Black Myth Wukong is arguably the best action role-playing game I've played in a long while, and that's saying a lot. As someone who dabbles primarily in action role-playing games and souls-likes, I was quite eagerly looking forward to Black Myth. However, I never really had much in the way of expectations from the game, given it was coming from a rather unknown developer.
And despite that, by the time I finished my first playthrough, Black Myth Wukong made its way into my "Game of the Year" list. I never thought I'd see a game this year that can even come close to the sheer "epicness" and quality of Shadow of the Erdtree, let alone exceed it in multiple avenues. However, Black Myth did just that and more.
Black Myth Wukong, at its core, is an action RPG, albeit with more focus on "action" than the RPG. And to be honest, with the number of RPGs we get nowadays, it's a breath of fresh air to get a game that's considerably light on that front. While Black Myth does have its fair share of issues, it's still a game I can easily recommend to anyone, with some caveats.
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Black Myth Wukong - The quintessential "next-gen" action RPG experience
Amazing art style, enhanced by the cutting-edge visual fidelity
Black Myth Wukong, even when it was first announced with that short gameplay trailer, looked like a game that's pushing real-time graphical fidelity to its limits. It honestly looked too good to be true. When I first saw its teaser trailer, I didn't believe it was the real deal. And now that I've seen it in action, I'm not only a believer but also an admirer.
Game Science has essentially delivered what can be considered the "true next-gen" RPG we've all been craving since Epic Games demonstrated Unreal Engine 5. Over the last few years, quite a few UE5 games have come out, but very few of them could deliver the "true next-gen" visuals the engine promised.
Having played a good few Unreal Engine 5 games over the last couple of years, I can safely say Black Myth Wukong is hands down, the best implementation of the engine. It's the most visually stunning UE5 game out there that's not a walking simulator or a lengthy pre-rendered cutscene.
I honestly think the YouTube videos don't really do the game's visuals justice. You need to see it in action, running on a PC decent enough to appreciate the hard work, dedication, and passion that has gone into designing the game's visual presentation. That also extends to Black Myth Wukong's art style, which is as good as its photorealistic visuals.
From the game's environments to the character designs, the art style of Black Myth Wukong often rivals that of FromSoftware's games. The creature designs in particular were a standout for me. I was of the mind that Demon's Souls on PlayStation 5 was the pinnacle of action RPG/souls-like graphics, Wukong easily takes that crown now.
Lastly, I should talk about the game's soundtrack, which while not as remarkable as something like Sekiro or Elden Ring, per se, is still quite good. It's not nearly as memorable as I thought it would be, but it's still quite good. Also, I really like the integration of the OSTs within the game itself, though it's a shame that this feature is Deluxe Edition exclusive.
A classic tale but masterfully retold
I'll keep the story section short, just so I don't accidentally spoil anything. I honestly think that Black Myth Wukong's story is best experienced without any prior knowledge of what it has to offer. While I wasn't expecting a heartwrenching tale rivaling that of God of War or Red Dead Redemption 2, I was still surprised by how well GameScience handled the story in their game.
Black Myth Wukong essentially is a "sequel" or "continuation" of the story told in the Journey to the West novel, albeit with some interesting changes. It doesn't necessarily follow the original story beat-for-beat but takes bits and pieces of it—mostly those concerning the Monkey King Sun Wukong—and elaborates on them.
I find this approach of telling a new story within an already-established lore/universe genuinely fascinating. However, I do think that having some knowledge, even surface-level, of the Journey to the West story is paramount in understanding the narrative of Black Myth Wukong.
Certain sections of the game's story might leave you in complete darkness if you don't have any prior knowledge of Journey to the West. Most of the NPCs you'll meet are from the novel, and having some idea of who they are before meeting them in the game can help you understand and ultimately, enjoy the story of Wukong way more.
That said, if you do go in blind as I did, I think you'll still enjoy the story Black Myth Wukong has to offer. However, I did eventually end up giving the Journey to the West a read after I was done with the game just to get some context on certain characters and their motivations.
Embodying Sun Wukong
Now that we've covered the story, let's get to the real meat and bones of Black Myth Wukong—the combat. Before I explain the combat system, I do need to make it clear that despite borrowing certain elements from games like Dark Souls, Elden Ring, and Lies of P, Black Myth Wukong isn't a souls-like. It's more akin to games like Sekiro and God of War.
Yes, you do have the "bonfire-esque" checkpoint system, limited healing, and difficulty, all of which are elements of a souls-like. However, where Black Myth Wukong differs from games like Dark Souls, and Lies of P is how it implements all those systems and penalizes (or doesn't) death.
Unlike in souls-like games, there's no penalty for dying, apart from having to sit through a loading screen, of course. You don't lose your XP (called Will), and neither do you lose your progress toward the next level-up point, i.e., Sparks. Black Myth Wukong is a straightforward action RPG that borrows a few aspects from souls-likes.
As for the combat system itself, it's a similar affair as Sekiro, but instead of deflecting attacks, you dodge them. Just like Sekiro, Black Myth Wukong's combat has a rhythm to it, you can't just mindlessly spam the dodge button and hope to automatically avoid all attacks. Your primary weapon is the Staff, which can be upgraded with various skills.
You unlock skills with Sparks, which you obtain automatically upon leveling up. I really liked the Skill Tree(s) that Black Myth Wukong has to offer. It's not filled with random passive buffs and instead features both passive and active skills and upgrades for the Staff as well as the Destined One (the protagonist) himself.
You can also use Spells during combat, which act as your secondary weapons. You unlock most of these Spells automatically as you progress through the story, though some of the Spells are also unlocked via optional quests. There are also the Curios which act as Talismans, providing unique passive bonuses.
There's also a mechanic called Focus, which fills up as you deal damage to an enemy. And once the Focus gauge is maxed out, you can press the heavy attack button to unleash a devastating attack. I really liked how the Focus attacks are integrated with regular attacks and how they complement each other during combat.
One criticism that I do have of the combat system is that it lacks the customizability and build creation element, something I thought would be present here. The progression here is extremely linear since you cannot upgrade your armor sets, and the new outfits always offer better stats, making older ones redundant, regardless of the perk they offer.
Boss fights that put most modern RPGs to shame
If there's one thing I was most looking forward to in Black Myth Wukong, it would be the boss fights. However, just like countless other players, I too was skeptical whether the game would end up being just a "boss rush" with little to no in the way of exploration and discovery. And honestly, this is where the game surprised me the most.
Not only does Wukong offer plenty of exploration opportunities, way more than I initially expected, but it also paces the boss fights properly, without making the game feel like a glorified boss rush. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of boss fights, way more than you would expect from a game of this scale.
However, very few of those are reskins, with a majority of them being unique encounters, complete with their own unique movesets and skills. As much as I like Elden Ring and Dragon's Dogma 2, I despise the blatant reuse of bosses in those games. This is something I never faced in Black Myth Wukong.
Also, almost all the bosses, barring a handful, offer a fair amount of challenge. Trust me when I say this: the bosses in Black Myth Wukong will make you think. You cannot expect to steamroll through the entire game with a single setup of Spells and Skills, you will have to switch them up constantly to keep up with the bosses and their various abilities.
Some optional bosses also drop their Spirits, which you can use for Transformations, allowing you to turn into those bosses temporarily during combat. As for the main bosses, they don't drop Transformations but do offer a spectacle that very few RPGs can even come close to matching, let alone surpass.
I'm genuinely awestruck by the sheer production value behind the game's boss designs. While I did expect to see some genuinely spectacular bosses, I did not expect this level of quality from a studio debuting its first AAA action RPG. I think some of the bosses in Black Myth Wukong might even surpass the best FromSoftware has to offer.
Difficulty: Fun but also an exercise in frustration
Is Black Myth Wukong a difficult game to go through? Yes, it is. The opening few chapters are quite lenient in terms of difficulty, which is to be expected since that's where you're learning the ropes of the game's combat system. However, once you reach the final stretch, it suddenly becomes the most challenging thing ever created.
The difficulty in the final few chapters of Black Myth Wukong is somewhat overwhelming, and often, not in a good way. I won't spoil any bosses or story beats, but to give you an example without any narrative context, there's a boss in one of the later chapters that has the ability to constantly drain your health in his second phase.
And while he's draining your HP, you have to dodge his near "one-shot" potential attacks and deal damage to him. Also, your regular attacks don't do much damage to bosses. The bulk of your damage will come from charged-heavy attacks and Spells, both of which have their own separate cooldowns.
I'll give you another example, there's a boss in the tail-end of the game's main story that has two phases, with full healthbars in each of them. And once you reach the second phase, if you try to heal, the boss can basically sabotage your Healing Gourd, and heal himself, basically erasing a good chunk of the progress you might've made.
How about bosses with lengthy counterattack animations where you can do nothing but hope you don't get one shot? If all this sounds frustrating to you, it often is. While you will eventually defeat these bosses if you play your cards right, some of their abilities just don't feel...well...fair.
As someone who enjoys games with a fair challenge, I don't think nerfing the difficulty will be the right call here. I do like the bosses as they are, regardless of their broken attacks. However, I think the player's base DPS can be buffed slightly, just so people who might not be as skilled as seasoned souls-like veterans, can keep up with the game's difficulty.
PC performance, and optimization
PC players rejoice! Black Myth Wukong's PC version is incredibly well-optimized, which is quite surprising considering it's an Unreal Engine 5 game. While yes, there are a few stutters and hitches here and there, for the most part, the game runs incredibly well, with very little in the way of performance or other technical issues to speak of.
The PC that I tested the game out on has the following specs:
- CPU: Ryzen 5 5600X
- GPU: RTX 4070
- Memory: 16GB DDR4
- Storage: 2 TB Gen-4 NVMe SSD
Using this system, I could easily push well over 60fps at all times, with the High preset, and DLSS as well as Frame Generation turned on. I should also mention that I was playing at 1440p with DLAA, so basically native rendering, but with Frame Generation.
I did notice some artifacting in certain minute details like leaves and hairs, but I think those are byproducts of DLSS and weren't really distracting from the overall experience. However, there were a handful of occasions when the game occasionally introduced stuttering, mostly during the start of a cutscene or effects-heavy boss fights.
However, these issues were more or less ironed out with an 8 GB update that GameScience released during the review period. Lastly, I should mention that I did not experience a single crash during my 60+ hours with the game, which is a sign of excellent optimization and the care the developers put into the PC port.
Few shortcomings
Black Myth Wukong, much like Elden Ring and Lies of P before it, is an excellent action RPG, one that I can easily recommend to anyone. However, it's still not without its fair share of flaws. Apart from the rather abrupt difficulty spike in the later chapters, the game also has quite an unintuitive level progression, which I think many players will find a bit confusing.
The progress here is completely devoid of any form of hand-holding, which to be honest, is a good thing. However, given how the game's environments all meld together due to the photorealistic aesthetics, often you will find yourself lost in the game, which happened to me more than once.
You can also take plenty of optional paths in every chapter, which then open into secret new areas or boss fights. However, you will have to go out of your way to look for these zones since you won't really notice most of them while casually going through the chapters.
I remember spending a solid six to seven hours out of my 65-hour-long playthrough, just searching for the next main objective in the game's final chapter. That, I'll be honest, wasn't fun. I eventually did end up finding my way through it, but it left a sour taste in my mouth. I would've liked at least some visual cues to help locate the objectives that progress the story.
Speaking of the story, I started my playthrough with the "English dub" with subtitles, so I won't have to constantly look down on my screen to read dialog during cutscenes. However, I immediately realized that wasn't the best thing to do. The English dub, for lack of a better word, isn't that good and pales in comparison to the native Chinese audio.
After I switched to Chinese audio with English subtitles, the game became significantly more immersive and enjoyable, that is until Chapter 2. There are certain boss fights in the later chapters of Wukong where the bosses have dialogue that's important to the game's story.
As someone who's not all that fluent in Mandarin, I had to rely on subtitles to understand the story and dialogue. However, during boss fights, where you're getting constantly showered by attacks and endless combos, it's really not possible to read subtitles. As such, I ultimately had to contend with English audio, at least for my first playthrough.
In conclusion
Black Myth Wukong essentially does away with a lot of clutter and unnecessary aspects that plague most modern action RPGs, in favor of delivering a straightforward action-packed game. While the difficulty curve of the end-game chapters can be a big turn-off for many players, it's still something to put up with considering the overall quality of the experience.
In many ways, Black Myth Wukong feels like a relic of the past, back when games didn't shy away from experimenting with their gameplay and storytelling systems. Nowadays, we rarely, if ever get games like these. This is exactly what made me fall in love with FromSoftware's games, and now GameScience has my attention.
With its immaculate art style, robust combat system, intriguing story, and spectacular boss fights, Wukong has impressed me in more ways than I expected. While I might be done with the game's main story, I can see myself returning to it time and time again just to test my mettle against the bosses. Black Myth Wukong isn't a game for everyone, but it certainly is for me.
Black Myth Wukong
Reviewed on: Windows PC (Review code provided by GameScience)
Platform(s): PS5, and Windows PC (Steam and Epic Games Store)
Developer(s): GameScience
Publisher(s): GameScience
Release date: August 20, 2024
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