I Experienced Black Myth: Wukong Like Never Before in LA
An owner of every console since Atari, Anthony is willing to try any video game, good or bad, but prefers the ones that involve a deep and engaging story. Anthony is a sucker for any game that has players wielding a fabled sword, but can still appreciate everything from a solid sports title to a game with a deep multiplayer experience. By eventually combining his love of video games with his skills in film, Anthony hopes to make Game Rant a fun place to explore all facets of pop culture.
Black Myth: Wukong was my favorite game of 2024, a confident blend of incredible visuals with precise, challenging character action combat. It enthralled me from beginning to end with its beautiful world, incredible music, and precise-yet-challenging series of bosses. I consumed as much as I could of Black Myth: Wukong, confronting every boss and hunting down every collectible, and by the time I finally rolled credits, I was sad the experience had to end.
It’s rare that once you finish a memorable game like Black Myth: Wukong you get to do anything more than reflect back on its experience. However, developer Game Science has noticed the impact its game has had on the gaming population as well as the Chinese game industry and sought to ride that wave of popularity well past the game’s release date.
Perhaps the biggest signifier of Black Myth: Wukong’s longevity is the Black Myth: Wukong Concert, which first started in China back in 2024 and 2025 and in July will make its debut in the United States before heading across the globe. I was able to attend the first stop on the Black Myth: Wukong Global Concert Tour in Los Angeles, California at the Peacock Theater. It was an unforgettable night that was as much a celebration of Black Myth: Wukong as an opportunity to remember what made Game Science’s 2024 release so special. Seeing talented Asian artists who made the long trip to the US to showcase their culture through music is an experience I won’t soon forget, not unlike how I felt while first playing Black Myth: Wukong.
The structure of the Black Myth: Wukong concert is similar to the game. It is broken up into chapters where musical highlights are plucked from the game’s beautiful soundtrack. With a traditional orchestra blended with Chinese folk instruments and vocalists, the Black Myth: Wukong Global Concert is a chance to see how diverse the musical arrangements in the game are. Only when you see how these varied instruments come together can you truly appreciate what a feat the music in the game is. The concert also does well to call out specific artists who made the journey to Los Angeles to perform for the Peacock Theater crowd.
Image via Game Science
Unfortunately, one artist who couldn’t make the trip was Xiong Zhuying, who Black Myth: Wukong fans will know as the headless monk. His shanbei shuoshu is easily the standout from the game for bringing Chinese culture in a way that both blends with the world of the game and puts the spotlight on what makes the instrument’s sound so original. The good news is that Xiong Zhuying’s son was able to make it to the US leg of the tour and he does an equally fantastic job of honoring his father’s work. It was a genuinely heartwarming moment and you could tell that the son was moved by the response from the crowd.
In addition to the instrumental work on display during the Black Myth: Wukong concert, the game’s vocalists Gao Tianhe, Zhang Xinxin, Liu Wei, and Zhang Yi bring to life the performances that take place throughout the game. If you’ve played Black Myth: Wukong, you know that each chapter is punctuated by an artistic sequence that dives deep into the backstory of many of its bosses and NPCs. Those sections are visually stunning and diverse in their artistic mediums, so it was a real treat to see them with their live vocalists.
It isn’t often that a game has both songs and arrangements this diverse, and it was clear that GameScience wanted to do every element of the soundtrack justice, not just the instrumental work. Obviously, these aren’t the characters, but every artist brought genuine emotion to their singing, turning it into a performance that was as captivating as what was on the screen behind them.
Video games are a visual medium and thus you can’t have a concert series without highlighting key moments from the game supported by the music. That’s what makes these types of experiences special, and the Black Myth: Wukong Global Concert is no different. Each song tapped into the emotion of key sections of the game, reminding me of the immense journey that the Destined One travels. There’s nothing quite like hearing the music from a game performed live and when it’s a game that I treasured as much as Black Myth: Wukong, it makes the experience all the more memorable.
And it wouldn’t be a Black Myth concert, if Game Science didn’t acknowledge what was next for the franchise. It was somewhat brief but we got to hear the main theme for Black Myth Zhong Kui, the next game that was revealed last year. Zhong Kui is still early in development so there weren’t any reveals, but it was still nice to get a little taste of what’s next.
More than anything, the Black Myth: Wukong Global Concert reminded me how special the game is, how much it challenged me as a player, and how much visual splendor is packed into every frame. The live music reinforces the action on screen, calling to mind key moments that you might remember for various reasons. I’ll admit there were more than a few times when I saw a challenging boss (I’m looking at you Erlang Shen) or enemy and was reminded of my struggles to beat them and the elation that followed when I eventually did.
Perhaps the best compliment that I can pay the Black Myth: Wukong Global Concert is that it left me wanting to get right home and fire up a new save of the game and experience it all over again. It was a joy to have Chinese culture brought to California through music - something you don’t get a lot of, but that I hope becomes more common as games like Black Myth: Wukong grow in popularity.
GameRant was provided with travel and accommodation to attend this event.
Black Myth: Wukong
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OpenCritic Reviews - Top Critic Avg: 82/100 Critics Rec: 81%
- Released
- August 20, 2024
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ // Blood, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Game Science
- Publisher(s)
- Game Science
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG
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