advance/early chapters : p atreon.com/Ritesh_Jadhav0869
Days passed. Winter arrived in New York, bringing cold weather and holiday preparations.
As year-end approached, the number of new content releases in Infinite Realms significantly decreased.
Companies invited to the Infinite Realms Carnival particularly planned postponing releases until after the event, hoping to leverage its influence to build anticipation.
One day, during a gaming podcast sponsored by Titan Games, guest Brandon Sterling revealed his company's upcoming content: Mech God of War: Monkey King.
He didn't disclose many details, only stating it was an ambitious attempt to bring Eastern mythology to Western gaming audiences in an innovative mech format.
The confusing name—clearly capitalizing on the mech craze—immediately garnered attention from players and sparked heated discussions online.
Doubts and complaints surged like waves.
Sun Wukong, the legendary Monkey King from Chinese mythology, was familiar to many through various adaptations. But the combination of Sun Wukong and "Mech God of War" felt distinctly awkward, even jarring.
Consequently, players weren't optimistic about this content. Some worried it would be disappointingly executed cultural appropriation.
Soon after, Titan Games capitalized on the buzz by releasing a teaser video.
The video contained no gameplay footage, only dramatic text overlaid on moody visuals:
"Who hasn't imagined becoming an unstoppable hero? Strength comes from legends. We're bringing ancient Eastern mythology to modern mech combat! Mech God of War: Monkey King will show the world that legendary heroes transcend cultural boundaries!"
This messaging, coupled with epic background music, did resonate with some players curious about Eastern mythology in gaming.
They held cautious anticipation for this content, though they couldn't fathom how the seemingly unrelated elements of mechs and the Monkey King legend could be meaningfully combined.
Worth noting: content with purely traditional Chinese aesthetics historically didn't perform well on Infinite Realms' global servers. Many developers had struggled to make Eastern-themed content appealing to Western audiences without heavy adaptation.
This was partly because Infinite Realms' platform standards and audience demographics skewed heavily Western in early years.
Riding on player curiosity about mythology crossover content and Titan's aggressive marketing, Mech God of War: Monkey King garnered immense attention before official release.
Its promotional campaign generated significant buzz, with some players genuinely excited to see Eastern mythology represented in mainstream gaming.
The attention greatly pleased Brandon. The core creative team felt triumphant, convinced they were about to achieve legendary status.
Particularly Marcus Fenton—creative director and lead designer for Mech God of War: Monkey King—had become incredibly inflated with pride due to Brandon's recent praise and trust.
With his creation seemingly on the verge of success, his inner arrogance was uncontrollable. He practically strutted through the office, feeling more satisfaction than any creative breakthrough.
December 28th – Promotional Trailer Released
Titan Games finally released the full promotional trailer for Mech God of War: Monkey King.
It immediately drew massive attention, with countless players eagerly watching.
However, after viewing the multi-minute trailer, the response was... not what Titan expected.
Players were nearly speechless, filled with an urge to vent frustration and criticism.
"What did I just watch? Holy sh*t, that was... something."
"Dammit, that was pure bait-and-switch! This is garbage! I wasted time being hyped for THIS?!"
"The plagiarism is TOO obvious! The protagonist's mech is almost IDENTICAL to Iron Man's armor—they just tweaked the faceplate to look vaguely monkey-like!"
"THIS is your 'innovative Eastern mythology' approach?? You plagiarize Morrison's mech design then have the audacity to claim you're 'bringing legends to modern audiences'? Don't insult our intelligence."
"Wait, our legendary Monkey King—who in mythology fought gods and demons with his magical staff—now needs to wear IRON MAN ARMOR to fight?? My worldview is shattered!"
"Where's the actual Monkey King character we were promised?"
"So your 'Eastern mythology' contribution is literally just the name 'Sun Wukong' slapped on a bad Iron Man ripoff???"
"What the hell is this romantic subplot? Which bargain bin web novel did you copy THAT from!"
"Titan Games created this monstrosity then shamelessly marketed it as 'bringing Eastern culture to Western audiences.' Are you INSULTING Chinese mythology?"
"I've never seen such blatant cultural appropriation disguised as 'respectful adaptation'!"
"Please, just leave Chinese mythology alone!"
"This is the most disrespectful treatment of Chinese cultural heritage I've seen in gaming!"
"Besides character names, I didn't see ANY actual Chinese mythology elements. If you plagiarized Iron Man, just SAY you plagiarized. Don't try to virtue-signal about 'cultural bridges' while doing the bare minimum research. Pathetic!!"
"Adaptation isn't random fabrication. Creative interpretation isn't making stuff up. This content absolutely shouldn't launch—it's embarrassing!"
"Everyone petition together—send this straight to the graveyard before it launches and becomes a cultural embarrassment!"
"Agreed!"
"Agree +1"
"Agree +10000"
"Haha, congratulations Mr. Sterling on yet another spectacular failure!"
Complete Reputation Collapse
After the Mech God of War: Monkey King trailer went live, its reputation completely collapsed.
Players who'd been cautiously optimistic felt directly manipulated and treated like idiots, becoming utterly enraged.
They launched a barrage of criticism, furiously expressing disappointment.
The response was understandable though.
The content conveyed throughout the trailer utterly shocked and offended players familiar with the source material, while also boring players unfamiliar with Chinese mythology.
The Sun Wukong depicted wasn't the legendary figure from Journey to the West, but rather a generic edgy protagonist who happened to be named after the Monkey King.
The entire video was filled with plagiarized sci-fi elements heavily derivative of Iron Man, with superficial "Eastern" aesthetic touches.
Aside from a few character names and setting terminology like "Celestial Realm" and "Demon Realm" that had tenuous connections to Chinese mythology, there was zero meaningful cultural representation or understanding.
Actually, if this content were merely a simple Iron Man imitation and bandwagon product, it would be somewhat excusable and wouldn't have been criticized so harshly.
The crucial problem was shamelessly capitalizing on both the Monkey King IP and mech trend while marketing itself as a respectful cultural crossover—raising expectations that it would meaningfully represent Chinese mythology.
The result was a heavily plagiarized work that failed to showcase even a hint of authentic cultural elements or research, while also being a blatant Iron Man ripoff.
It felt like cynical appropriation of Chinese cultural IP combined with lazy game design—insulting to mythology enthusiasts and boring to general audiences.
Therefore, this content triggered fierce resistance and overwhelming anger from vast numbers of players across demographics.
Cultural consultants and mythology enthusiasts were particularly vocal in their criticism.
Brandon Sterling had stumbled into yet another PR disaster, this time offending an entirely new audience segment.
PLZ THROW POWERSTONES.