Black Myth: Wukong PC Review
Summary
TLDRIn the review of 'Black Myth: Wukong,' Mitchell Saltzman expresses a mix of awe and frustration. The game impresses with its ambitious action, stunning visuals, and challenging yet satisfying combat, rooted in rich Chinese culture. However, technical issues like crashes, audio mishaps, and localization problems mar the experience. Despite these, the game's strengths, including its unique setting and engaging boss fights, make it a remarkable debut from Game Science, with the potential to be even greater once bugs are addressed.
Takeaways
- 🎮 Black Myth: Wukong is an ambitious action game with stunning visuals and challenging combat.
- 🐒 The game features a unique setting rooted in Chinese culture, following the journey of Sun Wukong.
- 🛠️ Despite high-quality graphics, the game suffers from technical issues like crashes and audio problems.
- 🔧 The reviewer experienced several crashes, including one after defeating a tough boss, requiring a redo.
- 🎭 The game's story is rich but assumes prior knowledge of 'Journey to the West', which may leave some players confused.
- 🤺 Combat is a blend of fast reflexes and resource management, with a focus meter and various spells adding depth.
- 🧙♂️ Transformations into powerful creatures and the use of Spirit skills add variety to combat and character progression.
- 🏞️ The game world is detailed and beautiful, but the lack of a map can make exploration cumbersome.
- 🔍 Exploration is rewarded with rare items, secret boss fights, and environmental secrets, encouraging thorough play.
- 🌐 Localization issues include dialogue switching between English and Chinese, and untranslated journal entries.
Q & A
What is the main issue the reviewer faced with the game 'Black Myth Wukong'?
-The reviewer faced numerous technical issues such as game crashes, falling through the ground, and dialogue audio dropping out, which affected the overall experience.
What is the reviewer's opinion on the game's graphics and animations?
-The reviewer is highly impressed with the game's graphics and animations, describing them as stunningly gorgeous and impeccable.
How does the reviewer describe the combat system in 'Black Myth Wukong'?
-The reviewer finds the combat system to be fantastic, with a great balance of careful resource management and lightning-fast twitch reaction gameplay.
What are the unique features of the boss fights in the game?
-The boss fights are unique due to the stunningly gorgeous animated vignettes that tell short stories about each chapter's main antagonist, each done in a different art style.
What is the game's setting and how does it relate to Chinese culture?
-The game's setting is refreshingly unique and steeped in rich Chinese culture, with the story being somewhat of a follow-up to the classic novel 'Journey to the West' by Wu Cheng'en.
What are the reviewer's thoughts on the game's difficulty level?
-The reviewer finds the game to be challenging but satisfying to overcome, with difficulty levels comparable to 'Elden Ring' and 'Shadow of the Colossus'.
What are the 'Spirit skills' mentioned in the review and how do they work?
-Spirit skills are abilities earned by defeating certain powerful enemies and absorbing their essence. They are effectively one-time use transformations with their own cooldowns and can be leveled up for increased effectiveness.
How does the reviewer feel about the game's localization and language switching?
-The reviewer experienced issues with localization, such as characters switching languages unexpectedly and journal entries not being fully translated into English.
What are the exploration elements in 'Black Myth Wukong'?
-The game offers a wide linear level design with opportunities to explore for optional goodies, including rare crafting materials, special enemies, curio items, and treasure chests that can permanently increase player stats.
What is the reviewer's suggestion for improving the exploration experience?
-The reviewer suggests that the game would benefit from a map to help with navigation, as the lands are large and filled with secrets.
Outlines
🐒 Introduction to Black Myth: Wukong Review
Mitchell Saltzman introduces his review of 'Black Myth: Wukong,' noting the embargo restrictions that prevent him from showing gameplay beyond chapter 2. Despite this, he highlights the game's technical issues that occur after chapter 2, which he will address in a more comprehensive review on launch day. He expresses a mix of awe and frustration with the game, praising its ambitious and impressive action gameplay, stunning visuals, challenging yet satisfying combat, and unique setting rooted in Chinese culture. However, he also points out numerous technical issues such as crashes, falling through the game world, and audio problems during cutscenes.
🔥 In-Depth Analysis of Combat and Abilities
The second paragraph delves into the combat mechanics of 'Black Myth: Wukong,' describing it as a blend of twitch reflex gameplay and resource management centered around a focus meter. Players gain focus points to enhance attacks or use heavy strikes. Additionally, there are spells governed by a Mana meter, each with versatile uses in combat. Transformations allow the player to take on the abilities of defeated bosses, and Spirit skills provide powerful one-off attacks. The paragraph emphasizes the satisfaction of mastering these mechanics and the strategic depth they offer, as well as the game's beautiful and detailed environments and the challenges of managing resources like Mana.
🌏 Exploration, Technical Issues, and Localization Concerns
The final paragraph discusses the game's exploration aspects, noting the lack of a map and the difficulty in navigating large, secret-filled environments. It also addresses technical issues such as game crashes, audio and subtitle dropouts during cutscenes, and localization problems where characters switch languages unexpectedly. The reviewer expresses hope that these issues will be resolved post-launch, as they detract from an otherwise fantastic game. The paragraph concludes with an overall positive view of the game, emphasizing its great combat, boss battles, enemy variety, and visually stunning world, despite the noted frustrations.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Black Myth Wukong
💡Embargo agreement
💡Technical issues
💡Resource management
💡Combat mechanics
💡Transformations
💡Spirit skills
💡Localization
💡Boss fights
💡Exploration
Highlights
Black Myth Wukong is an ambitious and impressive action game with stunning visuals and challenging combat.
The game suffers from technical issues such as crashes and audio problems, which can be frustrating.
Despite technical issues, the game's unique setting and rich Chinese culture are refreshing.
The story is a follow-up to the classic novel 'Journey to the West' and is laden with references.
The protagonist is a mute monkey on a 40-hour journey to locate relics of Wukong.
Each chapter ends with a beautifully animated vignette told in a unique art style.
The game is compared to Souls-like games but has more in common with traditional action games.
Combat is simple and elegant, focusing on a balance of reflexes and resource management.
The focus meter system allows for varied combos and powerful strikes.
Spells and Mana management are integral to combat strategy.
Transformations allow the player to morph into powerful creatures with unique move sets.
Spirit skills are one-time use abilities that can be leveled up for increased effectiveness.
Boss battles are a highlight, offering satisfying challenges and strategic depth.
The game world is rich with detail and offers rewards for exploration, such as crafting materials and special items.
The game's level design is linear with opportunities for exploration and discovery.
The game's visual and audio design are impeccable, with detailed environments and epic music.
The game lacks a map, which can make navigation and exploration cumbersome.
Localization issues, such as unsynced lip flaps and untranslated journal entries, detract from the experience.
The game's potential is hindered by technical problems that are hoped to be addressed post-launch.
Despite its flaws, Black Myth Wukong is a great action game with the potential to be even greater with fixes.
Transcripts
hey y' Mitchell Saltzman here I'm the
reviewer of black myth Wukong and just a
quick note about this review as part of
the Embargo agreement set for this game
I am unable to show you footage Beyond
chapter 2 which presents a bit of a
problem because a lot of the technical
issues that I have with this game that I
specifically call out in this review
occurred after chapter 2 so I'm unable
to actually show them so we're going to
do two different video reviews this time
this first one will abide by their
restrictions and only show footage from
the first two chapters but we will also
be posting a more complete review with
the relevant footage added in on launch
day and with that on with the review for
black myth
Wukong I've never been so utterly blown
away yet simultaneously so unbelievably
frustrated by a game as I have been with
black myth Wukong this is undoubtedly
one of the most ambitious and impressive
action games I've played it's stunningly
gorgeous its combat is fantastic
it's incredibly challenging but always
satisfying to overcome and the setting
is refreshingly unique and steeped en
Rich Chinese
culture despite all of that it often
feels like it's barely holding it all
together I suffered numerous crashes
despite having a top-of-the-line set up
with a gForce RTX 490 not to mention the
multiple times I fell through the ground
and died in the Final Phase of a boss
fight or the way characters would
randomly switch from English to Chinese
or the way the dialogue audio would just
drop out all together and leave me
completely in the dark during an
important cut scene it's a rickety
roller coaster for sure and there were
definitely spots during the ride where I
was not having a great time but taken as
a whole this is one Adventure where the
bumps are worth it
black myth Wukong story is somewhat of a
followup to the classic novel Journey to
the West by Wu changen a book that I
only personally know thanks to very
loose adaptations like Dragon Ball and
enslaved Odyssey to the West that
surface level familiarity didn't help
much though as the interpretation that
the developers at game science have
crafted here is Laden with references to
characters and events from the novel
without doing a great job of bringing
you up to speed on who Sun Wukong is or
what he encountered on his titular
journey I had to look online to
understand who zuu baj was what his
history with Wukong is and what the
significance of certain encounters were
because otherwise I'd have been
completely lost at times you play as the
destined one a literal monkey who wakes
up one morning and decides to set out on
a roughly 40-hour journey to locate the
six relics of Wukong while the momentto
moment storytelling is fairly
unremarkable largely due to a mute
protagonist and Side characters that
aren't given enough screen time to
develop each of the six self-contained
chapters culminates with the stunningly
gorgeous animated vignette that tells a
short story about that chapter's main
antagonist each one is done in a
completely different art style with one
drawn to look like a story book another
using stop motion animation and another
done in the style of an anime every
single one of them is beautiful and
poignant and I couldn't help but wish
that the main story managed to move me
in similar
ways my initial read on Wukong was that
it was a soulslike given the checkpoint
system the stamina bar that governs your
actions in combat and the Dodge heavy
fighting style but as it turns out
Wukong has more in common with
traditional action games like what you
might expect from bayonet developer
Platinum Games than it does with
anything that from software has made
most of the usual Souls like conventions
are missing there's no penalty for death
outside of respawning at the nearest
checkpoint you don't use a shared
currency to level up your stats and
purchase items or upgrades and while
there is gear and stats to consider you
largely just go and swap out the old
equipment with the new as opposed to
making choices as to what kind of weapon
or piece of armor you want to hold on to
an upgrade and even though I am a big
fan of souls likes ditching those
mechanics feels like the right move for
the game that Wukong is trying to be
it's far more forgiving focused on
keeping you in the action rather than
pouring over menus or retracing your
steps to regain your lost currency after
dying and Wukong is a better more
distinctive game for it to be clear
though when I say it's more forgiving I
don't mean that it's any less difficult
than a from Style game in fact I'd go so
so far as to say that between this and
Elden ring shadow of the air tree I had
more difficulty getting through wukong's
toughest
challenges unit as I deemed but at the
same time those challenges never felt
unfair and overcoming some of the
tougher boss fights was always a
satisfying combination of learning their
attack patterns figuring out where I
could maximize My Punishment windows and
tweaking my load out in ways that made
the best use of My Chosen powers
combat in black myth Wukong is simple
and elegant thanks in part to some tools
that are really fun to play around with
success hinges on a delicate balance of
twitch reflex style gameplay mixed with
careful Resource Management that largely
revolves around a focus meter which
builds up when you land hits and
perfectly Dodge enemy
attacks you gain a focus Point whenever
that meter fills up which you could then
spend in the middle of a light attack
combo for a varied combo or you can just
use a heavy attack on its own for a
powerful strike that can be charged even
further if two three or even four Focus
points are consumed all at
once you also have access to a small
handful of spells governed by a Mana
meter that are versatile enough to be
useful in a wide array of situations the
immobilized spell for instance freezes
enemies for a short time allowing you to
get in some quick hits and potentially
stagger them to allow for even more free
damage Cloud step turns you into
invisible and creates a Decoy for your
enemies to focus on while you break away
heal up and then hit your foe with a
surprise attack that can crit Rock Solid
briefly turns you into a statue that
will cause an enemy's attack to bounce
right off of you giving you an
opportunity for a Counterattack Ring of
Fire creates a barrier around you that
will initially repel enemies and Grant
you some Health Restoration along with
enhancing any stat altering drinks that
you may use while standing inside of it
and finally there's my personal favorite
a pluck of many which lets you make
multiple clones of yourself to all gang
up an enemy at once
separate from that you've also got
Transformations which allow you to morph
into powerful creatures that you've
already bested in battle what's really
cool about these is that they don't cost
any Mana they're tied to a very lengthy
cooldown instead and they turn you into
a totally different character complete
with an all new move set special moves
that use their own Focus meter and more
for example one of the first bosses that
you fight is a wolf with a fiery dual
blade that has a lightning f Dash attack
when you defeat him you'll gain his
transformation and be able to do that
very same Dash attack to your enemies
and once you build up its focus meter
you'll even be able to do a hugely
powerful leaping strike that can ignite
foes and deal damage over time to them
and then finally there are Spirit skills
which are earned by defeating certain
more powerful versions of enemies and
absorbing their Essence into your gourd
these are effectively Transformations
that only last for one attack and are
also tied to a fairly lengthy cooldown
but it's great to be able to for example
use the wandering White's powerful
headbutt
attack to get an extra stagger after
immobilizing an enemy these Spirit
skills can also be leveled up which
makes it so that even the early game
Spirits never lose their strength as the
campaign rolls on it's an excellent
blend of options especially when mixed
with some truly incredible boss fights
and Wukong introduces all these elements
at thoughtfully measured pace so I never
felt overwhelmed make no mistake the
destined one is extremely powerful
[Music]
and being in control of him is
definitely a heck of a Power Trip even
beyond the many powers and abilities he
has at his disposal nothing beats the
feeling of just slamming a 50-ft bow
staff down onto an enemy's
head but I still had to be smart with
how I used my spells due to the fact
that Mana restoration is actually very
difficult this is where the resource
management aspect of combat comes into
play I had to carefully consider what
spells were actually worth the Mana cost
whether I should save them for a more
difficult second phase of a fight and
whether or not I could capitalize on the
opportunity if I were to spend the Mana
in the first place for instance even
though it's my most powerful spell I
often had to hold off on casting my
pluck of many spell that duplicates my
character since it has an extremely high
Mana cost if I cast it at a bad time the
boss could simply wipe out all of my
clones with an AOE attack before they
even got a chance to get some damage in
sometimes the adjustment I had to make
when I was stuck on a boss was a simple
change in how I use my abilities and the
the act of coming up with a new strategy
and having it pay off was always
extremely
satisfying while boss battles are where
Wukong is at its best there's also a
highly respectable amount of enemy
Variety in its regular fights level
design is of the wide linear variety
usually with a clear main path that
leads from checkpoint to checkpoint but
plenty of opportunities to venture off
that path to discover optional goodies
the rewards for exploration are great
too I found rare crafting materials to
make new weapons and armor special
enemies that drop the new spirit skill
curio items that could Equip to enhance
my build and treasure chests that might
permanently increase my Max Health Mana
or stamina all of which made the time
that I took to find them well spent on
top of that there are also several
secret boss fights to discover key items
with mysterious uses that I still
haven't figured out and plenty of more
reasons to stray from the beaten path
and keep an eye constantly scanning the
environment the main one being that
Wukong is one of the most gorgeous games
I've ever played every environment is
brimming with detail from the chip
pieces of bark on the trees in the
forest to the real-time deformation of
the snow as the destined one moves
through it while dragging his staff
along not only that but the animation is
impeccable too with wonderful touches
and flourishes like the way your
character will do a little hop step when
locked onto an enemy then change to
strafing around them as opposed to just
running straight on while keeping their
head turned the music and sound design
is fantastic as well with epic drum
thumping battle
themes and melodic flutes and Chimes
adding to the air of Wonder and mystery
as you explore the
[Music]
unknown all that said this game really
would have benefited from a map plain
and simple the lands you explore in
Wukong are beautiful no doubt but
they're far too big and too crammed with
secrets to not give you some sort of
navigational help especially the second
and third chapters this along with the
fact that it's aggravatingly hard to
tell what obstacles can actually be
climbed over and what's an invisible
wall can make exploration quite
cumbersome it's a good thing that the
rewards are worth
[Music]
it however it's hard not to feel like
all vuk Kong's Splender and detail came
at a great cost I experienced numerous
crashes with one particular Heartbreaker
happening right after defeating an
extremely tough boss that I then had to
defeat again several others were more
minor and would typically happen as I
was loading up a new chapter or fast
traveling to another level but they
eventually add up to a lot of
frustration in addition to that several
times during important cutcenes all
dialogue audio and subtitles would drop
out completely leaving me without any
clue as to what was being talked about
and no way to rewatch The cutscene
characters would occasionally switch to
speaking Chinese all of a sudden despite
me having the audio set to English the
lip flaps of the English dub often don't
even remotely match what's being spoken
oh thank
M finally then the three Bells
sang disciples
come and most of the journal entries you
find along the way haven't even been
localized yet into English the worst
though was one particular fight in which
the boss would plunge me down through
the ground during the transition to its
Final Phase only to have me fall through
the world once I regained control of my
character this kept on happening to the
point where I thought my game was
unavoidably bugged and I wouldn't be
able to reach the end but my Insanity of
trying the same thing over and over
again eventually yielded a different
result for no discernable reason these
are the kinds of technical problems that
game science will hopefully look to
address in post-launch batches and it's
not outside the realm of possibility as
even cyberpunk 2077 was eventually
whipped into shape after its own buggy
launch I hope that those fixes come
swiftly because while I still
wholeheartedly think that the things
that black myth Wukong does so right are
worth dealing with those problems I
would love to be able to recommend it
without those
[Music]
caveats as game Sciences debut action
game black myth Wukong is mostly a great
success despite some major technical
black marks and localization issues that
are likely to cause some frustrations at
launch combat is fantastic thanks to a
great balance of careful resource
management and lightning fast twitch
reaction gameplay that tested my skills
as much as Elder ring ever has despite
it being a more traditional action game
than from software style not only that
but there are a ton of exciting boss
battles a great variety of enemies and
the world they inhabit is an absolute
treat for the eyes and ears its story
has its moments but relies a bit too
much on having prior knowledge of the
events of Journey to the West and it
really could have used a map to make its
rewarding exploration measure up to the
strength of the combat all said its
strengths more than carry it through
making black myth Wukong a great action
game that could be even greater if game
science can squash the
bugs for more black myth Wukong make
sure to check out the first minutes of
the game along with our guides for
things that doesn't tell you and skills
to get first and for everything else
keep it here on IGN
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