Black Myth: Wukong Review

Journey to the West is perhaps one of the most legendary Chinese novels, often described as one of East Asia’s most popular literary pieces. Originally published in 1592, it tells the incredible pilgrimage of the Tang dynasty Buddhist monk, Xuanzang, who traveled to the western regions of Central Asia and India to obtain the Buddhist sutras.

Throughout his travels, he’s accompanied by many colorful characters as he encounters demons and all manner of mythical creatures, including the Monkey King, Sun Wukong. As you may expect with such a legendary novel, it’s been adapted many times over the years, from dramas to video games, making any kind of inspiration or adaption a daunting task.

So for Game Science, for their first title as a studio, to take inspiration from this is a bold move and requires a delicate touch. Fortunately, Black Myth: Wukong doesn’t stumble and the love and care shine through almost every facet of this wonderful game.

Sit down, grab a drink, and let me take you on a most wonderful journey.

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Black Myth: Wukong looks stunning at max settings.

A Cinematic Adventure

Announced back in 2020, Black Myth: Wukong has been on its own journey, constantly wowing us with every new trailer. As The Destined One, you travel throughout Ancient China on a journey to acquire power and learn about the world around you. Those familiar with Journey to the West will notice that the locales are based on the ones found in the novel, and you’ll traverse these while battling the Yaoguai (mythical beings) that stand in your way.

It may sound like a rather simple setup, but Black Myth: Wukong has a cinematic story that it tells with many cutscenes; think more Sekiro than Elden Ring. As someone who only loosely knows Journey to the West (I know, I know), I was gripped from beginning to end and looked forward to any new cutscene that triggered. This is helped by the gorgeous visuals that Unreal Engine 5 brings to the table.

At its heart, Black Myth: Wukong is an Action RPG similar in nature to From Software’s offerings. You have both a Stamina and Mana gauge that are used in combat, enemies will respawn when resting at a Shrine, and you’ll fight many difficult bosses. Where it differs, however, is in the number of tools you have available to you in combat.

By nature, The Destined One only has his trusty Staff for melee combat. You can perform a combo of light attacks followed by a heavy attack, which uses a Focus point. These are gained by landing hits on the enemy, or by charging them with the heavy attack button (that will drain your Stamina in kind). To aid you in this, you’ll eventually have access to three stances that change how your heavy attack works. Your default stance will allow you to perform a heavy Staff smash, while the Thrust stance will, as it says, allow you to step back and thrust toward your enemy. It sounds basic, but there are abilities you can purchase that alter these.

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(1 of 2) There are many optional bosses to fight

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There are many optional bosses to fight (left), visit the Shrines to recover your health, reset enemies, and upgrade your gear. (right)

I was somewhat disappointed with the melee combat - I find myself longing for more complex combos. However, there are a whole host of other abilities and spells that make Black Myth: Wukong stand out. When all is said and done, you will have access to Spells (of which there are different schools), Transformations, Spirits (which themselves are like an instant use transformation), Relics, and Vessels (these last two serve a narrative purpose that we don’t want to spoil for you).

Spells, Spirits, and Transformations

In most Action RPGs, I tend to focus more on the melee combat, but the spells here in Black Myth: Wukong are great fun to play with, and powerful on top of that. The earliest spell you’ll unlock is Immobilization: this will freeze the enemy for a short time allowing you to get a breather or wail on them with attacks. Invest points into it though, and you can add effects such as increasing the damage you deal to immobilized targets, restoring mana, and so much more.

Another spell, A Pluck of Many, will allow The Destined One to pluck a strand of hair and summon a group of clones; these will attack your target and help take the heat off you. While initially these clones won’t survive for very long, invest points and you can increase their health and the damage they do, beyond other features. Like with nearly everything in Black Myth: Wukong, there’s a skill tree for everything you unlock.

Transformations are less plentiful, but they make a huge difference to your combat prowess. You’ll acquire them in different ways, be it from a specific boss or perhaps for finishing a side quest. Although on a long cooldown, they’ll change you into a different being altogether with a different skill set. Your Transformations also have their own health gauge, so you can use it as a survival tool too - perhaps a boss is nearly defeated but you’re low on health? Use a Transformation to whittle the health down some more and go for the kill.

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(1 of 2) Some bosses will unlock their Transformation

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Some bosses will unlock their Transformation (left), while spells such as Immobilization is potent even against bosses. (right)

Spirits are where you’ll find the most choice, however. Black Myth: Wukong has a huge, diverse range of enemies that you’ll encounter in each Chapter and many of these will have Spirits you can capture (indicated by a blue glow once you unlock the system). Using your Qi (that builds up from landing regular attacks), you’ll be able to unleash a Spirit that will perform one of the signature attacks of that enemy. This can be anything from a head smash to a valuable ranged attack that poisons your foe. There’s a huge catalog of Spirits to find and use and they’ll also have the added bonus of increasing your stats in some way when equipped.

The Destined One’s main method of damage negation is through his nimble dodge; there is no block to use here (although you can unlock a Parry spell) so being aggressive is always the better play. Time your dodge just right, and you’ll perform a Perfect Dodge, leaving behind a silhouette in your place. As you spend points upgrading your dodge, you can increase the range, how much stamina you use, and more, so it’s an area you should focus on for sure.

Black Myth: Wukong has some great quality of life that I wish was more prevalent in other Action RPGs of its nature. You earn EXP when defeating enemies and when the gauge is filled, you’ll gain a Skill Point (known as Sparks). Should you be defeated in battle or use an item that whisks you back to your last Shrine, you’ll retain everything. What’s more, as you earn your Sparks, you can simply open the menu and spend it right away; there’s no need to track down a Shrine so this makes gaining a level far more meaningful. There are a lot of abilities to spend your points on, so having the option to freely respec any points at any Shrine is another massive boon that encourages experimentation with all of The Destined One’s tools.

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(1 of 2) Nearly everything has a Skill Tree, you’ll never be lost for where to spend your skill points

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Nearly everything has a Skill Tree, you’ll never be lost for where to spend your skill points (left), You can craft weapons and armor with the various materials you find. (right)

Exploring Ancient China

The locales that you visit in Black Myth: Wukong are truly breathtaking and take inspiration from all manner of Chinese mythology. From lush forests to dank caves, shifting sands and the tundra, it’s all here and looks stunning, especially if you can run the game at its highest settings. A large talking point for many players was the structure and exploration of the adventure, and it’s a valid one given not much was revealed ahead of launch.

I admit to being a bit worried in the first Chapter: there wasn’t much in the way of exploration aside from the odd path here and there that you could venture off to find some materials or perhaps an optional boss. Fortunately, once you reach the second Chapter, the areas open up a lot more and there are many ways you can explore, optional encounters to undertake, and people to help out. Indeed, I spent a long time in Chapter 2 doing everything there was to see, and in each Chapter, there is an optional secret area with a secret boss to track down, rewarding the avid explorer even more.

Still, there are some slight gripes I have about the exploration, chief among them being the existence of invisible walls. While this is not unheard of, they’re usually hidden better whereas in Black Myth: Wukong, it’s not always clear what is or isn’t an invisible wall. You’ll see a piece of land you think you can jump up to but instead, there will be just an invisible wall in place. This becomes especially more prevalent in the more open areas such as those found in Chapter 2. Still, there are plenty of items to find, materials to gather, and optional quests to undertake.

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There is plenty to be found by exploring the beautiful environments.

There is plenty of combat to be had here, and whether that’s a plus or a con depends on how well you gel with the various combat systems. It’s easy to confuse the game as being just a boss gauntlet as it does feel like you’re fighting bosses, be it mandatory or optional, very often. It is important to note, however, that not all of these are massively difficult, many are what I would consider as “Elite” regular enemies from other Soulslikes, just with a boss gauge added to them. Many of the bosses, however, are a real spectacle and offer a balanced degree of difficulty; as an avid fan of Soulslike games, there aren’t too many bosses that held me back, aside from the odd one here and there.

The music is a joy to listen to, be it from the sweeping epic boss themes or the banjo of the Headless Monk, it all helps to add to the atmosphere, and I never once found it impacted the enjoyment of my playthrough. I went with English voice acting and was pleased with both the delivery and performance of all involved, save for one character I thought could have had a better-fitting voice.

With a GTX 4090, I was able to play Black Myth: Wukong with all of the bells and whistles at 4K, at which point I never noticed any significant frame drops to my surprise. I did encounter a graphical glitch here and there, such as the odd texture not loading properly, but Game Science has told us that options such as Full Ray Tracing are still being optimized and may be updated by the game’s launch, so fingers crossed that fixes any of those minor issues I had. Likewise, there were some localization bugs here and there, but this is another area that we’ve been told will be updated by the game’s launch.

I never once felt like the time dragged with my playthrough of Black Myth: Wukong; this is a lengthy game for those who wish to seek out all of the optional quests and bosses, and I was engrossed from start to finish. A few niggles aside, what Game Science has achieved here with its first title is nothing short of extraordinary, delivering a game that looks stunning and is engaging to play. It is a worthy new series in the ARPG genre and certainly stands up well against the more popular series.