Black Myth: Wukong Will Continue, but Game Science Wants to “Start From Scratch” First With Zhong Kui
With the announcement of Game Science’s new project, Black Myth: Zhong Kui, (something which we reported on before the announcement) gamers might have assumed that the studio has moved on from Black Myth: Wukong to focus on their next game.
While that might be the case now, Game Science has confirmed that Sun Wukong’s journey will continue, though they are prioritizing Black Myth: Zhong Kui for now.
This was recently confirmed by Game Science CEO Yocar-Feng Ji.
Game Science Wants to Start Fresh With Black Myth: Zhong Kui
Over on Chinese social media site Weibo, Game Science CEO Feng Ji posted a lengthy message explaining why they opted to work on Black Myth: Zhong Kui instead of developing DLC for Wukong, which is what everyone assumed would be the studio’s next move, given the game’s massive sales success.
While Feng Ji mentioned that they were working on Black Myth: Wukong DLC once the game was released, things took a different turn, and it snowballed from there.
Feng Ji explained (via machine translation), “What I really couldn’t shake during that period was mostly confusion, emptiness, and a kind of dread (I know that sounds melodramatic — don’t shoot me). No matter how ashamed I felt for “not being able to be happy,” those emotions kept coming, uncontrollably and in waves, especially when I felt pulled under by questions like “Are you working on a DLC or not? Which characters will be in it? When will it be released?”
“As a professional adult, I’m good at hiding those negative feelings and convincing myself to pull myself together and get on with making the DLC, because I knew clearly that the people asking for a DLC were, without doubt, fans who love Black Myth: Wukong and Game Science, the very people who carried us to where we are,” Feng Ji continued.
Things took a different turn when Game Science co-founder Yang Qi approached Feng-Ji and asked, “Do you not want to do the DLC and want to make something new?”
This made Feng Ji, in his own words, “relieved” and “delighted,” and this snowballed into the developer convincing his colleagues to work on a new game instead of DLC, which in turn led to the birth of Black Myth: Zhong Kui.
While Black Myth: Wukong DLC would have been an easier project, Feng Ji wants to start from the ground up, explaining, “A DLC would, of course, have been a solid choice, but right now we prefer to make a new Black Myth game first: new hero, new gameplay, new visual, new technology, and new story. We want to free our hands, experiment boldly, break from fixed formulas, and start from scratch.”
Is Black Myth: Wukong Still Getting DLC?
Does this mean the Black Myth: Wukong DLC? Feng Ji’s answer raises doubts. While he confirms that Journey to the West (the Chinese folktale on which Wukong is based) will continue, the developer doesn’t confirm whether it’ll be as DLC or as a completely new game. Not only that, but Feng Ji admits that whatever fan-made ideas he saw, are already “far wilder” than what the devs have even thought of.
“Maybe many people think a DLC is steadier, safer, clearer, and faster, however many (ideas in) fan-made works I’ve seen are already far wilder than the DLC ideas we previously had in mind. Like all of you, I love the world of Journey to the West, the world of demons, monsters, gods, and Buddhas, so Sun Wukong’s legend will return in due course, in a more complete and solid way, once it’s properly prepared.” Feng Ji states (thanks, whyhimmel).
Based on Feng Ji’s statement, it seems they moved on from working on the DLC to instead work on Zhong Kui. While he did confirm that Sun Wukong will return, that doesn’t necessarily mean DLC, but could instead be a sequel to Black Myth: Wukong.
For now, let’s hope Black Myth: Zhong Kui’s development goes smoothly, so we don’t have to wait as long as we did for Wukong to see it materialize.
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