An ambitious action game plagued by technical issues.
Introduction
GameScience’s Black Myth: Wukong is one of the most visually spectacular and ambitious action games released in recent memory. This game, which takes its cues from the renowned Chinese novel Journey to the West, offers a distinctive gaming experience by fusing stunning graphics, fierce fighting, and a richly cultural environment. Though the game does well in many aspects, there are a lot of technical problems that take away from the overall fun.
A Marvellous World Encrusted with Chinese Folklore
Black Myth: Wukong immerses gamers in a Chinese mythology-infused universe. The game centres on The Destined One, an animal akin to a monkey, as he travels for forty hours in search of the six artefacts belonging to the fabled Monkey King, Sun Wukong. The tale of the game is told in a number of independent chapters, each of which concludes with a gorgeously drawn vignette that explores the past of one of the primary adversaries.
These short stories stand out in particular because they feature a variety of artistic mediums, from passages reminiscent of anime to drawings from storybooks. Players are in awe of the artistic direction at these tragic and breathtaking visual storytelling moments. Even though the primary tale is fascinating, it frequently assumes that players have played Journey to the West, which could make some players feel lost if they don’t do more research.
Combat: A Fulfilling Combination of Strategy and Precision
Black Myth: Wukong is essentially an action game that forges its own identity while at first seeming to significantly borrow from the Soulslike genre. The fight is an exciting blend of strategic resource management and quick-paced, twitch-reaction gameplay. The game’s mechanics push players to become experts at timing and accuracy, particularly when handling the Focus Meter, a crucial component that controls your capacity to launch strong assaults.
In addition, a multitude of spells and transformations are available to players, each of which provides special advantages in combat. For example, you can use the Immobilise spell to stun enemies quickly, while the Pluck of Many magic allows you to make clones of yourself to overwhelm them. These skills give the fighting more dimension and make every battle seem new and difficult.
Black Myth: Wukong is essentially an action game that forges its own identity while at first seeming to significantly borrow from the Soulslike genre. The fight is an exciting blend of strategic resource management and quick-paced, twitch-reaction gameplay. The game’s mechanics push players to become experts at timing and accuracy, particularly when handling the Focus Meter, a crucial component that controls your capacity to launch strong assaults.
In addition, a multitude of spells and transformations are available to players, each of which provides special advantages in combat. For example, you can use the Immobilise spell to stun enemies quickly, while the Pluck of Many magic allows you to make clones of yourself to overwhelm them. These skills give the fighting more dimension and make every battle seem new and difficult.
Exploration and Environment Design
Black Myth: Wukong’s universe is both vast and intricate. From the finely crafted forests to the snow-covered landscapes that respond dynamically to your motions, the surroundings are rich in detail. The wide-linear level design of the game promotes exploration, and there are lots of rewards for venturing off the main route.
Rare crafting supplies, brand-new Spirit Skills, and Curio objects that improve your character’s skills are all part of these rewards. But the absence of a map is a serious mistake. A map would have made travel and exploration much easier given the breadth and intricacy of the game’s globe, especially in the more intricate chapters.
Technical Problems: A Big Obstacle
Even if Black Myth: Wukong excels in a lot of areas, the game’s technical problems make the experience less enjoyable. On PC, the game crashed a lot, even with a top configuration that included a GeForce RTX 4090. These breakdowns frequently happened at the worst possible times, including just after taking down a challenging boss, which caused a great deal of frustration.
The game is full with flaws, not only crashes. Some of the bugs include characters changing language in the middle of a conversation or entire audio tracks cutting out during important cutscenes. These problems disrupt the story’s flow and can make it challenging to follow. During a boss encounter, the player character would frequently fall through the ground, seemingly with no way to stop it. This was the worst of these issues.
Even though these issues might be fixed in later releases, they seriously harm the user experience right now. It’s unfortunate because the game has a tonne of potential hidden beneath these technical issues.
Trailer
Verdict
Black Myth: Wukong is a noteworthy accomplishment for GameScience as a debut title. It offers a captivating fighting system, breathtaking graphics, and an intricately developed setting drenched in Chinese mythology. The game’s technological issues, however, cannot be disregarded. The lack of polish, flaws, and frequent crashes keep it from accomplishing what it could otherwise achieve.
Black Myth: Wukong provides a fulfilling and unforgettable experience for those who are prepared to put up with these problems. However, for some, it would be worthwhile to hold off until after launch fixes that should resolve these serious issues.
Score: 7.5/10
FAQs
- What is Black Myth: Wukong about?
- Black Myth: Wukong is an action game inspired by the Chinese novel Journey to the West. Players control The Destined One on a journey to locate the six relics of Sun Wukong.
- Is Black Myth: Wukong a Soulslike game?
- While it shares some elements with the Soulslike genre, such as challenging combat, Black Myth: Wukong is more of a traditional action game with unique mechanics and a focus on fast-paced combat.
- What are the main technical issues in Black Myth: Wukong?
- The game suffers from frequent crashes, audio bugs, language switching issues, and some game-breaking glitches during boss fights.
- How long is Black Myth: Wukong?
- The game offers around 40 hours of gameplay, depending on the player’s exploration and difficulty level.
- Is Black Myth: Wukong worth playing despite the bugs?
- If you can tolerate the technical issues, the game offers a rich and rewarding experience. However, it might be better to wait for patches if you prefer a smoother experience.
- What platforms is Black Myth: Wukong available on?
- As of the review, Black Myth: Wukong is available on PC. Other platforms like PlayStation 5 were not available at the time of review.
