Black Myth: Wukong is making some tremendous strides, and less than 12 hours after release, it’s already the second most-played Steam game of all time ahead of this year’s previous contender, Palworld. The Soulslike title has magnetism beyond anything we’ve seen this year, and it’s likely it’ll continue growing.
According to SteamDB’s player count tracker, Black Myth: Wukong stands at a whopping 2,223,179 concurrent players, or over 120,000 above the third-place Palworld. The game came out just today, Aug. 20, and it hasn’t even been half a day since it opened its gates to the public. Players have been massively enjoying their Journey to the West, so much so that the title has “Overwhelmingly Positive” reviews on Steam, with 96 percent of players willing to recommend the game.
By surpassing Palworld, this makes Black Myth: Wukong the biggest release in 2024, adding yet another title to the long list of successful games that have come out this year, both from traditionally published and indie circles. It would also technically make it the biggest Soulslike yet, though its gameplay has more in common with other hack-and-slash titles than FromSoftware’s stellar Souls and other games. Even so, it’s mighty impressive to see a newcomer studio push out such a massively successful project.
As for the most-played game on Steam ever? Black Myth: Wukong still has a ways to go before it topples the king: PUBG, whose all-time peak is 3,257,248 players—about a million more than Black Myth: Wukong‘s already staggering total.
Black Myth: Wukong is an Action RPG made by the Chinese studio Game Science. Players are tasked with exploring the mythical world of the famous Journey to the West novel grounded in Chinese and Buddhist cultures and beliefs. Like other games of a similar nature, players combat bosses and enemies in the typical Soulslike fashion, with dodging at the right moment playing a key role in encounters. The game came out today, Aug. 20, and is available on all current gen platforms.
