here was a moment, roughly 20 hours into my near-40-hour playthrough of Black Myth: Wukong, when things finally clicked. A few chapters prior to that point had left me scratching my head, baffled at the introduction of various minor characters, adversaries, and concepts. But at that moment halfway through, when things finally became clearer, I couldn’t help but smile. I was hooked, and there was no going back.
Black Myth: Wukong, made by China-based studio Game Science, is an action role-playing game inspired by Journey to the West. It, along with Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, and Dream of the Red Chamber, is one of the great pillars of Chinese literature. To adapt the story of Journey to the West, a timeless classic with characters and themes that have remained influential throughout East Asia, is already a daunting task. Thankfully, Game Science has managed to pull off the impossible, weaving together a narrative that’s intricate, original, and, at times, thought-provoking.
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 moment-to-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 a stunningly gorgeous animated vignette that tells a short story about that story’s main antagonist. Each one is done in a completely different art style, with one drawn to look like a storybook, 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.
I consider myself more of a Romance of the Three Kingdoms buff, though I briefly read Journey to the West ages ago during my high school years. Nevertheless, I did appreciate the campaign’s inclusion of numerous characters and plot points, as well as Buddhist teachings and Daoist philosophy, from the novel. These are either shown in detail, relayed in poems, or mentioned in passing, some of which made me go, “I understood that reference.”
The narrative is also about a certain companion’s background, which I don’t want to spoil here. The story explores themes of lifelong regrets, sacrifice, the immutable shaping of one’s fate, and the notion that everyone, heroes and villains alike, might just be seeking redemption or a place in the sun. The entire campaign’s arc, steeped in Chinese and wider Asian cultural traditions, is woven like fine tapestry and is further complemented by gorgeous visuals and scenes that left me in awe.
It’s more forgiving, but that doesn't mean it’s any less difficult.
And even though I’m a big fan of soulslikes, 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 poring 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 far as to say that between this and Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, I had more difficulty getting through Wukong’s toughest challenges (and, no, there aren’t any difficulty options). 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 loadout 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.
There is an excellent blend of different combat options.
And 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 Wight’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 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 of these elements at a thoughtfully measured pace so that I never felt overwhelmed. Make no mistake: The Destined One is extremely powerful, 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-foot bo 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.
Summary
Some foes are surprisingly macabre in nature, almost with a dark fantasy flair, including twin-headed priests that induce madness, ogres that carry the skeletal remains of their beloved, misshapen entities in the throes of corruption, and an angel-like general with a hand for a head. It’s not just the sheer epicness of these battles that makes them memorable, but also the way the game’s designers have lovingly crafted the characters and creatures in homage to the legendary tale and regional folklore.
