Black Myth: Wukong Review: Is It Worth Playing?
| Pub Date | August 20, 2024 |
| Developer | Game Science |
| Genre | Action RPG |
| Play on | PlayStation, XBox, PC |
| Mode | Single player |
| Size | 130 GB |
| Price | 59,99€ |
| My Rating | 3/5 |
Black Myth Wukong is one of the most anticipated games of the year and it’s finally here. It’s a dark fantasy action RPG with Souls-like elements (read: it’s haaard) and it was developed by Game Science.
So, obviously, I had to try it. I got it on PlayStation to get that big screen experience and see all the beautiful graphics (and my character dying repeatedly) in the best quality. And here’s my review.
Story
Black Myth Wukong begins with a scene where Sun Wukong, the monkey king, faces the celestials in a battle. He wants to stay on the mortal plane and live a simple, happy life with other monkeys. However, the celestials won’t allow that.
That first scene is very impressive, with a huge army and giant divine creatures and gods. You’ll get to fight one of them — Erlang. Now, this part is, at least I assume, to show you all the skills you can get later. Because whether you beat Erlang or not, the scene ends the same. Sun Wukong will fall to the ground and turn to stone, and the mountain will burn.
Now, after that, you are introduced to the community of monkeys where their elder tells you this tale. This is where you learn that Sun Wukong split into 6 relics that a destined one will have to find. These are his great senses and if you collect them all and connect them, he will awaken again.
After this, you start playing as the destined one and your mission is simple — find all the 6 relics. On your journey, you’ll meet many enemies (the yaoguai) as well as friends such as the Keeper of the Black Wind Mountain.
I won’t spoil anything in this review, just prepare yourself for the many (MANY) obstacles. The story is divided in 6 chapters, and you have secrets to uncover and relics to find in each one.
Throughout the game, you’ll meet many Chinese mythology beings and characters. However, if you don’t already know who they are and how they connect to the myth of Sun Wukong, you won’t know who they are. And the game won’t help you learn.
Mostly, it feels like a parade of enemies and friends without much of a story thread to connect them all. This part should have been done better because I feel like there’s so much interesting stuff there to learn and explore.
You also won’t get any companions, at least not early on, which is a shame and makes Black Myth: Wukong feel like a pretty lonely, solitary experience.
Chapter endings are beautiful though — each one is done in a different art style and tells you the story of the main villain. But the game itself doesn’t tell you what to do or where to go or even why you’re doing any of this in the first place.
As you progress, there are more things to do between boss fights but it takes you a while to get there. And by that point, the boss fights get boring.
Gameplay
We all knew what Black Myth: Wukong was all about since it was first announced — making your life difficult.
But jokes aside, it does feel like it wasn’t built for exploration and enjoyment of much else other than the numerous boss battles. And if you like those, no matter how hard they are, you’ll really love Black Myth Wukong. For me, however, it was a bit much.
It’s not just that the boss battles were numerous, it’s also that there wasn’t anything memorable about them. The mechanics and patterns were interesting, sure, but there was rarely much of a story behind them (and sometimes even less logic).
And unless you get lost, you won’t get to explore or do much of anything other than fight. There are numerous mobs everywhere you look, and then usually many optional (but not really) mini bosses, culminating with the extremely difficult main boss or two at the end of each chapter.
Which, again, is perfectly fine, it’s just that I expected something more along the lines of Ghost of Tsushima — with the increased difficulty, of course.
While we’re at it, there are no difficulty settings for Black Myth Wukong. So the gameplay isn’t really customizable for different types of players.
Combat
As mentioned, there’s tons of combat in this game. And you have plenty of skills (see below) to carry it out with. Aside from that, you have the standard heavy and light attack, as well as dodge and jump.
I found it pretty easy to grasp overall — not much is different from any other game, after all. However, there were times where my dodge didn’t land properly and I’m not sure if this is just me or if it’s the game.
Either way, you have a range of people to fight. The mob waves will consist of simple yaoguai — which come in shapes of wolf or fox-like creatures, as well as some skeleton-like or snake-like creatures that are poisonous, and more as you progress. These are easy to kill, as expected.
There are many mini bosses around. Some of them are optional, while some are not. I advise that you fight even the optional ones because the rewards and upgrades you get from them will save your ass more often than not when fighting main bosses.
Other than that, the combat in Black Myth Wukong is a combination of dodge, attack and spells which doesn’t allow for much room for creativity. It’s difficult, yes, but you’ll get a hang of the patterns for each boss and eventually win.
Keep in mind that your spells depend on mana, so you can’t cast them if you have none. They also have a very long cooldown (at least in my opinion) so plan accordingly. For attacks (any type), you’ll need stamina and if you spend it, you won’t be able to attack.
Skills
Once you gather Sparks (skill points), you can use them to upgrade your abilities. You have the option to improve either your Spells or your Abilities.
Within Abilities, you can improve:
- Foundation: Stamina, Survival, Martial Arts
- Staff Stances: Smash, Pillar, Thrust
Within Spells, you can improve:
- Mysticism: Spells like Immobilize, Ring of Fire
- Transformation: Allows you to transform into old enemies or animals
- Alteration: Rock Solid Spell
- Strand: A Pluck of Many Spell
You can improve and boost any of these with your skill points, and you won’t get locked out of any of them. You can also recall your Sparks if you use them and then die, which will allow you to allocate them again, however you want.
Healing
If you end up dying and getting hit as much as I did, it’s good to know that there are healing options. For one, you can use the healing gourds (which get better as you play) for instant healing during battle.
If you’re outside of battle, then you can use the Keepers Shrine to Rest, which heals all of your stats, or Meditate which does the same, but not fully.
Crafting
It’s no surprise that you can craft equipment and necessary items.
While exploring, you’ll be able to collect various materials. Plants are everywhere and pretty easy to find (depending on what you need), while you can get yarn and gold usually when you kill enemies, and especially bosses. You can also find some materials if you break the baskets and vases.
Some items can also be found in the chests, usually protected by enemies.
To combine them and create something useful, you’ll usually need to find the Keepers Shrine. With Yarn and will, you can create new armor and equipment, and use plants to create various healing or protection potions.
Map & Travel
The map in Black Myth Wukong is simple — because there is no map. It’s usually present in RPGs, but not in this one and it just makes the game more difficult. You can get lost easily — for example, it took me a while to figure out that there’s a tunnel behind the Wandering Wight.
The only way to really know you’re on the right path is if you find a boss — and then you’re in a whole world of trouble if that boss is stronger than you.
There is a travel option, however. You can use the Keepers Shrine to choose a location to travel to. Of course, this also means that you first have to find the shrines before you can travel between them.
Sometimes, you’ll also notice sparks leading you somewhere — follow them, this is a good guide and a sign you have somewhere to be — but it’s not always present.
The early levels don’t allow you to do much. There seem to be invisible walls around the areas, so you can’t jump onto things or reach things that you should be able to reach — you know, being a monkey and all. You can’t even climb a tree, which is truly disappointing, especially since you can’t even jump over some higher rocks.
This sort of gets better later on, but by that point, you sort of give up trying.
Graphics & Audio
Black Myth Wukong is, as expected, beautiful. The level of detail on all the costumes and weapons is truly mesmerizing. Though I have to say that the faces (especially human faces) are very much uncanny valley.
However, no game has been able to quite get rid of that effect (at least no game that went for very realistic graphics). The hair on beasts and humans is also a bit… strange. It floats around weirdly, but it’s not that much of an issue.
The nature is also very beautifully done, and all of the animations and visual effects might as well be a blockbuster movie — that’s how good it looks.
As for the audio — well, the music and sound effects are amazing. The voice acting is good as well, but I would say that the dub kind of ruins the effect. The characters open their mouths one way, but the sound comes out as if delayed. But that’s not a huge problem once you get used to it.
I also have to admit that the monkey’s voice in the intro was kind of jarringly evil. I don’t know how else to explain it.
Final Thoughts
While this is a great game overall — that is undeniable — it also often feels unbalanced. The fights are there and sometimes exciting with beautiful scenery and all that jazz, but without something to love. There are no companions or side characters, no emotional aspect that will keep it living in your head rent-free.
I enjoyed it when I wasn’t frustrated with it, but hey — isn’t that the case most of the time. Would I recommend it? Probably. Especially if you love fighting difficult bosses, but need a break from the Elden Ring.
FAQs
How long does it take to finish Black Myth Wukong?
The full length of this game is between 20 and 50 hours, depending on how much you choose to explore and do outside of the main mission.
However, keep in mind that Black Myth Wukong is very difficult and so you’ll probably spend more time on it than anticipated. But if you beat all bosses and minibosses on the first go and don’t dawdle a lot, you’ll finish it in about 20 hours or so.
Does Black Myth Wukong have multiple endings?
Yes, Black Myth Wukong has multiple endings depending on your decisions throughout the game.
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