Black Myth: Wukong stands as one of the most breathtaking and ambitious action games to hit the market in recent years, delivering a visual and combat experience that is, quite simply, out of this world. However, this journey through a mythic China is one paved with both astonishing brilliance and frustrating technical shortcomings. Developed by GameScience, the game catapults players into a 40-hour odyssey as The Destined One, a monkey on a quest to find the six relics of the legendary Sun Wukong. The experience is a rollercoaster—a rickety one at times—where moments of pure gaming euphoria are occasionally undercut by bugs, crashes, and localization hiccups. Yet, for those willing to endure the bumps, the ride offers a uniquely rewarding adventure steeped in rich cultural heritage.

The narrative serves as a follow-up to the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, though it doesn't hold the player's hand through its dense lore. For those unfamiliar with the source material—beyond pop culture touchstones like Dragon Ball—the plot can feel opaque, filled with references to characters like Zhu Bajie without sufficient context. The moment-to-moment storytelling is fairly unremarkable, hampered by a mute protagonist and underdeveloped side characters. However, the game redeems itself with six stunningly gorgeous animated vignettes that conclude each chapter, each crafted in a unique art style—from storybook drawings to stop-motion animation—that poignantly tells the backstory of that chapter's main antagonist. These segments are artistic highlights, leaving players wishing the main narrative could evoke similar emotional depth.

🎮 Combat: Elegant, Demanding, and Distinctly Un-Soulslike

Initial impressions might label Wukong a soulslike, given its checkpoint system and stamina-based combat. But that's where the similarities end. GameScience has crafted a combat system that feels more aligned with the fluid, combo-driven action of titles from PlatinumGames than the punishing, systems-heavy world of FromSoftware. It's a forgiving system in its mechanics—no corpse runs, no shared currency for leveling—but don't mistake that for a lack of challenge. In fact, many players found its toughest boss battles more demanding than those in Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree.

The core of combat revolves around a Focus Meter that builds by landing hits and perfectly dodging attacks. Fill it to gain Focus Points, which can be spent to unleash powerful Varied Combos or charged heavy attacks. It's a dance of twitch reflexes and careful resource management that feels incredibly satisfying to master.

Combat Resource	How to Gain	Primary Use
Focus Meter	Landing hits, Perfect Dodges	Generate Focus Points
Focus Points	Filling Focus Meter	Power Varied Combos & Charged Attacks
Mana	Natural regen, rare items	Cast Spells

✨ A Deep Arsenal of Abilities

The Destined One's toolkit is deep and versatile, offering multiple layers of strategic choice:

• Spells: Governed by a mana pool, these include:

• Immobilize: Freezes enemies, creating openings.

• Cloud Step: Turns you invisible, creates a decoy.

• Rock Solid: Briefly turns you to stone, deflecting attacks for a counter.

• Ring of Fire: A defensive barrier that heals and enhances potions.

• Pluck of Many (Fan Favorite): Creates multiple clones to gang up on a foe.

• Transformations: Defeat a boss, and you can morph into them! These don't cost mana but have a long cooldown, granting a completely new moveset. Defeat the fiery wolf boss early on, and you can later dash across the battlefield as him.

• Spirit Skills: Earned by defeating stronger enemy variants and absorbing their essence into your gourd. These are one-attack transformations that can be leveled up, ensuring they remain useful throughout the game.

This excellent blend of options shines brightest in the game's truly incredible boss fights. Victory requires learning attack patterns, maximizing punishment windows, and smartly tweaking your loadout. Mana management is crucial—restoration is difficult, forcing players to think strategically about when to deploy their most powerful spells. Casting Pluck of Many at the wrong moment can see all your clones wiped out by a single boss AoE attack, a tough lesson in resource allocation.

🌍 Exploration and World Design

Level design follows a "wide-linear" philosophy. There's a clear critical path between checkpoints, but the world is brimming with reasons to explore off the beaten track. The rewards are substantial and make exploration feel worthwhile:

• ✅ Rare crafting materials for new weapons and armor.

• ✅ Special enemies that drop new Spirit Skills.

• ✅ Curio items to equip and enhance your build.

• ✅ Treasure chests with permanent stat boosts (max health, mana, stamina).

• ✅ Secret boss fights and mysterious key items.

The world itself is a character. Black Myth: Wukong is, without a doubt, one of the most visually stunning games ever created. Environments are dripping with detail: chipped bark on ancient trees, snow deforming in real-time as the hero drags his staff through it. The animation is equally masterful, with subtle flourishes like a character's hop-step when locking onto a target. The sound design complements this perfectly, with epic battle drums and melodic flutes creating an atmosphere of wonder.

However, this splendor comes with a significant navigation drawback: there is no in-game map. The environments, especially in chapters two and three, are vast and packed with secrets, making it easy to get lost. Coupled with unclear climbable obstacles and invisible walls, exploration can become cumbersome. It's a major oversight in an otherwise meticulously crafted world.

⚠️ The Elephant in the Room: Technical Troubles

For all its artistry, Wukong often feels like it's barely holding together technically. Even with a top-of-the-line PC setup (GeForce RTX 4090), players have reported numerous issues:

• Frequent Crashes: Particularly heartbreaking when occurring right after a tough boss fight.

• Game-breaking Bugs: Falling through the world during boss phase transitions, requiring repeated attempts for no discernible reason.

• Audio & Localization Problems:

• Dialogue audio and subtitles dropping out completely in crucial cutscenes.

• Characters randomly switching from English to Chinese voice lines.

• Poor lip-sync for the English dub.

• Many journal entries remain untranslated from Chinese.

These issues are reminiscent of other high-profile rocky launches, like Cyberpunk 2077. The hope is that GameScience will address them with post-launch patches. The game's core is so strong that it's worth persevering through the bugs, but it's hard to give an unreserved recommendation until these technical caveats are resolved.

🏆 Verdict: A Diamond, Roughly Cut

Black Myth: Wukong is a game of staggering contrasts. It is both a masterpiece and a mess. Its combat system is elegant, deep, and intensely satisfying. Its world is breathtakingly beautiful and rich with rewarding secrets. Its artistic vision, particularly in the chapter-ending vignettes, is poignant and unique.

Yet, it is marred by technical problems that range from annoying to game-breaking. The lack of a map hinders exploration, and the narrative assumes a bit too much prior knowledge.

Final Take: This is an adventure where the sublime highs justify enduring the frustrating lows. It's a heck of a power trip controlling The Destined One, and nothing beats the visceral thrill of slamming a 50-foot bo staff onto a demon's head. For action game aficionados and those fascinated by Chinese mythology, Black Myth: Wukong is an essential, if flawed, journey. One can only hope that future patches will smooth over the rough edges, allowing its true brilliance to shine unimpeded.