Black Myth: Wukong [Review]

It is very appealing to look at Black Myth: Wukong. The lush environments are breathtaking, from the falling leaves to the clear and detailed skies. It's a stunning barrage of impeccable moments that will amaze anyone who's staring at the screen. It isn't always a very fun game to play, though, because most of its systems weren't really as good as they first appeared to be.

It is one of those games that the more I've played, more problems started to pile up. Not everything is bad – far from it. But some questionable decisions made this not as fun as it should be. To be clear: the strengths of Black Myth: Wukong are solid, like with its animations, sound, aesthetics, and some of its boss designs.

The whole narrative of Wukong can be a bit overwhelming and repetitive, with characters throughout that are difficult to relate. The game is divided between chapters, and there's a lot of effort put into contextualizing the story both on the gameplay and with the gorgeous animation shorts before each chapter's end.

As the "Destined One", I've journeyed across the land to gather some relics and rekindle some powers needed to defy Gods and Demons in a very epic and convoluted narrative. Although the stories were memorable, the characters weren't as much, and the whole thing feels like a dark fantasy fairy tale. It works sometimes. The strongest part of it all is the vast bestiary across the chapters.

The somewhat interesting story is greatly enhanced by the strong visuals, but they are badly hurt by constant stutters on traversal and battle. Still, it is undeniable: the animations are gorgeous and the whole presentation feels intentional, elegant and artful.

I felt bittersweet playing it though, because most of the battle content and exploration weren't really as well done as the presentation. And yeah, if it is an action game, the action part should have been the highlight of the whole thing, but unfortunately, it isn't.

Playing as the Destined One is overall fun, but there is some weird input lag, and not everything is as responsive as it should. It is a problem right away, some of the movement is fast and snappy, but there are clunky moments that makes playing it not as rewarding as it should.

The progression is a mess – the upgrades aren't that relevant, and the most visible progression lies at the simpler ones. So the complexities seem to be there at first, but it is best to just allocate points to simple upgrades (more defense, more critical damage etc.) than the flashier moves. I played more or less the same throughout the game, and after a while, I noticed I didn't have that much freedom between builds.

The game itself is a "character action" boss rush with a Souls paint and inspiration. It feels like Devil May Cry 4 + Demon's Souls. It wasn't modern at all despite the cutting edge looks, because most of the battle commits are longer than they should be and the enemies don't react to attacks in a satisfying way.

As the story moves, it gets harder and harder to really understand what is the Destined One agency on this whole plot. I've felt a bit detached from everything presented to me, conversations felt rushed and the whole drama was a bit staged and too theatrical. Each of the chapters are different enough, but some are definitely better realized than others, with characters that seem to be more important than the Destined One himself.

The worst aspect of the game is by far its balancing, with some bosses being extremely punishing and unfair while others are bothersome and repetitive. It is basically long (fake) corridors with some bosses serving as checkpoints and gatekeepers. Most of the challenges are good, I'd say that 6 out of every 10 bosses are great, but these last 4 are always the ones that I can't forget because of how stupid some decisions were to make them difficult.

Halving the stamina bar or removing basic movement options on second or third stages of some hard bosses wasn't really fun for me. It happens more than it should. This method used to balance fights, to just remove options from the arsenal, always ended up being unfair.

The equipment is also wack. Most of it is rewarded too late, so their special effects aren't relevant when they become available, while the weapons upgrades are basically mandatory and don't respect player builds. Every role-playing element of the game has some issue at the end of the day.

There's only so much dopamine that a win can give me. The constant stutters, input lag, irrelevant progression system and repetitive gameplay dragged Black Myth: Wukong down for me. All of that and the unfairness on some fights... I don't think that this is really a great action game. Not a terrible one though. Just mediocre.

I'm sure that the future for Game Science is brilliant. The recently announced next iteration, Black Myth: Zhong Kui, interests me more now that I've played Wukong. I say that because there were great moments on this game. I just hope for more responsive controls and better, more balanced systems on the sequel.

6.5/10