The Full Story of Black Myth: Wukong Explained

Welcome to the FULL STORY of Black Myth: Wukong! Have you been confused about the game's storytelling or at times rather strange, yet dazzling cutscenes? Look no further, because in this video we'll go over everything with Wukong's lore, story, and worldbuilding as it relates to Black Myth: Wukong, the game, for PC, Playstation, and Xbox! Let me know what you think of this incredible take on Journey to the West in the comments below.

#BlackMythWukong #WukongLore #GamingLore #fullstory

-- Timestamps --
Introduction: 00:00
Who is Sun Wukong?: 1:42
Return to Stone Monke: 3:14
Wukong Chapter 1: 5:30
Wukong Chapter 2: 9:06
Wukong Chapter 3: 12:41
Wukong Chapter 4: 17:45
Wukong Chapter 5: 19:46
Wukong Chapter 6: 23:13
Destined Chapter 1: 26:30
Destined Chapter 2: 30:40
Destined Chapter 3: 34:53
Destined Chapter 4: 43:26
Destined Chapter 5: 49:12
Destined Chapter 6: 54:44
Conclusion: 1:00:46

[NeddyTheNoodle]

Hey all! Thanks for all the positive and negative comments. For anything I got wrong, do excuse any mistakes as I followed the English dub version of the game and there could have been mistranslations, adding to the confusion. Otherwise, this very was very fun to make! Let me know what you think below ❤

[hongyuwu]

Game Science's CEO, states that this game originally had 13 chapters that contained many more stories. However, considering the time and money that have already been spent, the game has to be released early to raise funds or have a market test to see if they need to continue developing the story. Now the game is definitely a success and they will continue the development and probably release a few more DLCs to complete all the stories.

[benjaminl]

The ending may confuse some western audiences, but during the ending of the game, you can see the Destined one getting some of WuKong’s memory back, while carrying all 5 relic pieces, the old monkey said there’s still the last piece of relic that’s missing which is his memories / mind that was lost. However, if you completed all the secrets in every single chapter, and have bested ErLang Shen 二郎神at the secret mountain of Mei etc, in the secret ending / true ending, you see the Destined one getting the final piece of lost memory back, which was the memory of his journey to the west in an anime style told from the ending of the story to the very beginning.

Unlike the normal ending / bad ending, right before the crown was put on him, the Destined one is no more, he is now Sun WuKong, receiving the final piece of his memory back which was his lost mind / memory ( before the translation it makes a lot more sense in Chinese ) Holding all 6 relics and finally free of the control of the gods ( the crown was made by Buddha and put on by Guan Yin 观音菩萨 in order to control WuKong who was the lady / god at the end of chapter 1 anime )

Since no one can kill WuKong, and he can not remove the crown by himself, his desire for being free, fuck destiny and the gods in his fashion like he said during the anime talking to ErLang Shen 二郎神 he simply gambled, and killed himself in order to be free of the crown / gods control. And in the secret ending the Destined one which is one of WuKong’s clone all along ( judging by being a piece of WuKong’s fur everytime you die and respawn ) successed and now lives free and no longer be in control of the gods! Who looks exactly like him, fights like him and have all the relics and his memories. So WuKong wins at the end, he is the exact same WuKong but now no longer being controlled by the gods and without the crown! The celestial Symphony classic JTW theme song hits so hard during the ending anime! WuKong is many’s childhood hero, including me, glad to see the devs do him justice in a dark twisted new story, except he is missing a cape on his armour that says 齐天大圣, missing the epic scenes where he swings his mountain size staff and his real title, 花果山水帘洞美猴王齐天大圣孙悟空 / the handsome monkey king from the flower and fruit mountain, the Great sage equal of heaven!

[LeonMars]

I feel like this game deserves a sequel. With the true ending, Newkong’s journey has just started and he’s basically free to challenge the celestial court with nothing holding him back and the knowledge of Sun Wukong.

[LegionZGaming]

Heres is some correction for chapter 3 yellow brow, the story its kinda deep. yellow brow was rescued from the sea by fishermen, who did not harm him. He did not think this was kindness. The fishermen benefited from yellow brow's flesh and blood, so they provided him with food, worshipped him as a god, and built a temple for him. He did not think this was kindness. The government did not embezzle wealth, but distributed jewelry fairly to the poor. He did not think this was kindness. When a person blinded by greed appeared in the crowd, yellow brow took the initiative to guide him to commit a crime (the collar of the man with a knife was pulled by yellow brow), and like an avalanche, he detonated the evil in the hearts of others. In the end, yellow brow proved his original theory: human nature is evil. Jinchanzi said that he was obsessed with winning and losing, and he was a pathetic guy. Because yellow brow first had a theory, and then got the result he wanted by guiding reality. Instead of practicing in reality and finally summarizing the theory through the results. Even if there are 100 parts of kindness, as long as there is one evil, yellow brow will make the result lead to evil.

[dcfefs]

Im a Chinese player myself, and as you might have guessed, it is absoultely AWESOME to see that a beloved mythlogy that you knew and loved from your chuldhood, finally get to become a AAA video game. Having blown away by deep, complex portrayal of other mythlogies in video games such as God of War or Wrath of Ashura, you have no idea how long a mytholgy geek like me have waited for a game to be made for Wukong.

I had doubts whether a serious game could be made for Wukong, given the colorful background, quirky characters with animal heads, vague yet impressive magical properties... but this game ABSOLUTELY NAILED IT. It had even found a way to make them look realistic, yet rugged and dirty, with a hint of horror element, it's was the perfect blend. Respect to the creative team, and of course, the designer Yang Qi.

I wish they are making a sequel, and hopefully we dont have to wait years for that, and maybe one day we can have a game that is based on my fav mytholgy material - the classics of mountain and sea.

[cocomo]

As for the Zhu Bajie story, I know everyone keeps saying he made a mistake and didn't recognize the Chang'e, and that's why he married a normal, human woman. However, based on a popular retelling of the story, Zhu Bajie was cursed to live over 1000 tragic love stories. Before he joins Tang Monk and Sun Wukong on their Journey to the West, in his most recent reincarnation, he gets reborn as a pig demon. The love story Yue Lao (the god of matchmaking) cooked up fro Bajie is that he marries a common and ordinary human woman. Bajie kept his disguise as a human and never let her find out his true identity. However, when Sun Wukong came through Bajie's village and sensing there was a demon, he ends up exposing Bajie as a pig demon. His wife sees his true face and dies from fear and shock. Guanyin revives her, but has Bajie promises to aid Tang Monk on his journey as his second disciple (this is the 1996 HK drama version).

And then the love story between Bajie and the Spider lady happens. He recognizes her as the celestial maid he ran into in the heavens, and she recognizes him. It has been said, when she found out Bajie was banished to the mortal realm, she gave up her divinity to follow after him into the mortal realm. A funny joke that's been going around the Chinese forums is that she heard he got reincarnated as a "zhu", so that's why she chose a spider demon. Spider and pig sound the same in Chinese "zhu", but use different tones.

Fun fact: the song that plays during Bajie and Violet Spider's animation, the woman singer says, "in our next life, lets us meet again", while the male singer says, "in our next life, lets not meet again".

[XieQiu]

JTTW is probably one of the hardest piece of literature for a Wsterner to fully grasp. Its incredibly long and dense, written in a very uniquely Chinese style (for example, poems are used everywhere as a way of story telling because the structure of ancient Chinese allows for it), and its been so popular in the last 500 years that there are countless retelling and reinterpretation of the novel. Some fan theories are so popular that its even hard for a Chinese native (like me) to tell that they are not from the original novel. Fun stuff if you are into these kind of things.

[trunghieutran]

Jade Emperor’s tendency to banish people from his court is as strong as Zeus’ urge to make love with everything moving

[AkatsukiReji]

Bajie could not admit violet spirder and her daughter are his family member due to fear of the celestial court, if they found out, they will kill them. This is also why Bajie went on the journey with Sun Wukong in order to gain some merit and buddahood so he could protect them. in the journey to the west, there already an example of ox king family being torn apart by the celestial court. It was his greatest sacrifice

[WheatDos]

Just one thing.
In the end of the game, the old monkey says that the "Mind" is the first to desintegrate, so Wukong's Mind is gone.
The Destined One is replacing the old mind with his own, and by acquiring the other senses of Wukong and his memories from Erlang, the Destined one becomes both a successor and a reincarnation of the Monkey King.
Tl;dr Monkey is like Theseus ship.

[ngai]

By the way, the names of disciples of yellow-bow is literally a mock towards Tang monk's disciples (also Tang monk is the reincarnation of Jinchanzi as he was punished by the Buddha for having a snap in the lesson lol.)

While Tang monk's disciples names include Wukong 悟空 (awaken to emptiness) WuNeng (Bajie's another name)悟能(awaken to what you should do and what you shouldn't) WuJing 悟净(Sandy.awaken to pureness) and Bailoong Ma白龍馬 (literally mean white loong horse, yeah the horse is one of Tang's disciples too), the four disciples of yellow-bow you will encounter named BuKong 不空( mean: not awaken to emptiness), BuNeng 不能(not awaken to what you should do and what you shouldn't) and BuJing 不净(not awaken to pureness) and BuBai不白 ( not white. I am serious, hear me out)

Also most of the Chinese player assume the Tang monk (Jin Chanzi) disguise as the old monkey and guide the players. In the game, only him will call Zhu Bajie as "Bajie", which is the phase used by Tang monk. Also only Jinchanzi and Old monkey is related to "gamble"
Jin Chanzi gamble with yellow-bow and Old monkey was assumed by the Court that he is gambling that WuKong can get off the things on his head eventually.
And both of them don't care about winning or losing but the truth.
When you get the first bad ending, the old monkey will look up to the sky and sigh before he give you the band. When you start a new game, you will discover that the last relics is the head band.
Here’s my theory: because you don’t get the true mind relics from erlang, the old monkey have replaced it by head band.
The head band mean obeying while the true relics is freedom. It’s a punishment for the speed run player who don’t give a fuck about the storyline. And you get an ending you deserve:Speedrun it again till you get the truth ending.

[hhgfdhp]

Viewing stories from a foreigner's perspective is indeed intriguing, and as a Chinese, I appreciate your sharing immensely. To better facilitate understanding, let me add a detail to the closing animation of the first chapter.
The first story revolves around the robe, which is not just the attire but also a symbol of the monk. Monks are required to renounce worldly desires, thus the robe embodies asceticism and virtue. However, when Jinchi, the monk, lays eyes on Tang Sanzang's precious robe, he is overcome with greed. This essentially represents a lust for "asceticism" itself, a paradoxical irony where obsession with something intended to promote detachment can lead to its opposite effect. This profound message—that clinging too tightly to an idea or thing can have the reverse outcome intended—is indeed nuanced and challenging to articulate in English, yet it underscores the complexities of human nature and the dangers of excessive attachment.

[zhangmai]

As a Chinese, I feel your enthusiasm for Wukong, and your efforts to look up information to understand the plot are very commendable. This is not an easy thing to do, and it is normal to make some mistakes, after all, this is a new culture for you. China now has a tour based on this game (including dozens of locations), welcome to China to experience it

[PeteyOfficial]

The melon guy is the future Buddha Budai or Maitreya. He helped Wukong defeat yellowbrow during his original journey. Interestingly every chapter, the main villain was defeated by Sun Wukong with the help of the Buddha. Chapter 1, the bear demon was defeated by Guanyin. In chapter 2, the headless monk Buddha help Wukong defeat the rat villain in original journey to the west. In chapter 3, Budai help defeat yellowbrow. In chapter four it was the chicken dude that pops up. He was one of a bodhisattva sons. In chapter 5 it was Guanyin again for defeating Red Boy. It’s interesting that the developers only choose chapters where Wukong had the help of a Buddha like figure to defeat these villains in the original story.

[hasakikuroha]

I come from China, and I want to add some knowledge to all foreign friends. Everyone thinks that Sun Wukong is just a stone monkey, but he is not just an ordinary stone monkey. He is created by the god named "Nuwa", the mother of human beings in Chinese mythology. Nuwa created all kinds of human beings with clay, but one day the world fell into a disaster. Nuwa created a sky mending stone to repair the sky in order to protect the life tower of the world, and Wukong is the remaining sky mending stone (the stone used to repair the sky). Since the disaster, the sky mending stone has stayed in Huaguo Mountain (where Sun Wukong was born)) The stone began to absorb the energy of all things in the world as nutrients to breed the Stone Monkey Sun Wukong, When Sun Wukong was born, a stone cracked open and a beam of light pierced through the heavens, shocking the gods of the heavens... (The story that followed is what you know)

[tomdo]

I thought players except Chinese may be confused about the game story because they knew less about Journey to the West. Thank you for explaining that.

[soulawaken]

35:00 If I am not wrong this Melon Baby is Yellowbrow's master, Maitreya. Yellowbrow in the original novel stole some treasures from his master, and that was what he relied on to give our MC trouble. The master Maitreya often referred to in Buddhism as the Future Buddha. Basically he's predestined to be the successor of the current Buddha, the pretty powerful being who basically sealed Wukong under the mountains for 500 years. So yea, this melon baby is kinda a big shot. I think his demeanor somewhat stem from the Chinese depiction of him, since his statue is often a fat monk who's always smiling.

[hunhunhaha]

The dragon girl was a huge fan girl of wukong and in attempt to free wukong she was lured and captured by yellow brow and completely brainwashed to become his minion. And its a tragic story when she was eventually killed by the chosen one

[marchsixteen]

it's must really hard for a non-chinese guy to put all these all together, thank you so much! It's indeed quite confusing without a understanding of the novel journey to the west