Black Myth Wukong is a Chinese developed, Action role-playing game (RPG) from the studio Game Science. The game plays more like Devil May Cry than a souls-like game like Elden Ring. The game tells a story similar to the novel Journey to the West, Son Wukong’s tale of gaining enlightenment and immortality. Son Wukong has inspired many characters like Goku from Dragon Ball.
Hardware-wise there were some issues with the Steam Deck but playing it on PS5 should have no issues. PC and Steam Deck have a compatibility selection that is needed for the best experience possible. It rebooted my Steam Deck trying to set the game up. Graphically, it plays well and it is a very well-run game.
It is one of the best games I have seen this year. It is up there with Dragons Dogma 2 but has a better performance than Dragons Dogma. You can interact with a lot of different pieces of the environment and the framerates barely change. The environments are based on lore from the novel based on the chapter that the play is and it can be seen how detailed the game is.
The game is a retelling but not of Journey to the West. For those who know the story that influenced Dragon Ball, each chapter is based on a different part of the novel. The story is not an exact retelling because the player does not play as Wukong himself after the intro. The player walks the role of a descendant of Wukong.
Each chapter ends with a music video of the next chapter and is a delight to watch.
There is one for every chapter but the first chapter. The art styles change about as fast as the environments themselves, which leads to a cool bit of lore to the game. One music video, for example, is based on the claymation art style while another looks like something akin to a Nickelodeon television short. Once unlocked, they can be viewed from the start-up screen.
Black Myth Wukong has action combat like Devil May Cry or Neir Automata. The play levels up and gains sparks of intelligence that can be used at the skill trees throughout the game in the upgrade menus. The main currency Will is used for everything from leveling up Spirits to gaining levels yourself all the way to buying from the store and crafting weapons and armor. Will can be grinded like a Dark Souls-like game but unlike a Souls game the player does not lose any after death.
Combos can be dealt with the X or Y buttons to allow inputs and the stance of the bow changes how attacks for heavy attacks work. Basic attacks function in a light attack with X and lead up to heavy attacks with Y. Heavy attacks can be charged up, though. There are skills to deflect weapons and other things from the enemies. The player has a mana bar, a health bar and a stamina bar to which a gourd is used as well as medicine to help recover.
The skill tree requires Sparks gained by level-ups and Meditation to allocate toward building the base character. Stances affect the pole moves that can be learned and how the heavy attacks function and have their own skill trees. At a shrine, this can be adjusted to change different builds as the player sees fit. Mana and health can be increased through skill trees and medicine.
Spells can be learned throughout the game. The first spell the player learns is Immobilize, which freezes time. The player can air walk and turn into different forms as well as make shadow clones throughout the game as well. Spells take mana to use, though. Spells have their own skill trees to change the effects of the spell when being used.
At a point in the game the gourd is allowed to collect Spirts of dead enemies. Those can be used as one-time skills and can be level up with Will and crafting parts.
Weapon and Armor crafting is key to Black Myth Wukong. Enemies drop crafting materials and through the shrine the player can make new armor as well as weapons to make the fights easier. Crafting can be used for leveling up Spirits.
Grade: A-
