Revision 1

Overview

On February 10, 2026, Game Science released a six-minute in-engine video for Black Myth: Zhong Kui celebrating the Chinese New Year (Year of the Horse). This was the studio's sixth annual themed video release and the first in-engine footage from the Zhong Kui project.

Content

The video depicts an elaborate cooking and feast preparation sequence. Mythical creatures work together to prepare food, with extended shots of ingredient chopping, liquid pouring, and fire tending. The tone shifts darker toward the end, when a stew is served to a masked prisoner in what appears to be an underworld setting.

Game Science explicitly labeled the video as "non-canon and for entertainment purposes only." It was a technical showcase, not a story trailer. That said, the cooking imagery may reference the legend of Meng Po's Soup — the drink served to souls in the Chinese underworld before reincarnation to erase their memories. Whether that connection is intentional or just fan speculation is unclear.

Technical showcase

The video served as a demonstration of the game's Unreal Engine 5 capabilities. Specific technical highlights included:

• Detailed fluid and liquid simulation (water, broth, sauces)

• Dense particle effects (dust clouds, chopped vegetable debris, steam)

• Complex creature animations with varied body types

• Material variety — metal cookware, organic ingredients, fabric, stone

• Dynamic firelight and shadow casting

Reception

The video was widely covered by gaming media outlets including Kotaku, Gematsu, GamesRadar, and Push Square. The headline from GamesRadar read: "Black Myth: Wukong devs are literally 'cooking' in non-canon teaser." Most coverage focused on the visual quality and the implicit promise it made about the game's eventual graphical fidelity.

Fans debated whether the cooking sequences hinted at actual gameplay mechanics (crafting, cooking minigames) or were purely stylistic. Game Science's "non-canon" disclaimer has not stopped the speculation.