Black Myth: Wukong

Myths are an indispensable part of every culture. Being passed down from one generation to the next, they are a part of every nation’s cultural identity, and no wars or changes in governments can stop that. From Iran’s Rostam and Sohrab to Greece’s Achilles, every country has their own myths, and China is no exception. Wukong is a mythical monkey-man whose escapades have been written in the book Journey to the West, and it is the inspiration for a new video game developed by Chinese studio Game Science.

As expected from a game inspired by a nation’s heritage, Black Myth: Wukong takes storytelling seriously. The Ghibli-inspired animated movies between the chapters, along with the well-directed in-game cutscenes, tell a cohesive story that not only stays faithful to the source material, but also manages to stand on its own.

Unfortunately, Black Myth: Wukong’s gameplay is not as outstanding as its story. One could say that level design is this game’s Achilles heel. The game doesn’t do a good job of using environmental clues to guide the players to the right path, which can lead to frustrating situations where a confused player is running in circles trying to reach their next destination. This is doubly true during the third chapter, where the game’s map opens up without serving a specific purpose. In addition, shortcuts are useless or non-existent, most of the checkpoints are placed in the wrong place, and the enemies spawn without any patterns or pacing in mind, making exploration in this game more of a chore.

Another major problem that plagues this game’s level design is the invisible wall. Yes, the dreaded invisible wall that has been more or less extinct for a while now makes a strong return in Black Myth: Wukong. Even the boss battles are not safe from invisible walls. What’s worse is that more often that not, either the boss or the player gets stuck behind one of these walls. And the worst part is that in such situations, the boss still does damage, but the player cannot do so.

Speaking of boss battles, most of them are not particularly well-designed. Usually, the hitboxes don’t match the size of the boss, meaning you’re fighting a boss the size of an elephant but its hitbox is as small as a mouse. Sometimes your hits don’t do any damage, despite the fact that you’re locked on the boss and make sure your attack lands by standing as close to it as possible. This leads to deaths that feel unfair to the player, which is the bane of every video game’s existence.

The only bright spot on Black Myth: Wukong’s gameplay is the combat. By getting rid of blocking and parrying, the only defensive move you have access to is dodging and its perfect dodge variation, making combat more fast-paced and adrenaline-inducing. There’s also a wide variety of weapons and spells to mix and match for your preferred playstyle. Bundle that with the protagonist’s smoothly animated moves and you get satisfying combat encounters. However, this is not enough to compensate for the game’s other major problems. All things considering, Black Myth: Wukong’s gameplay piles on your problems instead of helping you escape from them.

The game’s beauty is riddled by its lack of optimization. The constant frame drops felt like thorn in my eye. Even the cutscenes are not safe from these frame drops, meaning that for whatever good the game does, there’s something bad about it that negates the good parts.

Black Myth: Wukong is an ambitious video game that was rushed to be released. It could’ve been a serious contender for Game of the Year awards, but at this state, with the myriad of gameplay and technical problems, it’s just a mediocre game.