GameScience’s recent Chinese New Year short film tied to Black Myth: Zhong Kui doesn’t reveal gameplay, story details, or even confirmed in-game scenarios. The developer made that clear from the outset, labeling the piece as non-canon and created purely for entertainment. What it does offer, however, is a glimpse into the cultural framework that surrounds Zhong Kui as a mythological figure, thereby setting up the world and themes of Black Myth: Zhong Kui. In that sense, the film’s focus on spirits and creatures preparing a feast together is actually more relevant than it might initially appear.
Zhong Kui’s legend is built on spiritual hierarchy, ritual, and the regulation of the unseen world. Within Chinese folklore, food and communal preparation often serve as markers of identity and relationships between realms. Viewed through that lens, the film’s focus on cooking aligns naturally with the mythological logic that defines Zhong Kui’s role, and that same logic provides a foundation for how Black Myth: Zhong Kui can bring its world to life.
Zhong Kui’s Authority in Folklore
Zhong Kui is commonly introduced as a demon-queller, but his role in legend is more specific than that. In many traditional tellings, he is a scholar who, after being denied recognition in life, takes his own life and is later appointed in death to command and suppress malevolent spirits. He is often depicted leading lesser ghosts or standing at thresholds as a guardian figure, particularly during the Lunar New Year, when his image is placed at doorways to ward off harm.
These details paint a clearer picture of the kind of world Zhong Kui inhabits. He is not simply a wandering warrior striking down enemies at random. His presence implies a spirit realm populated by beings with rank, purpose, and order. Some must be restrained, and others fall under his command. His authority depends on that structure. For a game centered on Zhong Kui, that background suggests a supernatural setting influenced by relationships and oversight rather than chaos alone.
Food as a Marker of Identity and the Significance of the Lunar New Year Setting
Considering GameScience’s Chinese New Year short for Black Myth: Zhong Kui is almost entirely about cooking and food, some viewers might think cooking has something to do with its gameplay. However, it’s not as simple as that. Within Chinese folklore, food is frequently used in a symbolic sense.
Within Chinese folklore, food and communal preparation often serve as markers of identity and relationships between realms.
A well-known example of this comes from the legend of Meng Po’s Soup. In traditional stories, Meng Po is the goddess of forgetfulness in the underworld who waits at the Bridge of Oblivion to serve a special broth to souls as they prepare for reincarnation. Drinking her soup wipes the memory of past lives, allowing spirits to forget the burdens and attachments of what came before and be reborn without them.
Because of symbolism like this, food in Chinese folklore is rarely incidental. When food appears in ritual settings, it often reflects belonging, hierarchy, or the boundaries between realms. It can suggest that different realms are not entirely separate, but connected through ritual and exchange. The Chinese New Year short film for Black Myth: Zhong Kui draws from that cultural logic. Spirits and creatures gathering to prepare a feast are shown participating in something collective rather than confrontational, and even without canonical context, the imagery backs up the folkloric idea that the supernatural world operates through customs almost as much as conflict.
The seasonal context of the short film strengthens that connection all the more. Zhong Kui has long been associated with Lunar New Year traditions, especially in the form of protective imagery meant to guard homes in the coming year. The festival itself emphasizes renewal, protection, and the transition between cycles. Placing a communal feast at the center of a New Year celebration tied to Zhong Kui feels consistent with that heritage. In a way, it situates the supernatural within ritual, allowing the short film to be less about previewing a game and more about reaffirming the mythological roots that define the game’s world, cultures, and main character. For a project like Black Myth: Zhong Kui, which draws directly from Chinese legend, staying true to that tradition matters.
What This Means for Black Myth: Zhong Kui
At this stage, confirmed gameplay details for Black Myth: Zhong Kui have been limited. So far, the game has been introduced as a single-player action RPG inspired by the ghost-catching figure of legend, but mechanics, systems, and specifics about its story have yet to be fully revealed. Even so, the source material does provide some insight into what kind of world the game can build.
Zhong Kui has long been associated with Lunar New Year traditions, especially in the form of protective imagery meant to guard homes in the coming year.
Zhong Kui’s story revolves around judgment, protection, and maintaining balance within a populated spirit realm. A world shaped by that mythology would naturally include hierarchies among spirits, established customs, and relationships that extend beyond simple hostility. Action RPGs often lead with combat, and that will undoubtedly be central to Black Myth: Zhong Kui, just as it was to Black Myth: Wukong. However, mythology needs far more than the spectacle of gameplay to sell itself. In this case, it needs the cultural tradition behind Zhong Kui, the mythological figure the game is quite literally named after.
The Chinese New Year short film for Black Myth: Zhong Kui doesn’t attempt to showcase mechanics or story arcs but instead reflects the culture behind the character and the folklore he is rooted in. By emphasizing communal preparation and ritual during a season historically tied to Zhong Kui’s protective role, the Chinese New Year short is a true reflection of Black Myth: Zhong Kui‘s roots, where spirits are part of an ordered system. The emphasis on shared preparation and ritual aligns with a mythological tradition in which food and ceremony help define how realms interact with one another, and the Chinese New Year short film helps bring that world to life in a way not yet witnessed.
As development continues and more gameplay details emerge, those mythological foundations will likely become clearer. For now, the Chinese New Year vignette serves as a reminder that Black Myth: Zhong Kui finds its roots in a tradition where ritual, hierarchy, and relationship matter just as much as whatever confrontation players will face in the game, be it an encounter against the rank and file or a difficult boss fight. Zhong Kui’s legacy has always been defined by maintaining order between worlds, and that foundation is already visible in how GameScience is presenting Black Myth: Zhong Kui‘s world.
