Black Myth: Wukong — Demo, Gameplay, Release Date

Based on the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, the long-awaited ‘souls-like’ role-playing game Black Myth: Wukong is finally here — at least for some.


The game won’t be released until sometime in the summer of 2024. But Game Science, the studio behind it, debuted a public, playable demo at German video game fair Gamescom earlier this month.


Now, we’re finally starting to see more footage of actual, hands-on gameplay.

Since its first gameplay video was released in August 2020, Black Myth: Wukong has been the subject of much hype — for its innovative visuals, vivid mythological setting, and intense boss fights. Some speculate it could be China’s first AAA game, an informal designation for blockbuster titles.


While it’ll be almost a year until fans at large can get their hands on Game Science’s creation, there’s finally a growing amount of information already out there, from reviews of the demo and gameplay videos. Here’s our guide to everything you need to know about Black Myth: Wukong.

Story & Gameplay

The Monkey King — Sun Wukong — is the protagonist of Black Myth: Wukong’s dark fantasy world, although he’s referred to in the game as “the Destined One.”


Players take on the role of Wukong, embarking on an odyssey across the Journey to the West-inspired universe and completing eighty-one challenges along the way.


an in-game screenshot of the monkey king fighting in black myth: wukong

An in-game screenshot of a battle


The combat itself is ‘souls-like,’ a subgenre of mechanics pioneered by the Dark Souls franchise. Enemies span “cunning fairies, brutal monsters, amorous lords, or coward gods,” according to the official website.


Black Myth: Wukong owes its sleek look to Unreal Engine 5. And drawing on NVIDIA’s new DLSS software, the game’s third-person visuals are ultra-smooth, with minimal frame-rate drops.


A full playthrough of the game will reportedly take over fifteen hours. In contrast, the demo released at Gamescom is just forty-five minutes long, featuring four levels.

Demo Reviews

“What I didn’t expect,” wrote GamesRadar’s Jasmine Gould-Wilson about the Black Myth: Wukong demo, “was that the devs would…craft a demo that actually helps you get better as you progress, starting you off with simpler abilities and slowly stepping up the complexity over the course of a 45-minute playthrough.”


Though she didn’t make it past the second level, she praised the way the game “takes its time in teaching its mechanics.” The demo’s four levels featured a sampler of boss battles, with opponents including the Macaque Chief, a huge gorilla-like figure, and Centipede Guai, a venomous insect.


Other standout details from the demo, according to Ed Nightingale at Eurogamer, include “impeccably detailed fur textures,” “incredibly fluid” combat, and a finely-tuned balance between struggle and reward.

Release Date & Platforms

Game Science announced earlier this year that Black Myth: Wukong will be released next summer, for PlayStation 5, XBox Series X|S, and PC.


For now, fans will have to content themselves with watching — or for a lucky few, playing — the demos.


Cover image via RADII, additional images via Twitter

Cyber-Dystopian, AI-Generated Horrors at Miss Hong Kong 2023

As if pageants weren’t dehumanizing enough, the 51st edition of the Miss Hong Kong Pageant was a spectacle of virtual, dystopian future-horrors.


Onstage, the contest was hosted by an AI-generated projection named Evelyn Chan, a digital amalgamation of the pageant’s past winners, which organizers called “the most perfect Miss Hong Kong champion.”


ai-powered mc at miss hong kong, evelyn chan

The AI performed basic hosting duties at the pageant


The segment featuring the AI host was a Q&A with contestants, but as Hong Kong-based Dimsum Daily reported, “the audience was left wondering how closely the AI resembled a real person.”


The digital host’s appearance was generated from video clips, and her name was also chosen by AI — Evelyn, or Wanyan, means gentle, beautiful, and charming, and Chan is a surname shared by six previous Miss Hong Kong champions.


Organized by TVB, this year’s Miss Hong Kong final featured seventeen participants. The winner was Hilary Chong, a 21-year-old student at the University of Hong Kong.


the seventeen miss hong kong contestants in opening ceremony

The seventeen Miss Hong Kong finalists


AI did more at this year’s pageant than just generating Evelyn Chan, though — TVB’s General Manager Eric Tsang told AsiaOne that he also used ChatGPT to come up with interview questions.


Not only did AI assist with the interview portion, but it was also used in judging the contestants’ appearances.


“We asked AI, ‘What do you think is beautiful?’” said Tsang, “and it talked about the eyes, mouth, collarbone, and body proportions.”


Then, AI was used to help “disassemble their facial features and grade them.”


Ah. Horrifying.


swimsuit segment miss hong kong

The top ten pageant participants


Some viewers felt the pageant’s use of AI seemed to feed directly into some of the main critiques of the industry.


One popular Weibo comment reads, “In fact, this kind of beauty pageant is the real objectification of women. Women stand on the stage and pose for the audience to appreciate, evaluate, and score. What is this if not objectification?”


Finally, organizers used AI to generate aged versions of each contestant, then had contestants talk with their elderly, digital clones. Other segments of the competition included swimsuit and cheongsam modeling, singing, dancing, and more.


first runner up, winner, and second runner up of miss hong kong 2023

From left to right: Lynn Wang, first runner-up, Hilary Chong, winner, and Lovelle Wang, second runner-up


In the Chinese mainland, audiences were largely focused on rooting for some hometown heroes. Both runners-up, Lynn Wang and Lovelle Wang, hail from the Chinese mainland — Jiangsu and Beijing, respectively, and qualified for the pageant by possessing Hong Kong IDs.


“I mean, the runner-up is prettier than the champion,” an audience member wrote.


All images via Weibo

Customized Orthopedic Shoes: Haute or Hideous?

Chinese social media is home to some unique and unexpected fashion trends, from fake belly buttons helping some women achieve the illusion of longer legs, to post-pregnancy shoes.


This time around, the questionable fashion trend of the moment revolves around an accessory that’s normally associated with the elderly: orthopedic shoes.



Instagram-like app Xiaohongshu was recently inundated with photos of orthopedic shoe makeovers, where users add stylish laces, bows and gems to their otherwise plain-looking orthopedic shoes.


“I paired my outfit with some orthopedic shoes for the elderly. They feel so comfortable, they are cheap and look great!” writes a Xiaohongshu user under her #ootd post.


Other users disagree, arguing that the customized shoes still look repulsive.


shoes china


A few major orthopedic shoe brands have caught on, sharing the creative makeovers on their own official pages, while other users showed how to pair them with outfits for a maximized comfort and style combo.


The phenomenon is part of a wider trend that revolves around comfortable clothing, or ‘relaxed and carefree’ aesthetics (songchi gan 松弛感 in Mandarin). A related hashtag accumulated over 330 million views, reflecting growing interest in comfort-first looks.



Besides orthopedic shoes, some staples of the relaxed aesthetic are UGG boots, Birkenstocks sandals, flowy pants, and blouses. Photoshoots that seek to embrace this style often feature influencers casually drinking wine or coffee, or leafing through books at home.


With some elements reminiscent of global interest in ‘quiet luxury’, the aesthetic embraces a casual and chic lifestyle, finding beauty in comfort and natural looks, instead of conforming to beauty standards rooted in heavy makeup and form-fitting clothing.


All images via Xiaohongshu

Chinese Activist Makes Jet Ski Escape to South Korea

A Chinese activist was picked up in South Korea after a fleeing on a jet ski from Shandong province, covering a distance of nearly 200 miles.


The South Korean coast guard reported that Kwon Pyong, wearing a helmet and a life jacket, was picked up after getting stuck in the Yellow Sea with a pair of binoculars and a compass. Kwon had towed five barrels of fuel from Shandong province behind his 1800cc jet ski.


“He refilled the petrol on the ride and dumped the empty barrels into the sea,” the coast guard said, adding that Pyong had called for help after he became stuck in tidal flats near the western port of Incheon.


Kwon Pyong, who is of Korean ethnicity and has the Mandarin name Quan Ping, had previously been jailed for criticizing China’s government. The Chinese Embassy of South Korea declined to comment, stating that it has no relevant information about the case.


Escape attempts by activists are not a new phenomenon. Just last month, prominent human rights lawyer Lu Siwei was arrested in Laos and subsequently returned to China before he could make it to his destination in the United States.


Still, jet skiing across choppy waters to South Korea is undoubtedly one of the most daring and extreme escape attempts witnessed in recent times.


“While [Kwon’s] means of entry into South Korea in violation of the law was wrong, surveillance of the Chinese authorities and political persecution of Kwon since 2016 are behind his life-risking crossing into South Korea,” said South Korea-based campaigner Lee Dae-seon, from the non-profit organization Dialogue China.


Lee added that Kwon is now contemplating his application for political asylum, preferably in the United States, Britain, or Canada, and that he had previously attended university in Iowa.

Hottest Chinese Actresses of 2023: ‘It Girls’ of Gen-Z

Editor’s Note: Find out who’s on our 2024 list here!

The hottest Chinese actresses of any given moment have always held considerable commercial sway. There’s a serious ‘it girl’ tradition in modern China — the closest Mandarin terms we have to this neologism are little flowers and four dan actresses (the latter phrase originated in a Guangzhou Daily editorial list of the four most popular Chinese actresses in the year 2000).

 

In the US, today’s list of ‘it girls’ might include the likes of Bella Hadid or Zendaya; but outside of Hollywood, these are the hottest Chinese actresses to watch out for.

1. Zhao Lusi

Zhao Lusi was recently dubbed ‘queen of romantic Chinese dramas.’ Her role in The Romance of Tiger and Rose, a gender-swap TV show that took the Chinese internet by storm in 2020, propelled her to stardom.

And Zhao’s popularity is only increasing. She’s racked up 15.5 million followers on Xiaohongshu, a Chinese platform similar to Instagram, and 23.3 million followers on Twitter-like Weibo. Across social media, her down-to-earth, relatable posts have won her even more fans.

 

zhao lusi

Zhao Lusi frequently shares snapshots of her personal life online. Image via Xiaohongshu

Audiences love her comedic acting skills and youthful look — and fans are known to track down the brands she wears in order to copy her girl-next-door style.

2. Yu Shuxin

Yu Shuxin or Esther Yu, a singer-turned-actress, is a former member of girl group THE9, which made its first appearance on 2020 idol survival show Youth With You.

She went on to perform in multiple TV shows, and was chosen as the female lead for Love Between Fairy and Devil, the hottest Chinese drama of 2022.

 

Esther Yu

Yu Shuxin is a fashion inspiration for many young women. Image via VCG

 

Although her outspoken personality has rubbed some viewers the wrong way, Yu continues to cultivate a growing fanbase on social media.

3. Song Zu’er

Song Zu’er had an early start in the entertainment industry as a child actress in a 2005 TV show, but didn’t gain wider recognition until she took on the role of a tribal princess in 2019 fantasy drama Novoland: Eagle Flag.

 

She’s known for bringing authenticity to her roles, and netizens have praised her natural acting abilities.

 

Song Zuer in The Bond

A viral clip of Song Zu’er as Qiao Simei in The Bond. GIF via Weibo

 

Some call Song a ‘little Cecilia Cheung,’ saying she resembles the iconic Hong Kong actress and Cantopop singer.

4. Zhang Jingyi

Zhang Jingyi is a relative newcomer in the entertainment industry, having made her debut in the 2020 teen drama Run For Young.

 

run for young

Poster for teen drama Run For Young. Image via IMDb

 

Despite being a newbie, she’s made significant strides with starring roles in the 2021 historical film 1921, where she stepped into the shoes of former Chinese first lady Soong Mei-ling, as well as 2022 TV show Lighter and Princess, which saw her acting opposite Chen Feiyu, the son of master director Chen Kaige.

 

it girls zhang jingyi

Zhang Jingyi at a promotional event for espionage thriller Hidden Blade (2023). Image via VCG

 

More recently, she appeared in Tale of the Night, a film that takes place on a single eventful night in Changsha. She is currently an ambassador for luxury French cosmetics brand Lancôme.

5. Shen Yue

Shen Yue initially faced harsh scrutiny after starring in the 2018 remake of popular Taiwanese romantic drama Meteor Garden; to some fans, the original simply could not be touched. Later though, she went on to win the hearts of many with her well-crafted comedic vlogs.

 

Shen Yue and her camera

Shen Yue with one of her many cameras. Image via VCG

 

She is also an avid photographer, and her devoted fans have dedicated time and effort to compiling a list of the camera brands she uses.

6. Zhang Zifeng

After making her acting debut in Feng Xiaogang’s 2010 disaster-drama Aftershock at the age of eight, Zhang Zifeng became widely known as one of the most promising up-and-coming actresses in China.

 

Since then, she has gone on to star in several blockbusters, including Detective Chinatown (2015) and Sister (2021), as well as in TV dramas like time-travel tale The Heart Of Genius and thriller Homesick, both of which aired in 2022.

 

Zhang Zifeng

Zhang Zifeng’s mullet has encouraged other young women to cut their hair short. Image via Xiaohongshu

 

Audiences admire her ability to pull off androgynous fashion, and her unconventional mullet hairstyle has inspired some fans to cut their own hair in the same way.

7. Liu Haocun

Best known for her role in Zhang Yimou’s One Second (2020) and Impasse (2021), Liu Haocun is the latest ‘Yimou Girl,’ a title shared by other impressive talents such as Zhang Ziyi and Gong Li, which refers to actresses who were hand-picked for starring roles in films by legendary director Zhang Yimou.

 

Many of these actresses emerged from obscurity to achieve immense fame after collaborating with Zhang, and as the first ‘Yimou girl’ born after 2000, Liu’s presence has ushered in a breath of fresh air.

 

Liu Haocun

Liu Haocun in a scene from Zhang Yimou’s spy thriller Impasse. Image via IMDb

 

Liu faced social media backlash after it came to light that a past student at her mother’s dance studio had been paralyzed following a severe injury, and some have suggested that the actress is actively lying about her age.

 

Additionally, some have criticized her acting skills and perceived overconfidence.

 

Here’s one way to look at it: you know you’ve made it when you’ve got haters.

 

The landscape of Asia’s entertainment industry is constantly changing, and the hottest Chinese actresses of any given moment could be cold product the following year, given factors like scandals and changing consumer tastes. Nonetheless, these rising talents seem like they’re here to stay.

 

Cover image via RADII

Black ASMR Influencers in China on a Mission to Normalize Their Hair

Hair spas are a popular form a self-care in Asia, lying somewhere in the middle of the spectrum between hair salons and massage parlors. Now though, black content creators are spreading the word about these treatments, bringing awareness to different hair types in the process.


Hair spas have a long history that can be traced back to Ayurvedic traditions in ancient India. These customs highlight the significance of scalp and hair health when it comes to general wellness in Asian culture. Hair spas first gained popularity in Japan in order to provide specialized attention to the scalp, and since then, have grown in popularity across China and other Asian countries.

The main attraction at any hair spa is the indulgent head massage, but treatments also include having one’s scalp steamed, and other processes that encourage healthier hair. Treatments like these can help reset sebum levels, ultimately reducing dandruff and promoting hair growth.


Influencers have started flocking to these hair spas to treat themselves in recent months, with an uptick in content arriving on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok; the hashtag for head spas on TikTok alone has over 540 million views.


Most of those videos, though, feature white or Asian hair — and some black influencers are seeking to change that.

Sipha Cingo, a South African-born YouTuber, described her experience in a video, saying that the warm water entering her braid rows caused her “brain to melt.”


Natasha Mulowa, a China-based content creator from Zambia, said that “everyone was a bit nervous because it was their first time having a foreigner as a client,” but that it ended up being a pleasant experience.


Mwila Bwalya, also from Zambia, had a similar experience, saying that head therapy massages are one of her “favorite [treatments] to get done.”


“Thank you for representing and showing that us black girls with 4c hair can enjoy this as well!” reads one of the top comments.


“Rarely ever see people with our hair doing these types of videos,” reads another. “Especially out of the country, what a treat.”


Videos like these may come as a surprise to some who underestimate the significant African population in China.


The vicarious, viral thrill of a scintillating head massage is nothing new — perhaps the most notable originator of this form of entertainment is the famous Indian barber Baba Sen, star of the 2008 video “World’s Greatest Head Massage,” and in many ways, the originator of the modern ASMR phenomenon.

ASMR is an abbreviation for ‘autonomous sensory meridian response,’ a subjective state of “low-grade euphoria” characterized by a distinct, static-like tingling sensation on the skin. The sensation is mainly elicited by auditory stimulation, and in recent years, there’s been an explosion in ASMR content that simulates procedures like head massages.


As ASMR and Asian hair spa treatments both rise in popularity, these creators hope that they can contribute to diversity in these videos, and shine some cross-cultural light in the process.


Cover image via YouTube