Black Myth: Wukong

=== Setting ===
Black Myth: Wukong is inspired by the classical Chinese novel Journey to the West. For instance, it features adaptations of the novel's characters and their backstories. It is structured into six chapters, each centered on a distinct location: Black Wind Mountain, Yellow Wind Ridge, The New West, The Webbed Ridge, Flaming Mountains, and Mount Huaguo. The world is home to gods from the Chinese pantheon, encompassing Buddhist, Daoist, and other deities. It is also inhabited by yaoguais, who are beings with preternatural abilities and strange appearances. The story hints at a growing instability in the relationship between the Buddhist deities of Mount Lingshan and the Daoist deities of the Celestial Court in the background.
The game introduces cultural and natural scenery derived from the real world into its setting. It features, for example, scenes based on the Kaiyuan Temple in Quanzhou, the Wulong Temple in Langzhong, and the Dazu Rock Carvings, among others.
Each chapter concludes with an animated cutscene that reflects on and explores the narrative and thematic elements of the game. The first three cutscenes are grounded in Chinese philosophy. The fourth cutscene portrays love, while the fifth cutscene addresses grief and anger. The final cutscene serves as a reverse-chronological flashback to a few key events from the Journey to the West.

Plot

After escorting his master, the Tang Monk, and retrieving the Buddhist scriptures in a pilgrimage to the West, Sun Wukong ascends to Buddhahood. Yet, he rejects life in the Celestial Court for the simple joys of life on Mount Huaguo. The Court grows mistrustful and sends an army led by Erlang Shen to force him to submit. Sun Wukong duels Erlang Shen, but he is incapacitated by the circlet that binds him and is sealed in stone on the mountain. He is severed from his six senses, corresponding to six powerful relics. Over the next centuries, the monkeys of the mountain seek to recover the relics to revive him.

The Destined One, one of the monkeys, traverses Black Wind Mountain and is assisted by the local Keeper through this place. He defeats the Black Bear Guai, who surrenders, and takes the Craving Eyes relic that the bear has enshrined atop a pagoda. The Destined One then travels to the barren Yellow Wind Ridge. He defeats the Yellow Wind Sage, who uses Bodhisattva Lingji's severed head to contain the Fuming Ears relic. A Headless Monk, revealed to be Lingji, restores his head and hands over the relic to the monkey. The Destined One continues to The New West, a cold mountainous region. Yellowbrow, appearing in the guise of Maitreya, has the Hubris Nose relic submerged in a frozen lake. He sends Kang-Jin Star after the monkey. During a fight, she crashes into the Gold Cymbals imprisoning Zhu Bajie, an old friend of Sun Wukong. Bajie escapes and joins the quest to gather the relics. The Destined One defeats Yellowbrow, who flees and falls into the lake. Maitreya fishes the relic out of the lake for the monkey. The Destined One and Zhu Bajie arrive at The Webbed Ridge. The Fourth Sister of a spider guai family aids the monkey. The Second Sister captures Bajie and brings him to the matriarch, the Violet Spider, but the monkey rescues him. The Violet Spider flees to the Hundred-Eyed Daoist Master, but he absorbs the Envious Tongue relic that he previously gave her and thereby mortally injures her. The spider sisters retaliate against the master. The Destined One joins the sisters in the battle, which results in the master's defeat. Bajie and the Violet Spider, who were once lovers, share a final glance, but Bajie sorrowfully turns away and walks toward the reappeared relic. The Destined One and Zhu Bajie fight their way to the Flaming Mountains. The monkey rescues someone who alleges to be Pingping, the daughter of the Bull King and Princess Fair Fox. The Bull King sees through the ruse and recognizes his son Red Boy beneath the disguise. He gives the Grieved Body relic to the monkey, but Red Boy intercepts and consumes it. The Destined One and Bajie defeat Red Boy. Rakshasi, his mother, pleads for mercy and offers her Plantain Fan. However, Red Boy refuses to submit and kills himself, which leads to the relic's reemergence.

In the Great Pagoda located in The New West, Maitreya guides Erlang Shen and the Destined One to Mount Mei. Here, the Destined One defeats Erlang Shen and the Four Heavenly Kings. Erlang Shen, who took the Mind of Sun Wukong after their battle many ages ago, unleashes Wukong's memories from his third eye and shares his realization that their fight back then allowed Wukong to set a path to break free through a mortal death.
The Destined One and Zhu Bajie return to Mount Huaguo. They retrieve Sun Wukong's armor and Jingubang. They pass through the stone on the mountain's summit into a realm shaped by Wukong's lingering memories. The Old Monkey ferries them across its waters. The group encounters versions of their present selves, which prompts the Old Monkey to reveal that the Destined One is the mind of Sun Wukong. He says that Wukong's mind is lost, as the mind is an essence unique to every life and is destined to fade away at life's end. Thus, he explains, Wukong can never return as he was, but the universe will always bear him a successor—the Destined One. At the journey's end, the Destined One defeats Sun Wukong's broken shell. The five relics, obtained during the journey, unite with the Destined One. As the shell dissipates, Wukong's circlet materializes on its head and drops into the shallow water. In one ending, the Old Monkey places the circlet on the Destined One and thereby binds him. In the other ending, having recovered Sun Wukong's memories from Erlang Shen, the Destined One does not wear the circlet and remains free.