Black Myth: Zhong Kui's 15-minute gameplay trailer wows with parries, oyster men, and skeletons

Game Science has released a 15-minute gameplay trailer for Black Myth: Zhong Kui, the follow-up to the acclaimed Black Myth: Wukong. The footage offers the first proper look at the game's new protagonist, Zhong Kui, a legendary figure from Chinese mythology known as a demon queller.

The trailer showcases a range of combat mechanics, including a parry system that impressed outlets like IGN, as well as boss fights against grotesque enemies, including an oyster man. The graphical fidelity has drawn comparisons to the pre-release hype for Wukong, with some fans remarking, "If they never released Wukong before this, people would think this is fake."

The trailer, first reported by Gematsu, was quickly picked up by major outlets. GameSpot published two separate articles: one embedding the trailer and another focusing on the brutality of the combat and the grotesque boss design. IGN highlighted the "truly impressive parry" as a standout feature.

Push Square noted that Game Science has "lost none of its ability to create compelling videos," recalling the spectacular trailers for Black Myth: Wukong before its launch. Rock Paper Shotgun offered a more playful take, describing the gameplay as "rollparrysliceage" and noting that the titular Zhong Kui was a "lethally effective headbanger" in folklore.

Eurogamer and VGC both emphasized that this is the first proper look at the successor to Wukong, while RPGamer and PC Gamer focused on the confident swordplay and the unusual enemy designs, with PC Gamer calling the skeletons "the coolest I've ever seen." GamesRadar+ reported on fan reactions, quoting a viewer who doubted the footage's authenticity due to its high fidelity.

A new hero, a new myth

Zhong Kui is a departure from Wukong's monkey king. He is a scholar who, according to legend, died by smashing his head against a palace gate after being denied a government post due to his ugly face. He was then appointed king of ghosts. The trailer shows him wielding a sword and using a parry that sends enemies reeling.

The combat appears more deliberate than Wukong's staff-based acrobatics. The 15-minute reel includes a boss fight against a giant oyster man, a creature that spits pearls and attacks with razor-sharp shells. It is grotesque. It is also, by all accounts, very impressive.

The press responds

Coverage spread rapidly. Within 10 hours, nine outlets had reported on the trailer. The tone was uniformly positive, with no outlet contesting the quality of the footage or the game's direction. The only variation was in focus: some emphasized the lore, others the combat, and a few the sheer visual spectacle.

Rock Paper Shotgun's article was the only one to delve into the historical Zhong Kui, noting his violent death and his role as a ghost hunter. This added a layer of context that most other outlets skipped.

No outlet reported any release date or platform details. The trailer remains a pure gameplay showcase.

How it spread

• +0h — Gematsu First report, embeds the 15-minute gameplay trailer.
• +2.7h — GameSpot First major outlet to pick up the story, embedding the trailer.
• +4.7h — IGN Highlights the parry mechanic and calls the trailer 'stunning'.
• +6.4h — VGC Frames the trailer as showing the game's combat in action.
• +6.9h — Push Square Compares the trailer to pre-release Wukong hype, calls Game Science's videos 'spectacular'.
• +8.5h — GamesRadar+ Quotes fan reaction doubting the footage's authenticity due to graphical fidelity.
• +9.9h — Rock Paper Shotgun Provides historical context on Zhong Kui, describes gameplay as 'rollparrysliceage'.
• +10.6h — GameSpot Second article focusing on the brutality and grotesque boss design.

Who stayed out of it

Publishing during the same window but absent from this story: Nintendo Everything, Polygon, GameRant, Massively OP, DualShockers, TheGamer, Kotaku, Destructoid, Pure Xbox, Dexerto – Games, Siliconera, Time Extension, GamingOnLinux, Nintendo Life, The Escapist, Game Developer, Xbox Wire, PlayStation Blog, The Verge – Gaming.

Evidence

Every claim below was checked against the outlet reports it cites by a separate pass instructed to disprove it.

• The trailer shows 15 minutes of gameplay for Black Myth: Zhong Kui. — Gematsu, GameSpot, IGN, VGC, Push Square, GamesRadar+, Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, RPGamer, PC Gamer
• The game features a parry mechanic. — IGN, Rock Paper Shotgun
• The trailer includes a boss fight against an oyster man. — GameSpot, PC Gamer
• Zhong Kui was a historical figure who died by smashing his head against a gate. — Rock Paper Shotgun

Written by TDGN from 11 outlet reports using a local model, then fact-checked against those reports before publishing. We link the outlets rather than reproducing their reporting.