Initial release date: August 20, 2024
Developer:Â Game Science
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows
Mode:Â Single-player video game
License:Â proprietary license
Genres: Action role-playing game, Adventure game, Fighting game, Adventure
Publisher:Â Game Science
I’ve never read Journey to the West. While I enjoy Chinese mythology and imagery in general, I have never read any of the Four Great Novels. Like many others, I’ve seen a lot of movies, games, and TV series that take ideas, concepts, and themes from Wu Cheng’en’s classical masterwork, so I have a general sense of what it’s about. Black Myth: Wukong, the next action game from independent developers GameScience, is a retelling-turned-sequel that draws on characters and events from the novel while eventually creating its own story. It presupposes some prior knowledge, but takes enough liberties with the source that it doesn’t really relevant.
The story takes place years after Sun Wukong’s fall. The Monkey God has been defeated, and his power has been distilled into six relics that are being sought after by a league of great evil. All that stands in their way is you, the Destined One, a descendant of Wukong who may one day serve as a conduit for his full and vengeful might.
Black Myth: Wukong views Chinese history from the same perspective as Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty. Historical accuracy and reasonable thought have no place in this China, which is a land of gods and monsters, magic and great and dreadful marvels. It’s an action game that looks more like Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice than any other Soulslike, but with a less punitive difficulty curve and more bosses than a mob funeral.
When I saw GameScience’s first claim of 80 monsters, I figured that many of them would be elevated Elite adversaries or several reskins, similar to Elden Ring. I was, very pleasantly, mistaken. And, while I’m not knocking From Software’s open-world paragon, Black Myth: Wukong outperforms most other games of its kind in terms of adversary and boss design.
Of course, there are those interactions that occur repeatedly. A few bosses appear multiple times due to story reasons, and a few are very similar in aesthetic design, but by and large, every boss you encounter is unique (the ones that do repeat have different movesets, for starters), and there are no re-colored grunt enemies popping up with different elemental attacks or whatever. The major goal here is to create Black Myth: Wukong a difficult game to become bored or frustrated with.
Enemy placement is meticulously planned, never falling into the same problems as last year’s Lords of the Fallen. Death is a continuous threat, although most deaths are the result of your own blunders, not the game’s decision to force you into a chamber with 10 foes and two elites for a laugh. Bosses are manageable for the most part, but every now and then you’ll run into a wall that requires numerous attempts. These never appear to be consecutive, though, and Game Science will frequently follow a difficult task with many more manageable ones to re-establish momentum. It does have its fair amount of gauntlet runs, but they are evenly distributed.
Before we go any further, I believe it is important to clarify what Wukong is and is not. For starters, it’s not a true Soulslike. It certainly looks and moves like one. Enemies respawn when you rest, quick travel, or resurrect in a Keeper’s Shrine, and there are several difficult boss encounters. The item system is confusing, and you’ll continually be scooping up items that you won’t use for hours. However, there is no currency lost or dropped upon death, and, more importantly, no block or parry.
Combat requires endurance, but it’s all about evading and counterattacking. The Destined One is lightning swift and can use his staff in three different positions, each with its own skill tree. The onus is on recognizing the enemy, evading at the right time, and punishing their failure. Combat is a lightning-fast dance, and you’re equipped with a plethora of spells and powers that you must discover and unlock.
The first spell you’ll learn is Immobilise, which will function as a cozy pair of slippers for the first fifteen hours. It effectively freezes adversaries for five to ten seconds, allowing you to brutally hammer them or crowd-control them while dealing with their teammates. Rock Solid allows you to deflect all damage, whilst Red Tides is a metamorphosis spell that gives you destructive fire strikes.
Spells, Transformations, Abilities, and Strands all have specific places in the quick menu, thus you can only ever equip one of each. This, combined with large cooldowns, prevents you from repeating them, but they’re quite useful in a pinch. Later on, more and more bosses will develop resistant to them, even calling you out with unique dialogue for using the same spell twice in a fight. All four archetypes have their own skill trees, which branch as you acquire new spells and abilities. I didn’t expect build-crafting, but it’s feasible as you gain additional armour and weapons with varying stats and effects, as well as learn how to brew potions and tweak your healing gourd. More than once, a difficult fight required a respec (which is free at Shrines) and a change of tactics.
To mention too much would be to reveal the depth and complexity of Black Myth: Wukong’s gear system. Even the Gourd can be customized with various liquids and effects, such as Elden Ring’s Estus Flask. You can also capture and harness certain foes’ Spirits to use in fight, which deal damage or bestow bonuses, and there are Monster Hunter World-style “mantles” that neutralize elemental damage. There is plenty of variation in Black Myth: Wukong, and you’ll need to learn how to make the most of it if you want to make it past the bosses.
The level design incorporates elements from both Sekiro and Nioh 2. The story is divided into chapters, however once a chapter is completed, you can fast-travel between places. Certain NPCs and events will accompany you through the chapters, while others will be lost forever if not resolved before proceeding. There is no warning about this, so make sure to properly explore each location. There are hidden passageways, secret treasures, and optional bosses everywhere. If it appears that a place may contain a secret, investigate without exception.
Black Myth: Wukong, created with the Unreal 5 Engine, features magnificent environments and spectacular sequences. Using an RTX 2060 8GB graphics card and an AMD Ryzen 5 3600 X (hardly cutting-edge hardware), I was able to run Black Myth in 4K with “high” settings and very minimal stutters outside of cutscene transitions. I experienced no slowdown or latency when playing the game, including boss fights. That is astounding, especially given how fast and responsive the game is.
Review Overview
Gameplay – 90%
Story – 85%
Aesthetics – 95%
Content – 88%
Accessibility – 80%
Value – 90%
Overall Rating – 88%
Excellent
Summary: The general narrative of Black Myth takes a little while to get started, but once it does, it’s quite straightforward to follow and figure out who to support for. It’s not a particularly new story, or even an old one told in new ways; instead, it’s a fairly straightforward Macguffin hunt that takes you through a variety of biomes, with a different NPC guide each chapter, who frequently bestows short-lived or even one-use abilities on you, such as the ability to transform into another creature to scout ahead. It’s a really cool notion that is only utilized a few times, so it never becomes old or monotonous.