RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Game Science has released a 15-minute gameplay trailer for its Black Myth: Wukong follow-up, Black Myth: Zhong Kui . It gives us a closer look at the new protagonist, combat, and the world, and is packed with impressive details.
The trailer begins with a peaceful seaside environment, foliage moving to a gentle breeze. The new protagonist stumbles onto a beachfront. He makes his way inside a cave before bumping into an old man eating some meat. The pair build a raft — are they both stranded on this beach? — and try to head out onto the water, but a towering wave appears to tear up their plans.
We then get a look at combat. Carrying the old man on his back, the protagonist encounters a pack of ghoulish enemies, who he defeats with sword attacks. After thinning out the group, the protagonist goes up against the largest enemy, side-stepping attacks. This bigger foe ignites its sword in fire, but the protagonist parries and delivers the killing blow. A flashy cinematic finisher ends the fight.
The old man looks like he’s died, but appears to transform into a flying collection of leaves, which the protagonist pursues. He’s attacked by a couple of rabid dogs and an archer enemy — we see him expertly dodge a flying arrow by twisting his body sideways.
As the rain kicks in, our hero encounters a pack of monsters, which he dispatches in yet another look at combat. Here, the protagonist throws what looks like a fire bomb, which ignites the ground, the enemies, and surrounding trees in flame. He then appears to absorb the fire into his sword. It’s an impressive visual effect.
More enemies follow, but these are dispatched easier with the flame sword. The combat on show is pretty fluid, with realistic swordplay rather than over-the-top attacks or movement. Indeed, the parry and dodge animations are very clean, adding to the sense of realism in fights. The sword-sheathing animation also impresses.
The leaves lead our hero to a lake, which he swims into. There he finds the body of a woman, but before he can do anything more he is driven away by creatures. Swimming to the shore, the protagonist is attacked by a terrifying winged humanoid. This looks like a boss fight!
It rips off its wings before phase two begins. Eventually, a mystery ally joins the fight, helping our hero to defeat the boss. Those leaves attach themselves to the boss, lending a hand. At this point, the hero seems to electify his sword with an item he's carrying. It looks like combat will involve fire and electricity attacks; I wouldn't be surprised to see other elements in there, too. Perhaps knowing which element to use and when will be the key to success.
Then, we see the protagonist appear to disappear into shadow and become, or assume control of, or join forces with the mystery ally. In this powered-up state, the protagonist nonchalantly parries the enemy's attacks and delivers a flurry of devastating blows. But this doesn't last long, and our hero soon reverts back to his standard humanoid form.
The parry used against the boss here is perhaps the most impressive part of the trailer, as it deflects the attacks of the enemy in such a way as to feel not only realistic, but weighty and unique to the angle of attack. I'm really looking forward to using the parry in this game against each enemy and boss to see how extensive these animations are, and how they influence the feel of fights.
Eventually, the two characters defeat the boss, which crawls towards the water. We then see the woman from the lake emerge. With a demonic smile, she attacks the boss and drags it underwater.
We then get a montage of cutscenes from other parts of the game, showing off more fantastical creatures. One of these shows the hero playing instruments with a skeleton band! The video ends with the protagonist riding through the world on the back of an animal that looks a bit like a tiger. Not a single word is said in the trailer, either in cutscenes or in combat.
The 15-minute gameplay trailer is below:
When Black Myth: Zhong Kui was announced at Opening Night Live last year , Game Science issued an official description of the game:
"Set against the backdrop of the classic Chinese folktale 'Zhong Kui Banishing Evil,' Black Myth: Zhong Kui is a single-player action role-playing game rooted in ancient Chinese fantasy. The game will deliver distinctive experiences and gameplay features that push our limits, while also bringing fresh ideas and necessary changes to address past flaws and regrets."
We don’t know much else, beyond the gameplay we’ve seen. There’s no release window, nor are there confirmed platforms yet.
Black Myth: Wukong is the record-breaking action game that launched across PC and PlayStation in 2024, selling 10 million copies in just three days. The Xbox Series X and S version launched August 20, 2025.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
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