Black Myth rising
The success and controversary of Black Myth: Wukong
As a Singaporean Chinese, I grew up on a diet of Western and Japanese video games. English was the language of video gaming. When voice acting in video games became more prevalent, I usually picked English or Japanese for the game audio.
It was not until last year’s Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty that I first played a video game with Mandarin voices. Wo Long was made by a Japanese game studio, but Mandarin felt right since the game was a fantastical take on ancient China’s Three Kingdoms era. Having authentic Chinese voices accompany me during the game was such a refreshing experience.
Which is why I have been following Black Myth: Wukong with much interest. Here was the first AAA video game from a Chinese game developer, adapting a classic Chinese saga Journey to the West, where you play a monkey protagonist that seems like Sun Wukong, aka the Monkey King, but is not. The graphics looks great, while the gameplay is like an action video game in the vein of God of War — but based on Chinese, not Norse mythology.
Black Myth has been an instant hit since its release last week, with sales of over 10 million copies. Developer Game Science said that there were over three million concurrent players on all platforms at its peak. Given its Chinese origins, many of the players are unsurprisingly from China, with some companies even giving employees time off to play the game.
But Black Myth has also stirred controversary outside China with reports that foreign streamers were warned not to discuss certain topics like “feminist propaganda, fetishisation, and other content that instigates negative discourse” during their livestreams. Coupled with IGN’s report about the sexist remarks made by Game Science’s founders in the past, it doesn’t paint a good picture. Especially when the developers have consistently declined to comment when asked about these topics.
It doesn’t help that some fans of the game have apparently harassed reviewers for bringing up these touchy topics. Screen Rant, which gave Black Myth a 3/5 in its review, and wrote about the lack of diversity in the game, had to remove the reviewer’s name due to harassment. Now I can understand why some folks may not like politics appearing in their sports and games, but harassing people for talking about it is simply wrong.
It feels like The Last of Us Part II and the negative discourse around it all over again. Of course, that controversary didn’t hurt sales of TLOU Part II, and so far, it isn’t doing any harm to Black Myth sales. But having read multiple reviews of the game myself, I’ll wait for a sale: S$81 for the PS5 version is steep for a flawed game with around 30 to 40 hours of gameplay.
If you’re wondering what other video games to play instead, you can read our verdict on the upcoming Star Wars Outlaws below. We also tested the latest Google Pixel 9 phones, as well as a really affordable smartwatch from Nothing.
Star Wars Outlaws is one of the best games of the year. A sprawling, immersive and epic open world adventure, Outlaws is set in the Star Wars universe, and draws inspiration from various games, from the older Assassin's Creed II to Grand Theft Auto to the Uncharted series. You play as Kay Vess, with a cute alien pet Nix that’s a core game mechanic. Overall, it’s a fantastic adventure game in a galaxy far far away.
The latest Google Pixel 9 phones finally look and feel like premium flagship phones. They also come with even more AI features, including the new default Gemini AI assistant that replaces the older Google Assistant. However, the overall performance is only a bit better than last year’s Pixel 8, while the battery life is still not as good as some of its competitors.
The CMF Watch Pro 2 is a budget smartwatch that changes things up by offering users the option to customise the colour of its bezel and strap with interchangeable parts. At S$119, it’s pretty good value with excellent battery life, though it’s more of a prettied-up fitness tracker rather than a full-fledged smartwatch.