When discussing Chinese culture and particularly its effects in the west, the elephant in the room is the technological giants that have sprung from China. Such companies have created a huge market in entertainment such as TV dramas, music, movies, and arguably one of the greatest but also surprising mediums through which chinese culture has been able to overcome the oceans has been through video games. Initially, companies like Tencent were behind household games such as Valorant, League of legends, and other games developed by Riot games. Tencent even owns a large stake in Epic games whom created rocket league and fortnite among others. Eventually, an extremely small game developing company by the name of ‘game science’ had an ambitious dream to create a game based on the infamous chinese tale of ‘journey to the west’ in hopes to allow the west to enjoy the story as much as those in previous generations in China once had. Black myth wukong, once a dream, became a game that took the western world by storm and was even nominated and won game of the year in multiple competitions.
This leads to the question, “What is Black Myth Wukong even about?” The short answer is that its about a monkey beating up a bunch of figures of authority, but the truth is that this story about a monkey king written in the 16th century, shaped centuries of lives and even influenced the Chinese government. So, let us dive into that story, the story of the monkey king and his ‘Journey to the west’. The story begins with a naive and arrogant monkey being born from a stone and follows him as he becomes a monkey king leading his fellow monkeys to a life of comfort. This continues until he realizes his mortality and fears the end of his and his tribes life, he ventures to an immortal’s abode and gains supernatural powers under his wing. The arrogant monkey, however, even with his newfound powers grows bored of life and causes a ruckus in heaven proclaiming himself as ‘Great Sage Equal of Heaven.’ After a very successful attempt in causing chaos he is caught and punished under a stone for centuries.
The journey truly begins when he is awoken to follow a monk, Tang Xuanzang along with pigsy and sandy to go on an arduous trip to India in order to find the holy buddhist scriptures to enlighten China. Due to the monkey’s arrogant and violent nature he is forced to wear a tight fillet on his head that would subdue his thoughts. Along the trip, the group faces 9 by 9 perfect 81 trials before they achieve their goal and return back to China to deliver the scrolls. After this, they are each (except pigsy) considered enlightened buddhas and conferred the title of buddha. This is where the story of journey to the west ends, and the story of Black Myth Wukong begins!
The story continues 500 years after the original. At this point, the monkey king or Sun Wukong had already declined his title of buddha and had returned back to his monkey village. The heavens still disturbed by his existence sent great beings to flatten his monkey village mountain. Thus, the enraged Sun Wukong flew to heaven to claim vengeance. When the fight begins, Sun Wukong discovers that the tight fillet had infact never been removed and that he was still bound by its effects. In an unfortunate turn of events, Erlang shen, the nephew of the Jade emperor, strikes and kills Sun Wukong and his six senses turn into relics that are scattered around the land. Over the following centuries the surviving monkeys in the village retain memory (or myth) of Sun Wukong’s old greatness. They harbor hope of restoring him and some generations try to recover the relics, though it’s unclear how many succeed or how far they get.
You join the story as The Destined one, a monkey from the surviving tribe who embarks on a quest to recover the six relics that correspond to Sun Wukong’s lost senses. The story follows you as you travel through multiple regions recovering the relics as you fight many monsters that try to stop you from achieving your goals. Along the way you even encounter Sun Wukong’s old friend Pigsy as he tries to help you for a while. While knowledge on journey to the west is not required, having read the tale enhances the experience as many of the enemies and people you meet along the way directly come from journey to the west and give you a sense of familiarity as you play the game. In order to preserve the game’s story and prevent spoiling the experience, I wont explain the game’s exact plot from here on outwards. However, I highly suggest anyone reading to try playing Black Myth Wukong, a game that almost extends its fingers as far back as the 1500s and creates a new story that is so profound that it makes you wonder how much video games truly can convey a story and how much they influence our modern world. The story developed from the game redefines the end of ‘Journey to the west’ and makes one ponder if the Journey in its entirety was even truly a success if Sun Wukong and heaven still fought afterwards, or does it just demonstrate the cyclical nature of the world, with the game’s plot being the next iteration of the cycle?