Black Myth: Wukong review: a fierce beast of its own

Black Myth: Wukong

MSRP $59.99

“Black Myth: Wukong delivers a fast and fierce Soulslike that stands out from its peers.”

Pros

• Great combat mechanics
• Fantastic progression
• Inventive bosses
• Gorgeous visuals

Cons

• Performance issues
• Frustrating difficulty spikes

When I took down a giant flying blue dragon on my very first try, a feat accomplished even after I entered the fight with half of my allotted healing potions available, I never felt so accomplished.

Black Myth: Wukong, a new action-RPG from Game Science, is one of the few “Soulslike” games where I was able to overcome so many bosses in my first encounter with them. I won’t say whether that means it’s easier than your average genre game or if I’m really that good at it. In either case, it scratched an itch in my fur that similar games don’t always quite reach. The satisfaction of a hard-fought victory is always within my reach.

Black Myth: Wukong is only a Soulslike in the way Stellar Blade is, and that’s to its credit. It lightly borrows elements from the subgenre but carves out a niche for itself by focusing on its key differences. Despite some performance issues and frustrating difficulty spikes, Black Myth: Wukong’s frenetic combat and emphasis on fluid movement make it feel unlike any of its other contemporaries.

Journey to the west

The combat feels much more like Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice than any other FromSoftware game. In Dark Souls, players can experiment with different weapons, whereas Sekiro has players mastering a specific set of gameplay mechanics. Instead of parrying, Wukong focuses on dodging. This immediately makes it a much more offense-oriented game than its contemporaries. That lends to its feeling of empowerment throughout its many boss battles. Oftentimes I was setting the pace rather than following their lead.

What makes Wukong feel different from its peers is that dodges are much more acrobatic and cover more ground. The timing window for perfect dodges feels forgiving. I was impressed at how fluid it was considering that it was my only defensive measure. Players can also learn skills to augment their perfect dodges, such as leaving an afterimage that explodes and deals additional damage. This helps incentivize players into perfecting their evasion skills.

With a game so heavily reliant on dodging, sometimes the camera can be frustrating to deal with. This is especially true during boss battles where I have to dodge multiple consecutive attacks, only to get hit because the camera freaks out and I can’t see where I’m going.

Aside from that quirk, Black Myth‘s combat delivers where it counts. There are standard light and heavy attacks, but the twist comes in the form of the Focus Gauge and Varied combos. The Focus Gauge is built up by landing light attacks, and under normal circumstances, heavy attacks require charge time. However, by executing Varied combos in the middle of dealing light attacks, players can pull out a heavy attack immediately by spending their focus gauge. Like the name implies, Varied combos are a seamless way to switch up the gameplay so players aren’t always stuck spamming the same two attacks.

Monkey see, monkey do

While the staff is the only available weapon, there’s still a huge variety in skills, spells, and tools at players’ disposal. My personal favorite spell is one of the first ones I obtained: Immobilization, which freezes enemies in place for a set time so I can wail on them. By investing my skill points, called Sparks, I was able to make the spell stronger such as increasing its duration and even recovering mana when it ended.

The skill point system is incredibly flexible and tailors combat to each player’s own style. Skills make it possible to deflect projectiles by spinning the staff, but I found that mechanic too situational. I simply chose to just not invest in it further, giving me a choice of how I shape my tool kit.

Unlike traditional Soulslike games, players don’t lose experience or currency upon death. Additionally, it costs nothing to experiment with different skill setups. In games like Elden Ring, that can be a stressor — the only way to respec stats is through using a precious consumable. Wukong lets me do so for free at any shrine. Anytime I was struggling against a certain boss, I could adjust my strategy and try something different without consequence. Touches like that make for a more freeing action-RPG that encourages experimentation rather than punishes it.

Speaking of bosses, they’re just as imaginative as you’d expect from a genre with a high bar. The game’s Chinese mythology really shines through in boss designs, from a monk with a giant head to a giant bipedal rodent with a spear. Those are enhanced by impressive visuals, showing the fine details within their robes and traditional Chinese garments, alongside scenic environments such as forests, deserts, and snow-capped mountains.

Each area focuses on one particular environment, and while I can certainly sit back and marvel at the view, sometimes the different sections can look interchangeable. Sometimes the hardest challenge isn’t in towering bosses, but getting to them. In the third area, I was supposed to make my way to the top of the summit, but the blinding white snow extended for what seemed like miles. I could have used a map!

Monkeying around

While the core gameplay is strong, the experience is sometimes hampered by technical performance. Playing on both my PC and Steam Deck, texture pop-ins and frame rate drops occur more often than I’d like. This is especially troublesome during boss battles where every moment can mean the difference between life and death. (PlayStation 5 codes were not made available before review embargo, raising questions about how it performs on console.)

Some bosses have command grabs, meaning that if they manage to snag me, I’m put through an extended cutscene attack and suffer massive damage. That compounding of technical issues leads to some fights that feel unfair and annoying difficulty spikes that hurt the overall pace.

Other times, Wukong can feel a bit easy (despite a few bosses kicking my butt for hours). Even so, I can’t remember the last Soulslike game where I stumbled across a boss or mini-boss this many times that only took me a handful of attempts, or even just one, to defeat. Is it possible I’m just that good? I’d love to think so, but it’s more likely a testament to how well Wukong’s combat mechanics come together.

There’s such a wealth of different spells and options to explore, such as Transformations, which turn my monkey hero into a beast and basically give him a second life bar in a pinch. No time for dodging? There’s even a spell that lets me turn into a rock and deflect most attacks with proper timing. I’m not complaining; I’d rather have these tools than not.

The Journey to the West legend is such a popular one over in the East, but it’s rare to see an interpretation penetrate international audiences with such fervor since Dragon Ball. Black Myth: Wukong certainly lives up to the hype. It separates itself in a crowded Soulslike genre based on mythology and setting alone. After fully experiencing its furious combat and fun progression systems, the adventure proves to be a beast of its own.

Black Myth: Wukong was reviewed on PC and tested on Steam Deck.