A Skeptical Look at ‘Black Myth: Wukong’

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Black Myth: Wukong is an upcoming action role-playing game developed and published by Game Science. It is inspired by the 16th-century classical Chinese novel Journey to the West. It is scheduled to release for PlayStation 5 and Windows on August 20, 2024, with an Xbox Series X/S version slated for a later release.

Intro: 0:00
Ad Read: 3:24
The Game Itself: 5:07
Fairly Unknown Developers: 12:02
The IGN Fiasco: 14:49
Closing Thoughts: 26:01

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[zhaoyunxiao]

There're two misunderstandings: first, 'getting licked' means being flattered in Chinese, so this post by the creator from the studio has nothing to do with sex. What it really means is basically He want to hire more people but too many people want to be hired so they flatter him too much and he can't get used to it. Second, the translation of the snake spirit is correct by IGN as '冲' does mean jerk off nowadays (though originally it does not, this is why GPT translate it the other way). But this pic has nothing to do with the studio as It's a post on a forum called Zhihu by some random guys.

[PeteDingerton]

Can't spell ignorance without ign

[henrychen]

As a Chinese player, I want to clarify some parts of the video.

Firstly, regarding the company name and logo: The company is called Game Science. While the logo might appear misleading and resemble a sperm, the company explained in a 2021 interview with Chinese media that the logo represents an atom being struck by lightning. It's that simple. The comment suggesting that the Chinese abbreviation for "Game Science" ("游科" yóu kē) sounds like "游蝌" (yóu kē), meaning "swimming tadpole, " is just a playful term used by players. It's not an official name given by the company.

Secondly, about the signboard advertising: There's no denying that the Chinese player Luke quotes in the video is correct. Their recruitment advertisements are indeed vulgar, but that doesn't mean they are sexist.

Next, they accused the game art director, Yang Qi, of calling for no female players. This is completely taken out of context.

When quoting his statement, you must consider the development context of the Chinese game industry. At that time, and even now, many character designs in Chinese games aesthetically pursued "白幼瘦" mindlessly（"白幼瘦" means having white skin, a youthful appearance, and a slender body.）. This applies not only to female characters but also to male characters in many game companies. It's absurd, right? Imagine if Kratos were a slender, fair-skinned man. Imagine if Arthur Morgan looked like an idol. It doesn't fit their story backgrounds at all, does it?

This is precisely what the game art director was trying to convey. We shouldn't pursue this kind of aesthetic because it makes men not look like men. We need to create something that truly embodies masculinity. Do you think that's sexist? At least, I don't think so.

Parts of the content as above are through the translation software. If there is something unclear to the READER, I can explain further.

[backnine]

I have no idea how IGN even has a say in anything at this point. They lost credibility many years ago - who is giving them the attention so that they stay relevant? Luke, it’s really simple and not that bizarre, the writer is actually the racist one. It really isn’t complicated.

[justinsotomayor]

this game genuinely looks like a dream game. if you would have shown this to me 10 years ago i wouldnt have believed it was real

[rengg]

someone told me this about the company logo:
"Because the Chinese abbreviation for "game science" is "游科" (yóu kē), it sounds similar to "游蝌" (yóu kē) which means "swimming tadpoles" when read in Chinese.
The humorous play on words comes from the fact that the pronunciation of "游科" (yóu kē, for game science) is nearly identical to "游蝌" (yóu kē, swimming tadpoles) in Chinese. So when someone says "游科", it evokes a silly imagery of frolicking with tadpoles.
Using the English approximation "Yo-kuh" for the Chinese "游科" highlights this delightful linguistic ambiguity that arises from reading the tonal Chinese language, capturing the entertaining double meaning."

[steve]

I’m so stupid for this game. I picked up a copy of Journey to the West because of it.

[Casualgamer_plays]

The reason is Racism. Why? It's probably because IGN hates the fact that a Chinese studio made a visually stunning game instead of a Western one.

[JeremiahWise_]

I appreciate you doing your own research on that ign article and not just taking it at face value. Especially when it comes to translating. American's think every word they translate is literal just like the english language when in reality foreign languages are more complex with their words and can be translated many different ways.

[tmwetter]

Boy, cant wait till IGN finds out about the logo volvo uses :D

[Chasm]

This game has probably the most beautiful postprocessing in any game to date. The particle effects, motion blur, DoF... not to mention the animation fluidity, lumen, nanite, VSMs, .. it's a feast for the eyes. Truly amazing use of UE5's features. 😲 It's so dense with detail that anyone on YouTube who doesn't know how to properly record and process videos to minimize compression artifacts is doing this game a disservice.

[djfussell]

Well, just look at Hogwarts Legacy and Stellar Blade. Both game studios had only made mobile games previously, and when they attempted to make AAA console games, they absolutely blew it out of the park, and there wasn't a single microtransaction in sight for either game. So let's hope that it's the same case for this studio with this promising looking game that I for one am absolutely looking forward to playing and can't wait to get my hands on!

[ShinobiDrip]

They've shown the "connective tissue" quite a bit. There's even stealth parts that they've shown where you turn into a fly and what not.

[alejandrovallencci]

Listen you can make the argument that as a Chinese developer they should not be supported due to heavy ties to the government which is practically a dictatorship and they rule by fear and class divides,
However I’m of the mindset that people should enjoy a game no matter where it’s made. If it looks and feels fun to play, then what’s the issue

[MetalPhantomX]

Worst case scenario the game studio was having a bit of cheecky fun and decided to make the logo look like sperm. Best case scenario when designing the logo the deves accidentally miss drew a lighting bolt or a projectile . Either way WHO THE HELL CARES. This game speaks for it self and Game Science should be very proud of the work they have produced. Also, if you are really getting butt hurt over a logo then I feel bad for you because I cant imagine how you are reacting to other things in the world that are FAR WORSE then this.

[ha-khef]

Something tells me this game will be skill heavy and people will complain about it.

[zeflute]

23:30 it's a tadpole, aka young frog. In chinese the short name of Game Science (游戏科学) is 游科, which has the exact same pronunciation of "游蝌", meanning "swimming tadpole", and hence the tadpole logo, it's just a pun

[sofa_sith_lord]

To quote miss Anita: "Everything is racist. Everything is sexist. And you have to point it ALL out." These journalists took that quote to heart and made it their mission to carry out.

[Jyd]

So about the content between boss fights, there is more info in Chinese community. Those who got invited to play said that the maps are separate by storyline, and each chapter may have slightly different map designs, some is more linear and some is more open world.

For the latest 2-hour demo, they say the map is like 3 big areas, each has several branches, and on each branch route there maybe some elite monsters, or quests, collecting job, these kind of stuff, and you can get things like armors, new transformation, new magic acctaks, making the map final boss relatively easier. Or you can just ignore the branches and rush to the final boss

[TheMongoNetwork]

Wait for reviews that aren’t IGN, Polygon, or Kotaku. Probably some of the most biased ‘journalism out there’