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Overview

Diyu (地狱, literally "Earth Prison") is the Chinese underworld — the realm of the dead in Chinese mythology. It is the cosmological backdrop of Black Myth: Zhong Kui and the domain where Zhong Kui holds his title as King of Ghosts. Unlike the relatively simple Western concept of "Hell," Diyu is a complex, layered bureaucracy modeled on the Chinese imperial court system.

Structure

The underworld is governed by the Ten Yama Kings, each presiding over one of ten courts. Yanluo Wang is the most famous of these judges and is often treated as the supreme ruler, though in some traditions he only oversees the first court. Souls enter the underworld through specific gates, cross the Naihe Bridge, and proceed through the courts in sequence.

Each court examines different categories of sin and assigns punishments accordingly. The punishments are specific and often grimly creative — the Mountain of Knives, the Cauldron of Boiling Oil, the Forest of Swords, the Lake of Blood. But punishment is not eternal in most Chinese traditions. After serving their sentence, souls proceed to reincarnation. Before being reborn, they drink Meng Po's Soup at the Naihe Bridge pavilion, which erases their memories of the afterlife.

The spirit hierarchy

What makes the Chinese underworld distinct from most Western afterlife concepts is its rigid governmental structure. The dead are not just suffering or rewarded — they are processed by officials, recorded in ledgers, and assigned to departments. Ghosts who escape custody are fugitives. Demons who accumulate enough merit can be promoted. It is a bureaucracy, and Zhong Kui sits near the top of it.

Zhong Kui commands 80,000 ghosts and demons. His role is essentially law enforcement for the spirit world — hunting down rogue ghosts, capturing escaped demons, and maintaining order in the realms between Youdu and the mortal world. This is a rich setting for an action RPG, because it provides both a clear antagonist pool (rogue spirits, escaped demons, corrupt underworld officials) and a structured world to explore.

Taoist and Buddhist influences

The Chinese underworld is a syncretic creation. It blends pre-existing Chinese folk beliefs about the afterlife with Taoist cosmology and Buddhist concepts imported from India. The Ten Courts were heavily influenced by Buddhist ideas of karmic judgment, while the bureaucratic structure mirrors the Chinese imperial court system. Zhong Kui himself is a Taoist figure, not a Buddhist one, but the underworld he inhabits draws from both traditions.

This mixing of traditions gives Game Science a lot of creative latitude. They can draw from Taoist demonology, Buddhist hell imagery, and Chinese folk ghost stories — all of which are part of the same cultural tradition.

Role in the game

The game's tagline describes Zhong Kui as "the ghost-catching god who wanders between Hell and Earth." This suggests the game will move between the mortal world and the underworld, with Zhong Kui crossing between realms. The Gamescom trailer showed earthly environments (a rain-soaked town), while the narrative premise demands extensive underworld settings.

See also: Youdu, Yanluo Wang.