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Chinese action game Black Myth: Wukong is taking the internet by storm

Monkeying around.

Black Myth: Wukong is a new martial arts action game developed by a Chinese studio that's taken the internet by storm in just a day.

Announced on 19th August, Black Myth: Wukong is a retelling of the classic Chinese mythology epic Journey to the West, and, based on the gameplay video below, it could be a hit.

It's the work of a Hangzhou-based studio called Game Science, and is billed as China's first triple-A title. Chinese developers are known for creating mobile games, but Black Myth: Wukong targets next-gen console and PC, and a global market, using Unreal Engine 4 to build the game.

Some of the graphics effects are stunning. There's impressive physics at play, eye-catching animation work and inventive enemy design. The playable character, a take on the Monkey King character popular in the west, is able to transform into a variety of creatures. The bosses look wonderful, and the environments are incredibly detailed.

Cover image for YouTube videoBlack Myth: Wukong - 13 Minutes Official Gameplay Trailer

So, what is Game Science? It was founded in 2014 by former Tencent Games staff, and has created a raft of games, but Black Myth: Wukon is its first attempt at what would be considered a premium, single-player title.

According to South China Morning Post, within a day of being uploaded, Black Myth: Wukon's gameplay demo video saw 10m views on Chinese video site Bilibili and nearly 2m on YouTube. It was also a top-trending hashtag on Weibo and Douyin, China's equivalent of Twitter and TikTok respectively.

Game Science's operations director Lan Weiyi said the decision to develop a triple-A game was made in 2017 after the team realised there were more Steam users from China than the US.

"At the time, there were already more than 1 million Chinese gamers playing Grand Theft Auto on Steam," Lan wrote on Chinese online platform Zhihu. "Then we realised that China's premium games market was going through a transformation."

It seems like early days. Game Science is after a publisher and more developers. But already Black Myth: Wukon is one to watch.