Black Myth: Zhong Kui

Combat in the gameplay footage

The playable character fights with a sword. Combos mix light attacks, heavier swings, and kicks. Defense uses a hard block, a timed parry, a regular dodge, and a perfect dodge. A successful parry can turn a weapon aside and stagger the attacker; the parry animation changes against different weapons. A perfect dodge is a short lean, not a full roll, and leaves an afterimage.

• Health sits at the bottom left of the HUD, with a yellow meter beside it and a blue meter spent on elemental attacks.
• Healing is a gourd next to the health bar. Drinking spends that gourd meter.
• An ability row beside the focus meter holds several slots. The footage uses fire, lightning, and a summon from those slots.

Fire, lightning, and the sword

The footage chains thrown fire, weapon imbues, and area burns. Fire can spread across trees and ground. The same fire can be pulled back into the sword, which stays ignited until the blue meter is spent. Later stretches show lightning on the blade and a water imbue. This page does not invent skill names for those inputs.

Summons

A companion can be called into the fight. It fights beside the player, can block incoming hits, and has its own health. The player can take control of the summon and later return to the main character while the companion stays active. Switching onto the summon spends a cooldown icon.

An older companion appears before a later stretch, helps launch a raft, and after dying continues as a ribbon-like form that can still attack.

The late boss in the footage

The late fight is a large non-human boss with shell wings that can be broken. Removing the remaining wing drops a large share of its health and starts a faster, more aggressive second phase. After the boss falls, a woman surfaces from the water and takes the body. This wiki does not invent an English name for that fight.

Traversal shown so far

Late shots show the character riding a tiger. The footage also includes an underwater stretch before the late boss. Game Science has not called the game an open world, so this page does not.

Official record

Game Science first revealed Black Myth: Zhong Kui at Gamescom Opening Night Live in August 2025, when the project was in early development and had no in-game footage to share. A Chinese New Year in-engine special followed in February 2026 as a holiday piece, not as canon story. The studio reports progress around August 20 each year; that date is a reporting habit, not a release date. The studio named Zhong Kui of Chinese folklore as the primary creative inspiration.

How to use this wiki

Quick answers

What is Black Myth: Zhong Kui? A single-player action RPG from Game Science and the second Black Myth title. The current public look at combat is the August 2026 gameplay footage.

When does it release? Game Science has not announced a release date.

Which platforms? PC and mainstream consoles. The final list will be confirmed before release.

What does combat look like right now? A sword, block, parry, dodge, a gourd heal, fire and lightning on the blade, and a summon the player can inhabit.