Black Myth Wukong’s Story & Ending Explained

Compared to other games of its genre, Black Myth: Wukong is surprisingly linear. There are no radically different weapons to find and no secret gear with game-changing special abilities. Choice, even the choice in which order to tackle the few areas of the game that can be completed in any order, doesn’t affect the story. This doesn’t make the combat or the exploration any easier, yet understanding the story poses the greatest challenge to the player. Hopefully, this Black Myth: Wukong Story explanation will make things easier.

Black Myth: Wukong’s Story

When playing the game, the journey of the Chosen One appears to be made of an endless barrage of new characters, locations, and motivations. We died a dozen times to the jungle’s final boss not two hours ago; why are we now lying dead in the middle of the desert? Are we here to remove a bad guy from power or to steal one of the original Wukong’s artifacts? Are we trying to resurrect the old monkey or take his place?

Those are all valid questions, but the game won’t answer any of them directly. That’s fair, assuming there are other ways to find motivation and a little more of the story hidden in the margins. Finding motivation is easy: The combat is energetic, the locations stunning, and the character design is strong enough to carry even the more inscrutable NPCs. Finding the story is a lot harder, and it’s bordering on impossible when seen through an incomplete playthrough that doesn’t include the game’s many secret areas.

A Brief Explanation of Black Myth: Wukong’s Story

The story of Black Myth: Wukong might be confusing, but the basics are easy enough to explain. Here’s a quick rundown, just to make sure we’re on the same page, before delving deeper into the story.

The game’s prologue sees the real Son Wukong be defeated by emissaries of the gods. He rejected life among them, preferring his old home in the mortal realm. When his forest came under attack, he came to defend it. This is the battle we play through in the opening sequence. And it’s a losing battle.

Once defeated, Son Wukong crashes into the mountain that was his home and transforms into a rock. It’s then revealed that, before his confrontation, he disguised his power inside five artifacts.

Recovering those artifacts and facing Son Wukong’s old enemies is the heart of the game. Chapter 6 is instead dedicated to gaining Wukong’s signature weapon and armor, before finally confronting his petrified shell. As the old monkey of the forest tells us now, our objective is not to restore Son Wukong, but to surpass him.

Explaining the Normal and Secret Endings of Black Myth: Wukong

In the normal ending, the Destined One doesn’t leave the rock, which means he isn’t the rightful successor of Wukong and his quest has failed. If you want to turn this into the classic cyclical narrative of a souls-like, you could imagine he becomes the next stone monkey for a true Destined One to beat.

In the secret ending, which can only be found after finishing the game normally, the Destined One has to defeat a lot of extra bosses first. This culminates in a new fight with Erland, the game’s tutorial boss. Beating him here will change the ending triggered by the fight with Wukong’s remains. The ending cutscene changes, showing the old monkey crowning the Destined One, now the real successor of Son Wukong.

Who Are the Yaoguai Kings in Black Myth: Wukong

The rundown above is the easy version of this story. As promised, it’s quite straightforward, even if it doesn’t feel like it when playing it. Let’s talk about the details now, going over the plot points that start and end in each chapter. The main Yaoguai Kings will be our guiding star, since they are the ones that hold the artifacts that the Destined One needs.

In Chapter 1, the Black Wind King took over Black Wind Mountain during Wukong’s absence. By the time the Destined One becomes active, the forest is in disarray. The Black Wind King tried to use the power of revival magic to bring unity to the mountain, but each of the resurrected spirits took off on its own, driving the area further into chaos.

In Chapter 2, we find another region thrown into chaos. The once fertile Yellow Wind Ridge is now a desert, causing desperation across the local rat-folks. Worse yet, their subservience to the Tiger Vanguard yaoguai king condemns them to a life of servitude, only to be sacrificed to satiate the tiger’s appetite. It was the Yellow Wind Sage that forged this accord, a simple rat who stole the head of the bodhisattva, the headless monk.

In Chapter 3, the Destined One is first greeted by the Keeper of the New West. After a diversion in the Pagoda Realm, a celestial prison of sorts, he kills its keeper and proceeds to the top of the mountain. He defeats the dragon Kang-Jin Star who, tricked by Yellowbrow saying that he had captured “all the gods and Buddhas in the celestial realms”, is not his disciple. Much the same has happened to the whole region, and the only solution is to defeat Yellowbrow. After having almost been tricked himself, the Destined One takes Son Wukong’s relic and moves to the next area.

In Chapter 4, things start looking a little brighter as we witness a ceremony between noble families. Ironic, since most of this chapter takes place at night. But the truth is much darker than the introduction might make it seem. After Son Wukong set the Mountain of Venom ablaze (it’s complicated), the area was taken over by the Violet Spider and her daughters on one side and the Hundred-eyed Daoist on the other. Both plotted against the Destined One, but when the Daoist turns against the Violet Spider and her daughters, all changed side to that of the monkey.

Finally, Chapter 5 is a lot more straightforward. The Red Boy, the son of the Bull King and Rakshasi, has been setting siege to the Flaming Mountains for some time. By reading through the relevant portraits, we find that their first son has died in war and was brought back to life by an unnamed figure. His rebirth is the cause of the Bull King’s illness and the reason for his destructive nature. He pretends to be Pingping, the couple’s daughter, and ultimately transforms into the demon-like Yaksha King.

And that’s Black Myth: Wukong’s story, explained. For more guides about the game, visit our BMW guide hub.