Between myth and power: global players and the politics of reception of Black Myth: Wukong on Reddit

Abstract

Once peripheral to the global gaming industry, Chinese studios have increasingly sought to reposition themselves as global creative leaders. Black Myth: Wukong (Game Science, 2024) marks a pivotal moment in this shift toward culturally distinctive, mechanically complex, and narratively rich high-budget game production. While the game has been widely celebrated within China for its adaptation of classical mythology and its impressive audiovisual and technical design, its international reception reveals more ambivalent dynamics. This study examines how non-China-based gamers interpret and debate Wukong on Reddit, a major platform for transnational gaming discourse. Using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), supported by automated data scraping and sentiment analysis, the article identifies three key discursive nodes shaping the game’s global circulation. First, players express strong fascination with the game’s mythological aesthetics, though their interpretations are often shaped by cultural discount. Second, discussions reflect ambivalence toward China’s soft power ambitions, combining aesthetic admiration with political skepticism. Third, frictions emerge around cultural translation, geopolitical distrust, and contested gender representations. The article argues that Wukong ’s “Chineseness” functions simultaneously as a cultural resource and a site of ideological tension within the platformed geopolitics of contemporary gaming.