MYTHMAKING

Inside BLACK MYTH: WUKONG's four-year Journey to the West

- Wes Fenlon

Four years to the day before Game Science released action-adventure Black Myth: Wukong, the Chinese studio shot to immediate international attention with the kind of trailer that made a lot of us go, "No way... really?" It looked good. Really good. Lush, strikingly detailed foliage, subtle reflections on the surface of mossy puddles, transformation after transformation showing monkey king Sun Wukong's deep reservoir of tricks and battle techniques. It seemed too ambitious, too strong a first showing from a studio that, up to that point, had primarily worked on mobile games. It was no coincidence that when Game Science finally let us play Black Myth, we started in that same densely forested level.

"One of the things we value is a promise to our game fans. We tried to keep true to what it looked like in 2020, but did a lot of optimisation based on that," said Game Science in an interview with PC Gamer (the developer I spoke with requested to be credited as a representative of the studio, rather than an individual). And sure enough, the final stage four years later looks true to the original teaser, proving that first demo wasn't pulling any sleight of hand.

"Blackwind Mountain was one of the first levels that was completed, and we didn't feel very satisfied with it at the time,” said Game Science, a hint that this early bit of the game may undersell the adventure that follows.

LONGEST JOURNEY

Even as Game Science downplayed the quality of Blackwind Mountain, though, they promised that Black Myth’s third level is on another level, with a mammoth explorable space and a multi-phase boss fight befitting a warrior whom the Buddha had to bury under a mountain just to stop his rebellion against heaven.

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