A closer look
In 2024, one of the year's most talked-about blockbusters came from a studio that had never released a major console game before. Black Myth: Wukong, built by Chinese developer Game Science, exploded onto Steam and consoles in August with a mix of Souls-style combat and lush, surreal takes on the Monkey King legend. Within days, it topped sales charts worldwide, pushed PC hardware to its limits, and reignited debates about difficulty and accessibility. Some players praised its brutal, weighty boss fights; others slammed its performance issues and lack of options for less skilled players. The launch proved two things: first, that a non-Western studio can dominate global hype with the right mix of myth, graphics, and challenge; second, that modern audiences will still argue for weeks about what 'fair difficulty' means. Every massive release now has to ship not just a game, but a philosophy of how hard it should hurt.
