The storm of controversy around Black Myth: Wukong, explained

How did a fairly straightforward video game based on an ancient legend become the latest battleground in the war over “woke”?

Black Myth: Wukong takes the ancient legend of Monkey, or the Monkey King, an iconic character whose travels were most famously described in the Ming dynasty masterpiece Journey to the West, and expands on it. The game first attracted interest in 2020, when its makers debuted a 13-minute-long trailer that drew over 10 million views and won wild praise from gamers around the globe.