Black: Myth: Wukong is a game that’s been in the minds of many since its announcement. From its staggeringly beautiful first reveal to the swirl of controversy and controversy-driven popularity surrounding its development, the latest adaptation of Journey to the West can’t stay out of the limelight.
As a huge fan of the Monkey King and a lot of the ways his story has been told in media, from Dragon Ball, Tower of God, and Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, I’ve been looking forward to Black Myth: Wukong since I first saw it. That anticipation for this game was dampened significantly by the reports on deeply seated sexist attitude within the studio, but they’re not going to be taken into account for this review. However, they definitely bear mentioning.
Black: Myth Wukong makes a strong, albeit slow, first impression. Scenery flies by as you fly through the sky to get into a fight I’m not allowed to talk about according to the embargo rules and then, you pick up with the actual story, and off you go. You charge through the trees learning more about how to play the game why you take out different monstrous enemies as you go, and quickly come across your first boss to slay. However, things go poorly no matter how well you do, and this is where you meet a dude who has roots growing out of his face, and is your Navi equivalent for the game. He’ll appear and guide you throughout, and help you find your next checkpoint, which are little shrines, along with explaining some mechanics, warning you about bosses, and teaching you the odd trick or two.
Combat is a blend of unleashing physical and magical attacks, with some dodging thrown in for good measure. It’s pretty fluid, and some of the spells are incredibly cool, along with basically all of the animations being like sugar for your eyes. The enemy designs are also exceptional, with fights in just the opening few hours including fox demons, a big old frog, and a werewolf-looking boss that definitely climbed out of Bloodborne.
However, and this is kind of a big deal for me, the action never felt anywhere near as good as it looked. No combination of new abilities, bosses, or anything else, managed to change that through the run of the game. I just don’t think the feel of Black Myth: Wukong is anywhere near the looks of the game, and for me, that’s a big issue. I’d always rather play a game that looked worse than it played, and not the other way around.
I’m also not 100% sure where the Soulslike comparisons came from for this game. I’ve played nearly every Soulslike that’s come out (including a bunch of games that I’d frankly rather never think about again), and while this game does have things like a checkpoint that can respawn enemies, that’s about as far as it goes. This is just an action game where sometimes the bosses are hard.
They certainly get tougher as you go on, but there’s none of the fear that Soulslikes instills, nor is there any pattern recognition that’s really needed to succeed. Your hero dodges very well, which meant that I took down a lot of bosses on my first or second try, with the second try often being because I’d messed about too much in the boss run and used up all of my resources. Again, they all look incredible, but that’s about it.
I found the story enjoyable overall though, which is good news if that’s your main worry. It’s hard not to find a story of magic and monkeys enjoyable though, even if all of the dialogue hams things up. That’s a compliment, just so we’re all clear, but I do also appreciate the it might mean it misses for some people.
