Can't Wait For More Black Myth? Play These Games While You Wait
Black Myth: Wukong took the world by storm. What initially appeared as nothing but vapourware materialised into a game with very high production values, even if it was a rather tame take on the Journey To The West tale that inspired it. The game had many adherents, from those who fell in love with its portrayal of Chinese mythology, to its soulslike combat with a splash of character-action.
With the new Black Myth: Zhong Kui announced, it's got people excited once again. Except that's nothing but a vague idea at the moment, and people have voracious appetites for more. So while you spend the next few years waiting, how about trying out these games that migh scratch a similar itch in the mean time?
The Rewinder
When Humans And Spirits Interact
The Rewinder
Point-and-click Adventure Puzzle Systems Released September 10, 2021WHERE TO PLAY
DIGITALThe Rewinder is an interesting take on Chinese Mythology. Rather than the standard, more bombastic approach of other games where combat and grand events are the norm, The Rewinder instead takes a step back and shows how all this grand mythos seeps into the daily lives of the people who believe in it, are surrounded by it.
The Rewinder is a puzzle game, with you playing the role of Yun, the eponymous rewinder, as you search through people's memories and abandoned homes to discover why this village ended up deserted, and why a spirit here could not reincarnate. It's a gorgeous art style, and lets you see another side of the grander events that you would see in Black Myth.
Dynasty Warriors
A Dramatic Retelling Of The Romance Of The Three Kingdoms
Dynasty Warriors: Origins
3.5/5 10.0/10 Released January 17, 2025WHERE TO PLAY
DIGITALFextralife Wiki
Powered by Expand CollapseBlack Myth: Wukong takes its inspiration from Journey of the West, one of the great novels of China. Of course, while it may be one of the best-known of the novels internationally, it is far from the only one. You might have heard of a little book called the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and likely played many more games based on it.
Take, for example, Dynasty Warriors. While the combat isn't strictly to the style of Black Myth, nor does it go quite as grandiose in its exploration of Chinese mythology, it is also obscenely inhuman. These people are walking armies, masters of any weapon they wield and lords of the battlefield. It's an experience worth, well, experiencing.
Nine Sols
Taopunk At Its First And Finest
Nine Sols
9.5/10 Released May 29, 2024WHERE TO PLAY
SUBSCRIPTIONFrom the wonderful developers of Detention and Devotion comes a game that is so far apart from either of those - Nine Sols is a Sekiro-inspired Metroidvania with gorgeous cutscenes and a strikingly heartfelt story that beautifully incorporates aspects of wider Taoist belief while also presenting it in a quasi-futuristic setting.
Nine Sols goes broader than just China in how it portrays its setting, taking from wider Asian mythology and Taoism most of all. But that creates a setting that is so distinct, and offers an incredibly unique approach to how it presents itself and its world, showing the aspects of Chinese mythology that are shared with other nations, and how they differ there, too.
Enslaved: Odyssey To The West
A Western Take On Journey To The West
Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
Action Adventure Systems Released October 5, 2010WHERE TO PLAY
SUBSCRIPTIONWhile the tale of Sun Wukong comes primarily from Journey To The West, it is a tale that has so much depth it ot that it is easy to extrapolate some details and apply them to an entirely different scenario. And that's exactly what Enslaved: Odyssey to the West did. And it is by all means one of the more unique takes on the story.
Playing as Monkey and 'assisted' by Trip, you must journey across a post-apocalyptic New York as you bring Trip home, only to uncover the deeper story of what happened to the world. The gameplay isn't always exceptional, beingvery platforming heavy with middling combat, but it has a unique art direction by all means, and it's a refreshingly different take on Wukong, even if it doesn't always succeed.
Wuchang: Fallen Feathers
The Ming Dynasty Has Never Been So Fantasical
Wuchang: Fallen Feathers
7.8/10 Released July 24, 2025WHERE TO PLAY
SUBSCRIPTIONSet and developed in China, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers takes place by the end of the Ming Dynasty, with rebel uprisings and demonic infestations a common occurrence across the land. You play as the titular Wuchang as she attempts to find and hopefully revive her sister, though you will encounter plenty of people, historical and mythological, along the way.
Wuchang is a soulslike through-and-through, with a fluid magic system to make combat more dynamic. So many tales featuring Chinese Mythology are typically set in ancient times so it's very cool to see to see Wuchang bring them firmly into a period more decidedly modern.
Though with how much updates have changed the story context of Wuchang, who knows how long it will be until what's written here might be inaccurate.
Anything Dragon Ball
Yes, Son Goku Is Just The Japanese For Sun Wukong
Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero
4.5/5 14 9.7/10 Released October 11, 2024WHERE TO PLAY
DIGITALDragon Ball is massive. Incomparably so. That's why we've not even chosen a specific Dragon Ball game. There are so, so, so many. Play any of them you want. But maybe after reading this, play them in a whole new light. Because Goku is literally just Sun Wukong. The whole monkey tail and riding on a cloud is directly taken from Sun Wukong.
It's funny how unashamedly it is inspired by it, but the shock is really only an international reaction. Journey To The West is plenty popular in Japan, with Son Goku being the translated name of the Monkey King. All that said, itis still quite funny to think a character so heavily based upon SunWukong is so much more popular around the world than the original Journey To The West.
Devil May Cry
If You Want More Of That Flashy Combat
Devil May Cry 5
10.0/10 Released March 8, 2019WHERE TO PLAY
DIGITALUpon its initial reveal, Black Myth: Wukong played more like a true character-action game with flashy combos and an endless flurry of attacks. Over time, it developed more Soulslike elements, stamina bars and magic meters included. It is stil la very fast-paced game, but less so than the games that initially inspired it.
Which is why if you want even more of that style of combat, you really should check out the Devil May Cry series. Any game is a great starting point, though if you want to witness the combat at its most fine-tuned and flashiest, you're looking for Devil May Cry 5. And maybe that will be a gateway into even more character-action games.
The Legend Of Sword And Fairy
One Of China's Most Celebrated RPG Series'
Sword and Fairy: Together Forever
Action RPG Adventure Systems Released August 4, 2022WHERE TO PLAY
DIGITALThe Legend Of Sword And Fairy (or sometimes Chinese Paladin) are a series of Chinese RPGs. You may or may not have heard of them, but in China and its surrounding regions, it is a massive franchise. Like TV adaptation, TTRPGs, merchandising and stage play massive. In China and Taiwan, it is held as one of the best RPG series ever.
The games have often been turn-based, though have in more recent entries turned to fully real-time combat. The Chinese mythology influence in the games is heavy as well, with them specifically being part of a genre called Xianxia which focuses heavily on both Chinese mythology at large, as well as the impact alchemy and the philosophical beliefs of Taoism and the like have. There's a lot to delve into with the series.
