Considering Black Myth: Wukong is based on China’s famous Journey to the West novel, was there a conscious effort to retell that story to a wider international audience?
Game Science Co-founder and CEO FengJi: We are glad that so many gamers outside of China enjoy seeing this retelling of Journey to the West, but we didn’t mean to ingratiate a specific group of people initially, neither Chinese players, nor others. We’ve just been obsessed with this Chinese mythology. It has a history of more than 500 years and also encompasses a vast worldview, exciting stories, as well as many intriguing characters. It’s unfortunate that people overseas have hardly ever heard of it. Our study of the literature began a decade ago when we developed a 2.5D game themed around Journey to the West. It seemed quite natural for us to develop another action RPG based on it.
Outside of Journey to the West, did Black Myth: Wukong have any other influences?
FengJi: There are many more famous myths and legends in Chinese history, such as The Classic of Mountains and Seas, Investiture Of The Gods, Strange Tales from Liaozhai, and more. They directly affect and inspire us a lot. So do other excellent Chinese literary works, including Wuxia novels written by Jin Yong and Gu Long, and science fiction stories by Liu Cixin. From a global perspective, we admire Berserk, Alien, Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, A Song of Ice and Fire, Dune, and more. Each of them stands out from fantasy works and has a deep impact on us. But we still want to impress our players with our own innovative elements.
Source: Unreal Engine Blog