Fighting God
An action MMORPG based on Journey to the West released by Tencent in 2013, whose lead creators later departed to found Game Science and develop Black Myth: Wukong.
Asura is an action role-playing online game developed by Tencent Games' Quantum Studio, officially entering open beta in mainland China on September 12, 2013. Using Jin Hezai's novel The Legend of Wukong as its artistic and conceptual blueprint, the game reinterprets Journey to the West—the protagonists Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, and Sha Wujing are not traditional "Buddhist disciples" on a pilgrimage, but tragic heroes ensnared in the conspiracies of Heaven, driven by fate toward rebellion and awakening. Led by producer Feng Ji and art director Yang Qi, the team drew inspiration from the item drop systems of Diablo, the dungeon structures of World of Warcraft, and the camera perspective of MOBAs to construct a fast-paced MMO experience with a distinct, visceral sense of combat. Shortly after its launch, the game climbed to the top of the Chinese online gaming charts. However, due to a slowdown in later updates and conflicts between operational strategies and the creative vision of the production team, it is regarded within the industry as an "unfinished epic." Core members, including Feng Ji and Yang Qi, left Tencent in 2014 to found Game Science, carrying the unfulfilled "Oriental Mythology" ambitions of Asura forward into 2024's Black Myth: Wukong. Consequently, the project is widely viewed as the spiritual predecessor to China's AAA single-player game industry.