Summary
Steamhas a new most-played single-player game and its numbers are utterly staggering. When tracking the popularity of a game on Steam, the most accurate means of doing so is to look into the title’s concurrent player count both close to its launch and in the months following its release. Generally speaking, multiplayer games tend to boast larger concurrent player counts since they are inherently a shared experience but, every once in a while, a single-player game generates enough hype to rake in millions of individual users at once.
PerSteamDB,the recently releasedBlack Myth: Wukongboasted a whopping concurrent player count of 1,443,570 in the hours after its debut, handily surpassing the previous record held byCyberpunk 2077which managed to gain 1,054,388 players when it launched in 2020. It’s worth noting that since the game was released during the week, there’s a strong chance thatBlack Myth’s numbers will increase closer to the weekend as more people have time to play. It’s undoubtedly impressive, especially since multiplayer-focused games usually attain those figures.
Black Myth: Wukong Review: The Soulslike Action Hype Train Is A Little Off-Rails
Despite the exceptional qualities of Black Myth: Wukong, the souls-like RPG has some necessary improvements to make, for a truly immersive experience.
What Is Black Myth: Wukong?
An Incredibly Ambitious Soulslike
Players have been waiting forBlack Myth: Wukongfor years and it’s no wonder why the game took so long to develop. Produced by an indie team known as Game Science,the title sports mechanics and graphics that are on par, and sometimes even surpass, most AAA releases. Based onJourney to the West, players take on the role of the Destined One as they battle their way across the world, clashing with all manner of terrifying bosses that would fit right in with some of themost recognizableDark Soulscreatures.
Black Myth: Wukongdebuted to largely favorable reviews as critics praised its slick combat and traversal, likening it more toGod of War(2019) thansomething likeSekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Aside from thefluid gameplay and beautifully realized world, some have taken issue with its optimization, insisting that it needs a patch to fix some major technical bugs. Whether or not Game Science plans to drop an update to fix these problems remains to be seen.
Black Mything: Wukongdoesn’t just hold the record for the most-played single-player game onSteam: It also holds the coveted “Overwhelmingly Positive” review title.Out of the 45,948 user reviews published at the time of writing, 96% are positive. One can only assume that even more praise will be heaped upon the game as the week progresses.
