Black Myth: Zhong Kui is an independent sequel of the highly praised and awarded ARPG game called Black Myth: Wukong. The game was released on 20th of August 2024 and received overwhelming positive reviews across all platforms. I’ve been following the development journey since 2020 and I’ve played it since day one.
Certainly there were moments during my fight against Tiger Vanguard where I wanted to sell my PS5 and give up gaming for good. I’ve spent the whole day trying to beat it and failed miserably but once I did, oh boy was I happy. It’s the game of the year in my books, despite what other people say.
With over 30 million copies sold it was no wonder that a sequel was announced a year later (we got a title and a sneak peek). But now we finally have some gameplay footage and more info, so here’s everything you can expect from Black Myth: Zhong Kui.
Black Myth: Zhong Kui Release Date
Black Myth: Zhong Kui is still in early stages of development and when asked about when we can see a full release, they said it won’t be quick. I strongly believe that we won’t see a full release before 2029-2030.
One thing I can absolutely guarantee is that the game will be released on August 20th. As a matter of fact, you can expect every major announcement about the game happening at the same time of the year, August 20. This isn’t me guessing or speculating, this is an official statement from Game Science, you know, the dev team behind the game.
Black Myth: Zhong Kui Platforms
Black Myth: Zhong Kui was confirmed to be released on PC and every major console. Which we can assume means PS5 (or maybe PS6?) and XBOX. We’ll get more information as we get closer to the release date.
Requirements
There are no official requirements for Black Myth: Zhong Kui. With that said, if you managed to run Black Myth: Wukong on your PC, you’ll probably be able to run this one too.
I’ll make sure to update this part when we get more information.
Black Myth: Zhong Kui Story
The story behind this new sequel revolves around Zhong Kui. In Chinese mythology he’s known as a genius scholar who took his own life after the emperor refused to grant him a title because of his ugly face. Right after that, in the underworld, he was recognized for his worth and was appointed as a Ghost King being tasked with hunting evil spirits.
Game Science sticks closely to the original story so it’s safe to assume we’ll see Zhong Kui fight some fierce and vile spirits that are haunting mortal realms, including unruly ghouls, spirits, and mythological demon lords.
That’s pretty much all we know about the story and I highly doubt that we’ll know more before the official release.
Black Myth: Zhong Kui Gameplay
The devs shared a 15 minute gameplay video but it was more than enough to see everything that might be important.
Firstly, Zhong Kui will be a sword wielder who predominantly excels in close combat. On top of that we also know that he can use elements like fire and lightning to his advantage. As for other elements, it remains to be determined.
Zhong Kui is also known to be commanding an army of 80,000 demons which seems an overpowered thing to have in-game and can fry our PCs to crisp. So my best theory would be that he would use his best/strongest demon who is his sort “General” as aid in battles.
We can see from a video that someone is stepping up to help him during a boss fight. And at some point they even merge together as one and fight against the boss. There’s a designated skill for such action and it’s the one closest to an ultimate skill. Once merged you gain 3 new unique skills that are mostly quick heavy slashes with a huge sword.
Also, the gourd is back. It’s what was used in Black Myth: Wukong as a means of healing during combat and I’m glad to see that it’s going to be the same for Zhong Kui. If I’m not mistaken, the animation for using it seems slightly faster than in the first part. Which you know, with my level of skill, I’m going to need it.
We’ve seen Zhong Kui fight various enemies and it’s safe to say that dodging/parrying still remains an important part of the game. With more importance on dodging. Even now I can’t tell you why I had so much trouble dealing with the Tiger boss. It’s like I was unable to dodge him at all and every time I fought him was as if I were fighting him for the first time. And I wasn’t learning anything from my mistakes. It was weird for sure. Hopefully such a scenario doesn’t repeat again.
Lastly, Zhong Kui is also known for his tiger. At the end of the gameplay video we see him riding a tiger as he prepares to go to next adventure. Genuinely, seems like a great and cool idea and hopefully we see that in the game but Black Myth franchise isn’t known for its open world where we would get to utilize such an option. I mean, I would love nothing more than to be proven wrong on this one.
Graphics and Audio
The game is still in early stages of development but we can already see that the graphics and audio quality is on par with a Black Myth: Wukong. I’ve seen a few issues where the game looks a little bit wonky, especially the part where they’re trying to get in water and the big wave coming.
That part looked weird and unpolished but I have no doubts that this will be fixed as we approach the release date. I tend not to judge too harshly. I mean as something that just fairly started with development, it looks better than some triple AAA games that were worked on for 5+ years. I guess that’s Unreal Engine 5 for you.
We’ll see how well it’s going to be optimized once it’s out.
As for the soundtrack, the game stays true to Chinese folklore. While there was not a single word uttered in a gameplay trailer, the music was more than enough. It did a great job making me feel every move, every scene and ultimately making me feel like I was there.
Conclusion
Black Myth: Zhong Kui is definitely getting on my list of most anticipated video games in the future. We’ll have to wait until August 2027 to hear more about the game but I strongly believe it’s going to be worth it. The devs said that they won’t release the game until they’re fully satisfied with how it looks and plays, and I believe them. As much as it pains me to have to wait years for it to be released, I just have to make my peace with it and hope for the best.
I’ll make sure to monitor all news about the game and as soon as I hear something I’ll make sure to update this article. Stay tuned for that.
If you’re also interested to see 15 minute trailer, you can do that on their official website here.
