Black Myth Wukong Review – No Monkey Business

In this Black Myth Wukong review, we take a look at Game Science’s latest Action adventure RPG on PlayStation 5 (PS5). The game, which was released earlier this week, has already eclipsed 10 million sales across all platforms so far. It also broke multiple records, even beating Palworld on the Steam charts for concurrent players. So, just what is so darn special about this powerful monkey’s journey that’s got the world hooked? Let’s find out.

Black Myth Wukong Review – What is Black Myth?

Black Myth Wukong is an action-role-playing game developed and published by Game Science. The game is currently available for PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store, as well as the PS5. The developers plan to eventually launch the game on Xbox Series X|S.

The game is inspired by the Chinese Classical Novel Journey to the West. Although it is unclear as to who the real author of the story is, its’ creation is often attributed to 16th-century Chinese novelist Wu Cheng’en. The story has become so popular that it’s considered one of the “Six Classic Chinese Novels” along with the following:

• Romance of the Three Kingdoms
• Water Margin
• The Plum in the Golden Vase
• Dream of the Red Chamber
• The Scholars

Journey to the West is also known for inspiring the creation of Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball franchise. We could sit here and explain every detail of how Goku and the Saiyan race is parallel to Wukong and the Monkeys, but then we’d get sidetracked. Therefore, let’s take a look at Black Myth Wukong’s Gameplay, Story, Graphics, and more.

Black Myth Wukong Review – Gameplay PS5

Black Myth Wukong’s gameplay offers the perfect challenge for players who want something tough, but not as difficult as titles like Elden Ring or Dark Souls. When you first start the game, you’ll have a ton of epic abilities and skills that make you feel like the Great Sage, Heaven’s Equal (Wukong). But like your typical Metroid game or Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, you’re soon stripped of those abilities and forced to build your character up from scratch.

However, your character is still pretty strong at the start. Not long into the first chapter, I learned how to immobilize enemies and transform into one of the many optional bosses. These two skills alone became extremely useful even later on in the game against more powerful enemies. Over time you learn more skills and improve your current ones with Skill Points, AKA Sparks.

My favorite abilities include Immobilize and Strand. The former lets you temporarily keep enemies in place. You can then upgrade the ability’s duration, or other things like how much damage you deal. Strand, on the other hand, lets you spawn a bunch of clones that rush the enemy. This works well when you need to finish off one boss

But other abilities are convenient. For example, Cloud Step makes you invisible for a brief period. This allows you to surprise attack enemies and deal extra damage. While I personally wasn’t crazy about it, the spell becomes useful whenever you’re dealing with ranged foes.

One ability I seldom used was Rock Solid, which lets you deflect attacks only if your timing is right. The Destined One already moves fast enough to dodge most attacks, making this ability less useful than others. Nevertheless, Black Myth offers seven different spells, most of which help you in boss battles.

Going back to bosses, Black Myth Wukong offers a lot of them. I defeated one boss, only to fight another just a few rooms or areas ahead. That’s because the game offers a bunch of optional bosses that you can take up to level up your character, earn new items, and even give you items to reach secret areas.

Boss battles test your mettle. I had to fight the Wandering Wight, an optional boss in Chapter 1, about 10 times before I defeated him. Sure, I could’ve trained up and fought him later, but I was also using this opportunity to learn more about the game’s mechanics.

Another thing I enjoyed was the “inclusion and diversity” of several different enemy types, all of which keep the combat fun and fresh, and come from the original source material. Every new area within each chapter usually throws a new enemy type (often more) to catch you off-guard. The same goes for bosses. In just the first two chapters alone, I fought at least a dozen or so bosses, many of which you don’t even need to beat.

But it’s nice the player has control over what they want to do. I imagine speedrunners might have fun with this, whether they do a New Game or New Game+. But for most players, you feel encouraged to explore every inch of the game.

There’s perhaps only one gripe I have with the gameplay, albeit a minor one. The lack of a map of any kind can kind of make it difficult to know where you are/where you’ve been. However, considering the game is fairly linear with a lot of off-beaten paths, it’s not the worst thing. Furthermore, you can always fast-travel to previous levels in the game even after you complete a Chapter.

And map traversal does feel nice in Black Myth. There are plenty of Shrines to use to get from one spot to another. Furthermore, these shrines let you buy items, craft armor, weapons, medicines, and other things to help you out. But the Shrine placement feels awkward at times. Sometimes they’ll be fairly distanced from each other, and other times they’ll be a hop, skip, and a jump away. However, there are plenty of shrines to make travel easy for the player.

As we mentioned just before, Black Myth Wukong is a linear game. However, there are several paths to take and explore. These can lead you to secret areas, boss battles, treasure chests, and much more. So although it’s not an open-world game, you have plenty of space to roam around.

The controls of Black Myth Wukong feel responsive, making you feel in control. Despite dying dozens of times in the first few hours, I never found the game to be at fault for my mistakes. Oftentimes, I just needed to train, upgrade, or unlock a certain skill, or just become a better player. And thanks to the smooth controls, I quickly got used to how the game works.

The movement also feels great. The Destined One moves fast, and even faster if you sprint or dodge. Furthermore, the stamina bar, which sprinting, dodging, and attacking all drains, does recharge pretty quickly. So you don’t have to constantly worry about your stamina depleting quickly.

But there are other ways to improve yourself beyond spells and tactics. Throughout the game, you can earn or purchase new materials to craft new weapons and armor. Additionally, you can also do a brief “Transformation attack” which lets you turn into one of the many yaoguais whose soul you absorbed. Depending on which one you have equipped, you also receive a bonus of some sort.

I stuck with the Wandering Wight’s ability because I needed the extra defense. Furthermore, his attack often causes bosses to stagger, giving me a chance to get another combo in. But the point is there are many different ways to play Black Myth and find a play style that works best for you.

And in case that wasn’t enough, players have plenty of other ways to improve themselves via items, sparks, and more. You can even visit Mediation spots throughout the map to earn a quick spark to upgrade any skill tree of your choosing.

But all of that said, Black Myth is still very challenging. You have to understand that you’ll likely die multiple times just figuring out how to beat one boss. But it feels rewarding to finally beat that boss you struggled with. And once you defeat them, you feel motivated to keep moving forward. And that’s because the gameplay at its’ core is fun.

Overall, Black Myth Wukong’s Gameplay is its’ biggest strength. The game constantly makes you more powerful while simultaneously pitting you against powerful foes. The balance of both challenge and fun feels incredible and you can tell the developers took their time crafting an awesome gameplay experience.

Story – Black Myth Wukong Review PS5

The story of Black Myth Wukong takes place after the story of Journey to the West, and you start off controlling the Monkey King in an epic battle against Erlang Shen. But throughout the story, you play as the Destined One, a Monkey set out to find Relics all across the land. I won’t explain why you need to find them, and why you don’t play as Wukong himself to save you from spoilers. But I will tell you this, the adventure you undergo is just as exciting as the one Wukong took with his Master, Tang Sanzang.

Now, to be fair, unless you’ve read Journey to the West, or perhaps watched the 1986 TV Adaptation, you’ll have very little idea of what’s going on. Leading up to the game’s launch, I was able to watch some of the show and learn more about the classical novel. If you’re also interested in learning the story, I recommend watching the show because it’s pretty faithful to the source material and very entertaining. I know the special effects may look silly to some, but I don’t consider it any worse than modern AAA movies that spend millions more to look “better”.

But at the same time, you do not need to understand the story completely to enjoy what it offers. How many of us have played games like God of War, Devil May Cry, or Dante’s Inferno and understood everything the first time around? The point is, that Black Myth’s cool characters and their designs keep you invested regardless of your knowledge.

And the way Black Myth connects both the Destined One’s story and Wukong’s adventure is awesome. You can tell the developers have nothing but love and respect for one of the greatest stories ever told. You can even read about Wukong’s adventures in some of the Journal entries picked up after defeating enemies. Some of these journal entries mention events that took place during the Journey to the West.

And that’s big because oftentimes we see game developers or movie studios tasked with a project to bring our favorite creations back, only to fall flat on its knees. You can very much tell that Game Science has nothing but love and respect for the source material.

Fun Fact: Journey To The West is inspired by the story of a real Chinese Buddhist Monk named Xuanzang. He journeyed to India and back, bringing back hundreds of texts with him. His 17-year journey is the basis for a lot of the stories told around the world.

Overall, Black Myth Wukong’s story is pretty cool. I won’t say it’s the best story ever told, but the characters are unique and the dialogue is different from your typical action RPG. Plus, the game’s love for its source material shines in its scenery, dialogue, journal entries, and more.

Black Myth Wukong Review – Graphics PS5

Black Myth Wukong is one of the best-looking games I’ve ever seen on PlayStation 5 (PS5). Between lush forests, arid deserts, dark caves, and much more, Black Myth offers a wide variety of environments, all of which look beautiful. When you’re not getting your butt whooped by the Wandering Wight or Yellow Wind Sage, you see just how pretty the game looks.

I won’t say it’s perfect because Unreal Engine 5 does have its limitations. But any complaints about the graphics are just nitpicks. The frame rate might drop a bit during action-packed cutscenes, and movement in water could look a bit better. Furthermore, enemy models will, on rare occasions, glitch during combat. Their bodies might morph into a strange shape briefly, but for the most part, the game looks incredible.

I’m no graphics expert, so someone smarter than me in that department might be able to point out more minute issues. But if you’re a casual gamer or don’t care much for graphics as opposed to gameplay, you’ll love the visuals of Black Myth.

One area in particular that looks amazing is the lighting. I love walking through a cave with a hole in the ceiling, with a ray of light shining down on the Destined One. Paired with the sounds of the environment, it feels relaxing to walk through the landscape.

Overall, Black Myth Wukong is a very impressive game in terms of visuals. Between its good lighting and varied environments, you might find yourself stopping now and then to take it all in. Again, I won’t say it’s the absolute best, but it more than does its job.

Audio – Black Myth Wukong Review PS5

Lastly, the Audio of Black Myth Wukong more than does its job. Between the sounds of the environment and fierce drums during combat, it all fits well into the game’s environment. I also enjoy the little details put into the audio at different moments of the game.

In Chapter 2, you meet a headless man just wandering around and playing banger after banger. You’ll hear his songs throughout the chapter, all of which are pretty awesome. The music of Black Myth Wukong fits well with its setting. You’ll hear drums when engaged in combat, and the sounds of the world when exploring.

Later on in the same chapter, I heard an “Om” moment before a giant yaoguai attacked me. I was so distracted by the cool sound that I nearly got killed by a creature with no hands. Jokes aside, it’s not just the sights of Black Myth that impress me. Its impressive sound quality immersed me in the experience a bit more.

Verdict – Is Black Myth Wukong Worth Your Time & Money?

Black Myth Wukong is one of the best video games I’ve played in a long time. Between its fast-paced gameplay, breathtaking visuals, and epic story, I find it to be one of the best single-player experiences of the year. And as someone who’s never played Dark Souls or Elden Ring out of fear of their difficulty, Black Myth offers a fair challenge that’s more approachable.

At the time of writing this review, Black Myth Wukong has sold over 10 million copies on all platforms. This monkey is taking the world by storm, and deservedly so. Developer Game Science also showed they know the fundamentals of making a great game. All you need is great gameplay, an awesome atmosphere, and an actual love for the source material.

And with New Game+, there’s plenty of incentive for players to come back and play it again. Furthermore, since it’s not an open-world game brimming with side quests and tasks, it’ll be much easier to get back into.

Overall, Black Myth Wukong is worth your time and money. If you want a challenging but beatable Action RPG with great gameplay, look no further. The controls feel great, the spells are fun to use, and it’s fun encountering new foes on your adventure.

That wraps up our Black Myth Wukong review for PlayStation 5 (PS5). If you decide to pick it up, we hope you enjoy your experience. But most of all, we wish you good luck! Feel free to check out our guide on how to earn items like Silk, Refined Iron Sand, and more. Additionally, check out what other critics think of the game.

Score: 10/10

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