollow Knight sequel has dropped upon our heads time after sordid, painful time. I want to be a believer in a new AAA game studio as the next guy, but that only starts with a two way street of trust.
Now that the 'unbelievable' factor has dissipated around the Black Myth game somewhat, there's a familiar vein to what we're seeing which I hope doesn't belie an experience that isn't as transformative as we were once to believe. I mean I love a good Souls-like game as much as the next guy, but I was sold into Black Myth under the belief that is was more than just another average 'copy what FromSoftware do' style game. There was a purpose to what we saw in those original demos, a edge towards the cinematic and the otherworldly and the silvery dreams of an ever dreaming mind. I want Black Myth to sell me into the powerful fantasy of the trickster monkey god, albeit in his surly looking 'front cover protagonist' iteration we've seen a great deal of in all these previews. I want a game that's more than just filler space between bosses, as you find so often in games like the original 'Lords of the Fallen' and 'Mortal Shell'. I want an adventure out of Black Myth.
At least I can say the sheer quality spectacle of the game hasn't wavered after all this time. After all this time Wukong still hosts those moments that will take your breath away and conjure shades of those most intense battles of similar style titles like God of War or Sekiro. (Not to draw too fine a line under the whole 'Souls' comparison.) The quality of movement, animation excellence, expressive art direction- there's a AAA heart beating in this game which summons a level of expectation which I'm sure has been hanging over Game Kitchen's head for years at this point. I'm even liking just the boss attack patterns we've seen so far, in the way they encourage more than just dodge and attack, but jumping and deflecting and quick precise evasions- I want to say I'm seeing lessons borne from experience in these raw gameplay choices, but until I try myself I can't say for sure if these are lessons all learnt well.
Black Myth is still a king among the pantheon of games worth waiting for. At least in the manner that it's a game which still silences the room and draws attention whenever we're permitted to see a little more behind the curtain. But it's an absent king we're waiting to make their return back into the fold they've avoided. Like Aragon or Yorinobu Arasaka, there's an expectant and eager void swirling in their wake and the belief of something explosive and transformative at the moment of return. It feels like something, or everything, is going to change at the moment of launch- like a Dragon flying back to it's hoard with a firey temperance. And if Baldur's Gate 3 has instilled within me one thing- it's a ravenous hunger for explosions of change. To remain static is to die, and to quoth Lyn Inaizumi: "If you hold on life won't change!"
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