The cooking sounds in *Black Myth: Zhong Kui* were all recorded live—this flavor is way too intense!

When Game Science officially released the first gameplay demo of Black Myth: Zhong Kui on February 10, many players’ first reaction wasn’t to focus on the combat, but to be instantly pulled in by that unmistakable “wok hei.” The kitchen, chopping board, ingredients, heat control—the whole scene carried a rare kind of everyday pressure: you weren’t just watching an ordinary cutscene, but felt as if you were standing right beside the stove, able to hear the blade, chunks of meat, and iron wok crashing together.

Recently, 8082 Audio Studio revealed behind-the-scenes footage of the gameplay foley work for Black Myth: Zhong Kui, and the key message can be summed up in one sentence: these cooking sounds were not casually stitched together from a sound library, but recorded live on site. Slicing fish, trimming cuts, chopping meat, cutting vegetables—all of it came from foley artists actually handling ingredients on a chopping board. In other words, this sound design doesn’t merely sound “real”; it directly brings a real kitchen into the game.

As someone who has long watched action games and FPS demos, I’m especially sensitive to sound. Gunfire needs recoil, blade strikes need that flesh-cutting impact, and ambient audio determines whether immersion feels genuine or fake. The smartest thing Black Myth: Zhong Kui did this time was applying its foley approach to the most grounded, lived-in kind of scene. A kitchen isn’t a battlefield, but this kind of high-density, close-range, high-feedback sound design actually follows the same logic as the hit-confirmation feel pursued by great action games. The moment you hear a blade come down, you instinctively believe this world has “weight.”

That also explains why, as soon as the demo dropped, the kitchen and cooking sequences quickly sparked discussion. Many projects like to pour their budget into grand set pieces while leaving everyday details hollow; Black Myth: Zhong Kui does the opposite, first making the most intimate, easiest-to-break-immersion sounds feel solid. As long as the ingredients hitting the board, the blade cutting through, and the sizzle of stir-frying in a hot wok all sound right, players’ sense of the world’s credibility rises immediately.

Looking at the trend, players’ expectations for sound effects have clearly been rising in recent years—they’re no longer satisfied with simply “hearing something.” Especially in action games, once visuals have been pushed to a certain level, what truly creates distinction is often the detail in the sound. By revealing this behind-the-scenes work, Black Myth: Zhong Kui has effectively added another layer of technical credibility for itself: it’s not just the visuals that perform—the sound performs too, and in a remarkably down-to-earth way.

If you’re following this title, it’s worth continuing to keep an eye on its audio presentation. The first gameplay reveal has already proven that Game Science doesn’t just want to make the combat exciting—it also wants to make everyday scenes feel alive. And these kinds of details, which may not seem flashy at first glance, are often exactly what determine whether an action game leaves a lasting impression.

The article also mentions at the end that you can continue following the “Black Myth: Zhong Kui专区” for more related updates.