He paces on a platform of clouds, observing the Four Heavenly Kings and the 100,000 heavenly soldiers facing him. Drums pound furiously as the Monkey King prepares to wage war against the Celestial Court. 

One of the biggest video game releases of the year, “Black Myth: Wukong” has shaken the international video game industry. Composed predominantly of Chinese players at a ratio of 2:1, it had broken records such as most concurrent players, with 2.2 million at its peak at the time of writing, and is one of the fastest-selling video games of all time. Additionally, it is a cultural capsule sent to the world by a group of passionate developers in China. 

Created by indie studio Game Science and released on PC and PlayStation, “Black Myth: Wukong” follows the player as an anthropomorphic monkey, The Destined One, on a journey to revive the dead Monkey King. The game is based on the Ming epic novel by Wu Cheng’en, “Journey to the West.” It is marketed to be China’s first high-budget AAA game, drawing richly from the untapped stories of Chinese mythology and showcasing famous landmarks in China. 

The game has gone viral on Chinese media platforms, such as TikTok. Since its release on August 20th, the topic #Blackmythwukong on the Chinese edition of TikTok has reached over 48 billion views. 

Before its release, Chinese culture wasn’t a major part of mainstream attention. Locally at Granite Bay, it isn’t talked about as much as others, like Hispanic culture. However, it did maintain a small awareness, such as the required reading of “American Born Chinese” in CP English 9, a graphic novel about Chinese culture and stereotypes. 

The numbers have since changed. As of writing, Black Myth: Wukong had sold 20 million copies not counting console sales. The book it is based on, “Journey to the West,” also increased sales. According to The Gamer, the novel saw a 31% increase in sales on eBay alone.

“I’m excited to hear that Black Myth is attracting new interest in the novel,” said Nicholas Williams, associate professor of Chinese literature at Arizona State University. He is currently designing an undergraduate course based on the novel. “It’s a magnificent novel that deserves better appreciation in the West.”

The game seems designed to introduce a foreign audience to the vast world of Chinese mythology. It’s packed with cultural references and presents all sorts of ideas like cuisine at a banquet for the player to enjoy and consume. 

“I’m pretty familiar with Chinese culture,” Ethan Tang, a junior who lived in China for a few years, said. “Despite the things I learned in China, I learned more while playing the game. [Black Myth] is trying to spread Chinese culture to the world.”

The successful release of Black Myth: Wukong could mean that a new era of Chinese culture is coming to mainstream attention. 

“In general, Chinese culture is usually not well represented in mainstream Western media, so this is an exciting development,” Williams said.

To read this story in Mandarin, click here