The first wave of players quickly posted glowing reviews, declaring that this phenomenon-level title had opened the first chapter of China's AAA era - generally understood as large single-player games built with major investment, long development cycles, and extensive resources. So where exactly did this Wukong spring from, and what 81 trials did the Destined Ones behind him endure along the way?

A Journey That Was Inevitable

Black Myth: Wukong entered development in 2018. After six and a half years of trials, it finally arrived yesterday. The person who set this Sun Wukong free was Feng Ji, founder and CEO of Game Science.

Feng graduated from Huazhong University of Science and Technology with a degree in biomedical engineering. As a young man, he was an avid gamer and even gave up the chance to sit the postgraduate entrance examination so that he could keep playing. In 2005, he joined a game company as a game designer and helped create the online title Asura, which became a classic in its day.

An idealistic vision can only be realized through pragmatic effort. Just as in the journey to the West, the most important thing is to take the first step.

In 2014, Feng began his entrepreneurial journey and founded his own studio, Game Science.

Feng had long dreamed of developing a single-player game: starting from the world of Asura, incorporating a mature architecture, and expanding it through different forms of play into something larger and more deeply rooted in Chinese culture, ultimately creating a rigorous, broad mythology of China.

There was passion and idealism in the decision to make a premium single-player game, but it was also the result of a sober assessment of the market and our own capabilities. In February 2018, Game Science's founding team decided to break new ground with a high-quality single-player title. That game was Black Myth: Wukong.

The team decided to return to Journey to the West over a meal. Everyone was excited. Some wanted to make a science-fiction shooter, while others wanted an action-adventure game with samurai and firearms. But when Journey to the West came up, the whole table fell silent. It may simply have been the shared memory and spark that connected us all.

Looking back, Feng believes the outcome was almost inevitable: Journey to the West and Sun Wukong are among the IPs that best represent Chinese culture. We wanted players around the world to use this medium as a gateway to understanding Chinese culture more deeply.

A Myth Before It Was Even Released

On August 20, 2020, the first 13-minute gameplay trailer for Black Myth: Wukong was released and immediately electrified the games community. Many players could still see traces of Asura in the footage and exclaimed that the people who had always wanted to make a Journey to the West game were finally back.

Feng described the sudden explosion of interest as a lucky accident. At the time, the team's real problem was recruitment. The video was intended primarily to attract talent, with project promotion as a secondary goal. They had hoped for 500,000 views; the actual figure exceeded that target by more than one hundred times.

Feng remembers that the day passed in a blur. The unread messages on WeChat never seemed to end, and he had to top up the server account three times before the official website could withstand the traffic.

Once the initial pride and surprise settled, the attention brought the team more anxiety - even fear. The phenomenon was driven in large part by a simple love for the country and its culture. We were fortunate enough to carry everyone's expectations at exactly the right moment, Feng said.

For the next four years, Feng worried every day that the game would fail to meet expectations. He came to regard that feeling of walking on thin ice as a valuable experience. It constantly reminds me that Wukong was lucky enough to stand on a peak, but that also means the edge of a sheer cliff is right beside our feet.

To outsiders, developing a Chinese AAA game from scratch looked like a bold experiment by a group of idealists. Feng, however, preferred to think of the team as pragmatic idealists.

Setting out on the journey is more important than reaching Mount Ling, Feng said. The line not only distills the essence of Journey to the West; it is also the central philosophy behind the game.

On June 8, just over two months before release and on the first day of pre-orders, Feng wrote on social media: Most of the decisions I made during development can be reduced to four words - let's give it a try.

On August 20, Black Myth: Wukong unlocked worldwide, and players jokingly said they needed to take the day off work to wait for it.

Set against the backdrop of Chinese mythology, the game incorporates intangible cultural heritage such as northern Shaanxi storytelling and uses real-world scans of historic sites across China, including the Jade Emperor Temple in Shanxi, the Dazu Rock Carvings in Chongqing, and Shisi Temple in Zhejiang. These bold expressions of Chinese culture drew attention far beyond what anyone had anticipated.

Black Myth: Wukong was soon associated with Chinese aesthetics and the global reach of Chinese culture. Tourism accounts in Shanxi, Chongqing, Zhejiang, and elsewhere released their own Wukong promotional films, inviting Destined Ones to begin a pilgrimage to the game's real-world locations.

Overseas fans also actively published videos explaining the culture behind Black Myth: Wukong. Some of the interpretations were not entirely accurate, but the creative team did not mind. A game is a product that lets players around the world exchange experiences and share joy. We welcome different voices, Feng said.
For decades, AAA games were dominated by Europe and North America, and Chinese players routinely had to learn the cultural background of overseas titles. Games are cross-cultural bridges. Chinese players have already gone through that process of understanding other cultures; now it is the turn of overseas players to study Journey to the West and learn about China's traditions.

Judged by its first step beyond the gaming community and into global culture, Black Myth: Wukong succeeded.

But in Feng's words, this may only be the beginning. A Chinese-style label is not an excuse for low quality. It creates a greater responsibility and demands more effort. Strong content first moves the local cultural community naturally. If its quality is high enough, its influence will extend overseas on its own.