Metal Gear designer Hideo Kojima is just like us. He’s apparently delighted when he sees Summer Game Fest host Geoff Keighley roll the tape on a trailer for a video game he likes, so much so that he has no choice but to post about it. Case in point: Kojima took to Twitter after the show to express his excitement about Black Myth: Wukong, a fantasy action role-playing game in which you get to be a monkey man.
“This title has been on my mind since I saw the first trailer about three years ago,” Kojima wrote on June 8. “Its original look, design, coloring, effects, and presentation have an outstanding sense of style that sets it apart from other games.”
The cinematic trailer released at Summer Game Fest shows what looks to be an explorable, detailed clay-gray world made up of muddy puddles and fiery Final Fantasy-type bosses. Its ethereal environment is a necessity – the game is a devoted adaptation of the 16th-century novel Journey to the West, presenting its enlightened but unruly protagonist, Sun Wukong, in all his magic, monkey glory.
“You shall set out as the Destined One to venture into the challenges and marvels ahead, to uncover the obscured truth beneath the veil of a glorious legend from the past,” says the game’s description on Steam, where it is currently the most wishlisted game on the platform.
“The theme of ‘Monkey King (Sun Wukong)’ is also familiar for my generation,” Kojima continued on X. “I’m looking forward to it.”
Chinese indie developer Game Science initially announced the action-RPG in 2020 and planned a 2023 release, but this never came to fruition.
“Finally, its release has been confirmed,” Kojima said. Now, Black Myth: Wukong is scheduled to release on PC and PS5 on August 20; the date for its Xbox version “will be disclosed at a later time,” Game Science said.
At least you can buy Black Myth: Wukong’s $400 collector’s edition.
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