The quiet release of a trailer for Black Myth: Wu Kong looks almost too good to be true. Thirteen minutes of gameplay shows off a polished game, with clear inspiration from Sekiro and God of War.
However, although the trailer looks amazing – you can watch it below – there are always some reasons to be cautious with a game that comes out of the blue like this.
The studio behind Black Myth: Wu Kong is called Game Science Studio, an indie dev studio based in China, with around 40 employees. They were founded in 2014.
They have previously worked on F2p games for mobile and PC, including Art of War: Red Tides, an RTS game released on Steam. It received generally favorable reviews.
It’s likely they’ve shown gameplay so early to attract potential investors or seek a Triple-A publisher. Black Myth: Wu Kong certainly looks like the type of game that might work well for a console exclusive.
No release date is mentioned in the gameplay trailer and the game is likely still a few years from completion. The official website is all in Chinese, but with some translation, it’s clear that this a passion project for the company.
Take this for example, “Later, there were many nights when we worked overtime until we were unconscious”, and “We announced that we would make a real masterpiece on the console.”
The website also says that the game is aiming to be released on PC and all other mainstream platforms, presumably consoles. In the answer to when the game is released, it says “It shouldn’t take 500 years…”
There are also a lot of job openings on the website. This suggests they’re still looking to fill out the team to produce a true Triple-A title.
Overall, this makes the development story behind Black Myth: Wu Kong a hopeful one. A small(ish) studio from China with dreams of making a blockbuster console game – whether or not they’ll find a publisher or Kickstart their campaign is yet to be seen.
However, if the game does get off the ground, it looks like a lot of fun. The graphics are great, the combat looks fascinating (apparently the main character, Wu Kong, has over 70 abilities at his disposal) and the story is unique.
I’ll keep on top of this game over the next few months and follow the progress of where it’s heading.