2024 was full of great games, but one of the most striking successes of the year wasBlack Myth: Wukong. Developed by Chinese studio GameScience,Wukongbuilt on the familiar template ofJourney to the Westto deliver a stylized action experience that married fluid fights and streamlined systems with the punishing difficulty of Soulslike games. China’s game market has been continually growing, andWukongrepresented a major leap compared to the mobile games that represent a lot of the nation’s biggest global output.
WhileBlack Myth: Wukongisn’t perfect, its heights are incredibly high, and audiences responded to the experience in droves.Wukongset a new recordfor the highest concurrent player count in a single-player game on Steam, smashingCyberpunk 2077’s previous achievement and finishing second in peak player count only to the multiplayer battle royalePUBG.It’s a feat that will be tough for any game to replicate, butWuchang: Fallen Feathershas a real shot at picking up at least a large portion of that momentumin a way few other games could.
Wuchang: Fallen Feathers Is Another Ambitious Chinese Soulslike
A Rapidly Emerging Genre
While lumping two games into the same category simply due to their nation of origin would be a bit presumptuous, the upcomingWuchang: Fallen Feathershas more than a few similarities withBlack Myth: Wukong.Releasing on July 24,Wuchangfollows a female pirate on an action-packed journey in the late Ming dynasty.
BothWuchangandWukongare Unreal Engine 5 titles with a focus on fighting bosses in arelatively Soulslike style, although neither is overly beholden to the conventions of the genre.The influence of thewuxiamartial arts genre is even more evident inWuchangthan inWukong, defining a style and presentation of combat that ignores some laws of physics to ascend to flowing heights.
The Chinese Market Could Make Wuchang A Huge Hit
A Huge Player Base To Tap Into
Black Myth: Wukongwas an undeniable success in the Western market, but the astronomical peaks of its Steam player count were achieved thanks to the Chinese player base. With a population of over 1.4 billion people, China is a market that exceeds America, Europe, and Japan combined, traditionally some of the biggest venues for game sales.Black Myth: Wukongis only one among a wave of blockbuster Chinese releases, and the future of the industry will likely see more and more hits of its nature.
That being said, the full scale ofBlack Myth: Wukong’s success will be difficult to replicate.Wukonghad the cultural weight ofJourney to the Westbacking it up, whileWuchangis simply telling an original historical fiction fantasy. Positive buzz around the release will also be critically important, and just how goodWuchangturns out to be remains to be seen. Regardless,Wuchang: Fallen Fathershas a shot at taking the market by storm, and it won’t be long now before we find out if it can pull off whatBlack Myth: Wukongdid.
