I. Black Myth: Zhong Kui Drops Bombshell: Closing Highlight at 2025 Gamescom
1.1 New Release Blows Up the Global Gaming Sphere
In the early morning of August 20, 2025, during the closing segment of Gamescom’s Opening Night Live in Germany, Chinese developer Game Science shocked the world with the announcement of the second Black Myth installment—Black Myth: Zhong Kui—instantly igniting global player excitement. The first CG teaser trailer hit 9 million views on Bilibili within just 12 hours of release, rocketed to the top of Weibo’s trending list, and dominated social media for 6 straight hours.
1.2 Why Zhong Kui Instead of a Wukong DLC?
Studio founder Feng Ji revealed in a long post that the team skipped Black Myth: Wukong DLC because “we’re craving new heroes, new gameplay, new visuals, new stories.” Art director Yang Qi drew inspiration from a dream featuring “a black-faced, red-bearded weirdo leading a tiger to guard the balcony,” ultimately choosing China’s legendary ghost-hunting celestial master Zhong Kui to build a fresh “judgment and karma” narrative system.
“On the existing extension line, there is no future” — Feng Ji quoted former Nintendo president Satoru Iwata to explain the team’s resolve to innovate rather than play it safe.
1.3 Quick Facts About the Game
- Genre: Single-player · Action · RPG
- Development Stage: Early development (official website jokes, “we just created the folder”)
- Platforms: PC + major consoles (release date TBD)
- Worldview: Continues Wukong‘s apocalyptic vibe of “gods gone, demons run amok”
- Unique Systems: Rumored “Fengdu Ghost Registry” for taming/raising ghost servants; 5-element Yin-Yang fusion evolution
II. Zhong Kui’s Myth: From Exam Failure to Three Realms Civil Servant
2.1 Tang Dynasty Exam Tragedy: The Top Scholar’s Furious Pillar Crash
Zhong Kui was a Tang Dynasty academic genius, but his “leopard-head, ringed eyes, iron face, and curly beard” (basically an eggplant that came to life in modern terms) got him disqualified as top scholar by the emperor for being too ugly. The hot-tempered scholar responded by ramming his head against a pillar and dying—the most hardcore interview fail in history.
The Qing Dynasty Ghost Slayer Biography records: Emperor Dezong thought Zhong Kui “looked like the honeycomb coal used as bed warmers in the imperial harem,” and Chancellor Lu Qi seized the chance to badmouth him, sealing his tragic fate. Scholar Han Yu shouted on the spot: “If we’re judging looks, Zhang Yizhi was handsome but corrupted the court!”
2.2 Career Comeback: From Underworld Intern to Three Realms Slashie
- Underworld Hire: The Jade Emperor admired his integrity, naming him “Demon-Exorcising Great God”; the Underworld King gifted him the Demon-Slaying Green Edge Sword and mythical beast Bai Ze
- Job Expansion: Promoted from “community ghost cop” to a Three Realms slashie handling “blessings, home protection, and fortune”
- Cultural IP: By the Ming-Qing era, he became the “Dragon Boat Festival antivirus”—families hung his portraits to block “viruses” (ghosts)
2.3 The Soft Side: Sister-Loving Maniac & Foodie
This fearsome god was actually a sister-obsessed softie—legend says he arranged his sister’s marriage to benefactor Du Ping post-death, pulling off “the warmest wedding dowry in ghost world history.” Folk paintings often show him hugging wine jars or chomping ghost legs, earning him “Three Realms foodie extraordinaire” status.
III. Game Science’s Dark Aesthetics: Mechanical Zhong Kui & Cyber-Ghosts
3.1 Visual Revolution: Clockwork Armor Meets Tang Architecture
The trailer shows Zhong Kui in blue-black mechanical armor with shoulder plates shaped like Chang’an city eaves, wielding a folding fan that transforms into a blade. His tiger mount has individually rendered fur strands. The art team researched Ming Dynasty’s Auspicious New Year Portraits, blending traditional “mountain lord exorcism” imagery with cyberpunk style.
3.2 Core Gameplay Speculations: Human-Ghost Symbiosis Combat
- Ghost Servant Taming: Use the “Fengdu Ghost Registry” to capture ghosts, then summon, switch, or possess them
- Talisman Combat: Taoist spell arrays mixed with dynamic events that might affect morality judgments
- Mount System: Tiger-riding combat源自明代画作, with the mechanical tiger possibly having transformation abilities
IV. Social Media Frenzy: From “My Youth Is Back” to “Folder Universe” Memes
4.1 Data Explosion: 9 Million Views in 12 Hours
The Bilibili trailer scored 720,000 likes, with top comments like “Chinese-style horror yyds” and “this is Eastern fantasy done right”—20,000 players were still spamming the comment section at 4 AM.外媒 IGN marveled: “Their research on Tang Dynasty Nuo opera masks is even more obsessive than in Wukong!”
4.2 Player Roasts & Memes
- “Suggesting a ‘996 Zhong Kui’ skin with maxed-out dark circle effects”
- “From Wukong to Zhong Kui—Game Science builds folders faster than games”
- “Others make DLCs, Game Science builds a universe—Black Myth Cinematic Universe confirmed”
V. Modern Deconstruction of a Cultural Icon: Why Zhong Kui Endures
5.1 Anti-Hero Appeal: Ugly-Cute Outside, Justice Inside
Zhong Kui’s “ugly but kind” vibe hits home with young adults—office workers see his “defying beauty standards” grit, spawning the “Zhong Kui-style survival philosophy”: “Ugly? So what? Strong work skills are what really matter!”
5.2 Cultural Export: When Eastern Ghosts Meet Global Gamers
Using Unreal Engine 5.3, Game Science digitized Zhong Kui from ancient paintings like Journey of Zhong Shan, making foreign players obsessed with “Oriental Exorcists.” A viral Reddit thread gushed: “Chinese mythology is cooler than Cthulhu!”
Conclusion: A Millennium-Long Chat Between Myth and Game
Black Myth: Zhong Kui isn’t just a game—it’s an activation of cultural genes. When the bearded, iron-faced Zhong Kui swings his sword on screen, we see more than Chinese horror aesthetics; we see that stubborn soul who “refused to blend in” finally reborn in the digital age.
“Journey to the West won’t end here” — Game Science’s promise hints we might soon meet Jiang Ziya or Xiao Qian in the Black Myth universe.
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