In hindsight, it’s inevitable Black Myth: Wukong would be lumped in amongst the numerous Soulslikes that’ve been becoming more prevalent in recent years. Footage shows an abundance of swift, surgical combat, deep exploration, dense lore, mysterious NPCs, and phantasmagorical boss battles. However, if we haven’t figured it out by now the testimony from the plethora of demo players at this year’s Summer Games Fest confirms: Black Myth: Wukong only partially borrows FromSoftware’s playbook. For a while, Chinese developer Game Science have resisted likening their fable – loosely based on Chinese literary classic Journey to the West – to Dark Souls, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Bloodborne, et cetera, instead opting to call it an action RPG, plain and simple.
So, whilst there are indeed elements in Black Myth: Wukong’s combat and exploration that evoke the best of FromSoft, there are equal parts Metal Gear Rising Revengeance, and Monster Hunter amongst others at play here too. Indeed, in a recent Chinese interview with Game Science co-creator Feng Ji the dev explained that the team behind Black Myth: Wukong aren’t trying to replicate any particular game or style. They’re very much focused on creating something new; Black Myth-like, or something akin to that, might be their ambition. See, according to Feng Ji replicating a specific style “corresponds to different focus and handling of details.” They go on to say that an action type game “should focus on performance and execution,” whilst learning from Monster Hunter means prioritising “animation of massive enemies.” Troublingly for the likes of other Soulslikes already out there such as Lies of P or Stellar Blade, Feng Ji reckons matching against a specific product means naturally making a B game, or in other words, something inferior and – damningly – unoriginal.
Now, Lies of P and Stellar Blade are inarguably great games with breadths of originality, so this final quote might be a little too sensationalist, but Feng Ji is at least making a serious point about their own game. Black Myth: Wukong needs to be its own thing. The overall experience, they want, is for players not to go in with an established game design in mind. To enjoy something they’ll perceive as fresh, maybe genre expanding, and certainly original. So, the next question really is: from the wealth of footage we’ve seen so far are they succeeding in this goal?
Well, a bit of a cop out answer coming here, but until we get our hands on the finished game a 2-hour demo isn’t going to conclusively illustrate the breadth of originality Black Myth: Wukong has up its sleeve. What we can say, and what most of you are probably thinking, is Black Myth: Wukong looks fantastic. Thus, a follow-up question could be: are Game Science maximising the potential presented in their source material? Another could be: have they created something distinct enough to stand out from the crowd? And, yeah, you know what to answer both follow-up questions it looks like they are.
Black Myth: Wukong is evocative in ways many other games could only dream. Taking command of the monkey hero known as the Destined One, a character loosely based on Sun Wukong from Journey to the West, the most immediately striking thing is the game’s visuals. Crafted in Unreal Engine 5, the mythical environs are so impressively detailed. It wasn’t long ago we were all wondering if Black Myth: Wukong would be another one of those East Asian tech demos that look incredible but will never see the light of day. Well, this one’s legit. Demo players in Los Angeles were given access to the PC version for their run through the 2-hour demo and whilst the hardware spec wasn’t disclosed (presumably you’ll need something immensely powerful to run Black Myth: Wukong with all its graphical bells and whistles) not one demo player reported frame rate drops, texture pop-in, or any other graphics-related anomaly.
Action is reported as buttery smooth too which is a must given this game’s combat focus. The Destined One moves with speed and ferocity; for this reason, frame rate drops during bouts would be a disaster. There’s plenty of info out there regarding the depth of Black Myth: Wukong’s combat, so this feature will just outline the highlights.
Combat is an outwardly humble affair, our Wukong warrior wielding a staff throughout. Light and heavy attacks comprise the bread of butter of fighting. Based on game footage swift light attacks, with the chance to build combos, appear the principal means to overcome enemies, and there’s an extremely enticing flow to utilising light attacks. Heavy attacks come with a warmup animation – a potential risk versus reward – but the damage dealt to enemies following heavy attacks, at least on the footage seen, doesn’t appear too great. Perhaps the game’s deep, complex combat-centric skill tree unlocks more powerful, and more useful attacks for your staff arsenal.
We also know that, at least initially, parrying isn’t available, except when spinning the staff to deflect long-range missiles. Instead, dodging has been preferred by Game Science, yet not unlike Sekiro’s demanding perfect parry or Stellar Blade’s dodge mechanics Black Myth: Wukong harbours a perfect dodge itself. However, there is more risk versus reward here as over-utilising dodge maximises its cooldown meter rendering the manoeuvre momentarily unavailable. Execute a perfect dodge however and you’re acquire focus points which can be used to unleash powerful special moves.
Stamina is another system which governs attacks and dodges, so whilst the combat on display here isn’t as methodical as FromSoft’s style there is a modicum of thought process demanded of the player; button bashing certainly won’t win battles.
Elsewhere there’s magic – because this being Chinese mythology – of course there is magic, with spells operating on a cooldown meter too. And again, this being Chinese mythology there is shapeshifting. There are alternative fighting stances for the staff unlockable through progression too, with the most notable being the pillar stance whereby Wukong mounts the staff akin to a giant pogo stick, simultaneously avoiding damage from ground attacks (at the cost of stamina) whilst charging a devastating ground slam.
Everything governed in the combat will be tweakable via the skill tree too, so there’ll be numerous builds to compliment your playstyle, which is no mean feat from the developers given a single weapon is used throughout the game’s reported 30–40-hour runtime.
So yes, again, Black Myth: Wukong is more than a Soulslike. It’s a composite of subgenres whipped into something fresh thanks to its tantalising mythological setting. Worth pointing out is its environs are said to be linear – at least the demo was – with explorable areas and secrets to discover sure, but a much more curated experience than something open world. This has raised concerns that Black Myth: Wukong will play more as a boss rush type game, but we don’t know that for sure yet. If anything, a curated, linear affair will give Game Science a more suitable platform to tell Wukong’s story.
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