It’s been almost four years since Game Science revealed Black Myth: Wukong to the world. A lot has happened in the industry in that time, most importantly for Game Science, is the increased success of triple A titles from the East. While Japan has always been a force to be reckoned with in gaming, countries like Korea and China had yet to tap into Western audiences in a big way.
That’s all changed in the last few years, with miHoYo’s live service behemoths shaking up the landscape of free to play experiences and Shift Up’s Stellar Blade also making its long-awaited debut earlier this year. This newfound audience coupled with some pretty impressive showcases painted Black Myth: Wukong as a technical showcase for Unreal Engine 5 with high-octane melee combat. The end result is an enjoyable experience that feels a bit lost in its muddled identity and frustrates in many aspects of its design.
The one thing I cannot fault Black Myth: Wukong for, even if I tried, is in its story, world, and characters. Even as someone who isn’t familiar with Journey to the West, it’s clear that Game Science have a deep appreciation for the source material and its impact on East Asian culture. Each of the game’s five main chapters is thematically rich, dripping with little story details and lore that’s always a joy to uncover. It certainly helps to have familiarity with the original works, but even an outsider can admire the artistry and faith with which its all presented.
Instead of retelling a story that’s been told in many formats over the years, Game Science positions Black Myth: Wukong as its own story supplemental to the original works. Long after Sun Wukong fell to the Celestial Court, a monkey of Mount Huaguo comes to be known as the Destined One. Tasked with collecting six Relics that pertain to each of Wukong’s six-senses, the Destined One sets out on a journey across China to bring the Monkey King back from his incapacitation.
The categorical highlights of the story are the utterly gorgeous animated cutscenes that serve as bookends to each of the game’s chapters. These pieces employ their own distinct animation style, offering a different visual treat as you close out a major portion of the Destined One’s story. From traditional Chinese paintings all the way through to stop-motion animation, Black Myth: Wukong keeps you engaged in its narrative with wildly imaginative and varied presentation. They also provide more context to the events and characters found in the related chapter, expanding the world and story in satisfying fashion.
There’s been a lot of comparisons thrown around to try and describe Black Myth: Wukong. From Dark Souls to the recent God of War games, it’s hard to properly pin down where Wukong fits on the spectrum of action games. I think that the most apt comparison is to Team Ninja’s recent titles, specifically Nioh, and Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty.
Much like those games, the Destined One has access to a light attack combo string and heavy attacks. The key difference being that heavy attacks are charged and empowered with Focus, which is generated by successfully landing light attacks. You also have access to three distinct stances that change how the heavy attack behaves, but there’s no substantial evolution from there in terms of combos and weapon attacks. It’s all managed by a stamina system which dictates how often you can attack, roll, run, typical stuff if you’ve played a Souls-like before.
Where a lot of the combat flexibility comes in, is with Spells and core progression. As you move through the early chapters, the Destined One will gain access to a slew of Spells to use in combat. These are governed by a Mana bar separate to Stamina, and also go on cooldown once used. That’s because these effects are quite powerful. From freezing enemies in place for free hits with Immobilize to creating countless clones of yourself to wail on enemy on combat through A Pluck of Many, there are plenty of ways to pull yourself out of tricky situations when the going gets tough.
You also have Spirits and Transformations. The former are very similar to Yokai Skills from Nioh 2, allowing you to absorb enemy spirits, taking their own hard-hitting attacks into your own toolset. Transformations are similar to another Nioh 2 mechanic called Yokai Shift, letting you take the form of another being for a brief window. Not only does this transformation have it’s own health bar, but also has its own attacks that often inflict elemental ailments and are capable of dishing out big damage in fights.
All of these things plug directly into Black Myth: Wukong’s progression system. Levelling up nets you skill points which can be invested into many different trees that provide static and active upgrades to the Destined One. There is so much to choose from here, allowing you to experiment with builds that focus on different stances and build goals even if you’re always doing the same dance in combat. It helps that you can respec these points at any time to trying something new, affording a level of flexibility in how you approach combat that isn’t often seen in these kinds of games.
Another creative stroke that plays into builds is how Black Myth: Wukong handles its healing. Not unlike Souls, the Destined One has a gourd with a set amount of drinks per rest. It can of course be upgraded to increase its capacity, but it can also be customised to change its effect. You can choose what kind of Drink to fill the gourd with, fundamentally altering how each sip heals you. You can go for a Drink with a front-loaded healing burst, or one that offers less on initial consumption, but ultimately heals for more over time. You can also add Soaks into these drinks to improve your stats or resistances upon using a drink, further deepening the customisation.
Because there isn’t much going on beyond weapon combos and dodging in the moment-to-moment combat, there’s a lot riding on enemy variety and encounter design. Black Myth: Wukong is a bit of a mixed bag in this regard. There are a load of unique enemies to contend with here, steadily rolled out across the different chapters. The main issue is that they aren’t really placed with much rhyme or reason. The exploration of areas between bosses often feel phoned in and arbitrary in that regard, leaving much of the focus on those tentpole encounters.
Bosses overall fair much better. They’re incredibly cinematic, awe-inspiring in scale, and some offer some genuine challenge that I got a thrill out of overcoming. There’s also a ludicrous amount of them for a game of this type, even more shocking is just how high quality some of them are given the sheer number of them. Not all are made equal, though. A few have attacks or mechanics that can feel unfair, there’s myriad hitbox issues, and the camera doesn’t like to cooperate at the best of times. It means that chapters constantly bounce between some very high highs, and some frustrating lows.
It’s difficulty is also wildly inconsistent. The first chapter has a pretty steady curve that the game fails to maintain in its subsequent levels, often throwing easy boss after easy boss at you until the challenge suddenly spikes, roadblocking you for the near future. I’m all for a challenge in these kinds of games, but it often feels like Black Myth: Wukong is scared to commit to going full Souls-like. What’s more mind-boggling is that there’s no way to change the difficulty, so those who are less accustomed to Souls-like tendencies are in for a rude awakening if they’re expecting an experience more akin to God of War.
If there’s one Souls-like element that Black Myth: Wukong absolutely nails, it’s exploration and secrets. There are plenty of opportunities to venture off the beaten path, especially in later chapters. These detours are almost always rewarded with boss fights, side quests, gear, upgrade materials, and more. It’s always worthwhile to poke your head around the corner to see what might be hiding in the corners of Black Myth: Wukong’s world. Few games manage to evoke the sense of discovery and elation when you solve the game’s many mysteries.
The only real issue with this stuff, is that the game often struggles to define where level boundaries start and end. Each area looks and feels organic, which is a real treat to look at, but often means you’re met with invisible walls or unclimbable surfaces despite other similar geometry being traversable. Coupled with the lack of a map of any kind, and Black Myth: Wukong can often feel labyrinthian and restrictive in how you explore its environments. The final chapter in particular really suffers due to this, as it adopts a much more non-linear design with nothing to guide you in the right direction.
Being the next big technical showcase for Unreal Engine 5, there’s been a lot of anticipation for Black Myth: Wukong’s production values. I’m happy to report that this game far exceeds many of the expectations set by prior trailers and demos, making incredible use of Unreal Engine 5’s strengths in tandem with an art style that’s all too fitting for this kind of game.
It is consistently packed with detail, from the individual detail of each hair strand on the Destined One to the wildly imaginative design of the creatures you’ll encounter on your journey. Each area brings its own environment, colour palette, enemy designs, and overall visual aesthetic, delivering a swathe of diverse and detailed areas. It feels truly otherworldly in a way that few games do. While I can’t speak to the performance on PlayStation 5, the PC version held a steady framerate, even on my mid-range rig, which is very impressive given the sheer level of visual fidelity on display here.
Black Myth: Wukong might not be the definitive game of the year candidate most were hoping for, but it’s undoubtedly another feather in the cap of triple A games coming out of the East. If this is just the first step for Game Science in a franchise or other games like this, it’s a very solid foundation, and I’d be very excited to see what else they can do if the studio took another crack at this sort of experience.
