Looking for a comprehensive Black Myth: Wukong Review? We’ve got you covered! Embark on a quest to return the Monkey King, Sun Wukong, by returning 6 artifacts tied to the immortal and waking him from his slumber. Here is our Black Myth: Wukong Review.
Developed and published by Game Science this game has been a long time coming and finally saw release in 2024. Originating on Unreal Engine 4 and later enhanced to Unreal Engine 5 this game has many potential and hidden secrets. From Action Adventure to Souls Like Black Myth Wukong has something for almost all gamers be it the encounters, combat, or visuals, The Monkey King waits.
STORY
While the game begins with you playing as the Monkey King, Sun Wukong in his defiance to the gods you don’t really play the rest of the game as Wukong, this is just how we opt to see it. Where you are playing as an incarnation of him, I would say his Will, the beginning of the tale is so relevant. Showing off the freedom and essence of Wukong openly opposing the gods in defense of “My Mountain” Wukong rides a cloud up to the god and starts a 1-1 battle, all to teach the player the basics of encounters.
Upon completing the battle, players are awarded a trophy for starting the story and taking control of one of the young monkeys, which is hearing Wukong’s story. This sequence carries on what was shown previously by having the monkey transform from fruit into his humanoid form upon tricking a wolf. From here you are set loose on the world with all the glory it has and what is happening throughout the land, and it is really beautiful.
As you progress through the game you see the real soulslike experience that is hidden behind everything. Although this is true it is not a true soulslike game as Nioh or Demon Souls is, this is because whenever you die you do not sacrifice the “Souls” you have collected. In Wukong you keep the “Souls” when you revive and can even use your death to farm out an alright amount from slaying lesser enemies.
Mechanics, Graphics, & Technical things
Mechanically the game is really impressive, combat to soulslike, even to encounters and pickups are all super incredible and everything flows almost fluidly. It’s like breathing, nothing feels out of place and everything happens methodically and logically. Encountering a boss? Most of the time you’re not locked into an area, meaning you have the opportunity to run or new enemies can join the fight, a terrifying thought right?
Graphics are just on another level, it’s easy to just sink into the game and believe in the realism of the world. I have played games that make me feel like they are worlds you could walk into but Black Myth: Wukong is on its own level as the graphics are good but not always like you can enter the world. While there were worlds within the game that I could easily walk into, there were a lot that felt like I couldn’t. As for characters they are incredible and believable to be the residents of the world. It should be noted that a lot of the characters within the game have hair or fur making them complicated not just for animation with the deformation but for rendering with the amount of complicated cards to make up their appearance. It should be noted that Aloy from the Horizon games, developed by Guerrilla Games, has a hair card set up of over 100k Triangles. This, as you might imagine, is pretty complicated, Wukong is just as complicated.
CONCLUSION
Overall the game was first announced in 2020 and now, 4 years later, an astounding game engine and remarkable team made this game well worth the wait. Personally, I would have liked a PS4 version however I doubt that the PS4 would run this game as smoothly as the PS5 does. One of the best parts that I really liked was the shrine. Unlike in Nioh where you pray at the shrine to active or use it, in Wukong you pull out a hair which turns into incense.
While they are a core mechanic they are also an interesting aesthetic having the guide when you get close and serving as where you will respawn when you die. On a separate note, there is the combat, personally, if you have played Nioh this feels like a more friendly version not to mention extremely forgiving. While a souls-like game most, like Dark Souls, are not forgiving, Wukong on the other hand is and in that respect, it is very God Of War.
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