Black Myth: Wukong Review – Martial Arts at its Finest

First showcased back in 2020, Black Myth: Wukong took the games industry by storm thanks to its over the top action set pieces and gorgeous vistas, two of the biggest factors that have defined action games over the years. With each subsequent showing, the game garnered more hype, but as experience has taught me, it’s always better to keep expectations in check. Despite the consistent stream of promising gameplay footage and trailers showcasing the slick action and the beautifully rendered environments, I only ever remained cautiously optimistic.

After all, there have been dozens of Soulslikes and action RPGs releasing every year, and Black Myth: Wukong seemed, on paper, like another product that is trying to capitalize on the genre’s popularity. Also, the fact that this was coming from a new studio made me skeptical whether the final product will truly deliver on its promise. But after spending hours with the game, Black Myth: Wukong made me realized that it not only delivers on its initial commitment, but exceeds it by quite some margin.

For those who are unaware about the game’s setting, Black Myth: Wukong is based on the novel Journey to the West. I found the story in Black Myth: Wukong to be uncomplicated and will likely be plain sailing for most players out there. Complex storytelling through environments, item descriptions, and NPC behaviors have been hallmarks of Soulslikes, but Black Myth: Wukong foregoes all of that and instead relies on telling its story in a more conventionally structured fashion. This isn’t Elden Ring, where you have to piece together individual threads of lore across the world, but more akin to the storytelling methodologies from the classic action games.

"Black Myth: Wukong’s martial arts-based combat takes inspiration from a number of contemporaries but more noticeably from Bloodborne by putting its emphasis on quick dodges and swift attacks."

This isn’t a shot against Elden Ring, but I very much prefer my games to be straightforward in terms of storytelling, and Black Myth: Wukong delivers on that front. I am not at liberty to talk about the finer points about the lore here, but what I can say is that the protagonist’s journey is appropriately adrenaline-fueled and bombastic. Intricately crafted cutscenes, a surprisingly excellent localization, and some serious dialogue delivery, garnished with some comedy here and there, made it easy for me to get invested in the story.

Black Myth: Wukong’s martial arts-based combat takes inspiration from a number of contemporaries but more noticeably from Bloodborne by putting its emphasis on quick dodges and swift attacks. FromSoftware’s 2015 great focused on player reaction times heavily, and a lot of that can be seen in Black Myth: Wukong. The difficulty will rise as you progress further into the story, with each enemy type requiring different tactics to defeat then.

The core pattern remains the same; attack, dodge, manage stamina, and then attack. Just like Sekiro, which has only one major weapon, Black Myth: Wukong players will also only have access to their trusted staff, which can be upgraded as they progress through the game. All of this may feel ordinary, but the game manages to make combat more intriguing thanks to its vast set of skills, transformations, and spells.

As you defeat more enemies, the protagonist will earn experience which will in turn unlock skill points. These points can be used to unlock new staff stances, namely Smash, Pillar, and Thrust. As the name implies, the Smash stance abilities are more focused on taking enemies head on, whilst Pillar will allow the players to stand on their staff and deliver long ranged attacks. Meanwhile, the Thrust stance is largely focused on heavy charge attacks. Each of the stances find their use case depending on the type of enemy one is facing and the style you want to opt for.

"The game also features a number of magical spells that can be used, like freezing an enemy, summoning a number of doppelgangers, or even transforming yourself into an enemy’s form with special abilities."

I invested my points mostly in the Smash stance abilities as I found them simple to pull off, but I am sure that the more ambitious player would like to invest in other stances, as there are some really cool moves that they give access to. Points can also be utilized to improve your overall Stamina, Martial Arts, and Survival parameters.

As each location brings along its own set of challenges, the game allows you to reset all the points and set them according to enemy weakness. This flexibility is appreciated as I found myself continuously invested in the skill tree, working overtime to get the right balance. The game also features a number of magical spells that can be used, like freezing an enemy, summoning a number of doppelgangers, or even transforming yourself into an enemy’s form with special abilities. Most of these spells are time-based but depending on how many points you have invested in them, you can play around with their longevity or impact. Overall, the skills system is a lot of fun and tinkerers will have a field day with it, provided they manage to progress deep enough into the game’s systems.

Black Myth: Wukong’s progression mechanics follow the usual action RPG formula. As noted earlier, you earn levels, unlock skill points, and use that to make your character stronger. But besides earning points, player will also procure Will, the in-game currency, which can be used to buy a whole lot of items like medicines and buffs. There is also a crafting system in place that allows players to build new armor parts. However, you don’t need to search for them as these parts unlock automatically as you progress through the game. Overall, I found the progression system to be simplistic and it doesn’t really have the depth of, say, a FromSoftware game. This may not necessarily be a bad thing- it wasn’t for me, personally speaking. But for players who want finer control over their weapons and armor, they might be disappointed.

"The open spaces are quite large and are a perfect playground to fight off against optional boss encounters and farming items."

When I first began the game, Black Myth: Wukong got me confused with its world design. The game starts off with largely linear level design and then opens up into a bigger playground, before becoming linear again. The open spaces are quite large and are a perfect playground to fight off against optional boss encounters and farming items. What’s shocking, however, is that the game doesn’t feature any kind of navigation or map tools.

Now, I am all for unassisted exploration, but a complete lack of any navigation tools is a bit of a bummer, especially for those locations that have optional areas to visit. It’s by far among the only noticeable issues I have with the game, and it’s by no means a minor one. Regardless of this fault, the areas themselves have been intricately designed with stunning variety in the form of lush green forests, vast stretches of deserts, snow filled landscapes, and more. Black Myth: Wukong absolutely excels in its world variety and even though the experience varies between being linear and open, it’s a treat to explore every nook and cranny.

However, the real stars of the show are the boss fights. Black Myth: Wukong features a ton of bosses, and yes, you will be fighting them quite often, both easy and difficult. As noted earlier, the game urges the player to tinker with its skills system and the boss fights are where this will happen a lot. In one specific sequence I had to play around with the system a couple of hours just to get the balancing right. Some boss fights could be downright frustrating, but if the player is smart enough to understand their moves and patterns, it won’t be too long before they are downed. Fortunately, most of them are not a difficult endeavor which makes Black Myth: Wukong a much more accessible experience compared to other action RPGs and Soulslikes.

"To put it simply, Black Myth: Wukong is a fantastic game."

Visually, Black Myth: Wukong looks absolutely stunning, thanks to Unreal Engine 5. Be it the character models or the intricately designed bosses, this game oozes confidence in the visuals department. I played the game on a PC and although I wasn’t able to achieve a solid 60 frames per second, performance for the most part was okay, with the game hovering at around 30 to 45 FPS. Backing up the visuals is the excellent soundtrack, prominent mostly during boss fights, reminding the player of the stakes involved.

To put it simply, Black Myth: Wukong is a fantastic game. It features engaging combat, rewarding skills system, and excellent production values. Yes, it falters in a few departments, but that never deterred me from playing this game non-stop whenever possible. Black Myth: Wukong is by far one of the best action games you can experience in 2024.

This game was reviewed on PC.