Black Myth: Wukong Review

Ever since it first made a name for itself back in 2020 through a 13-minute video from developer Game Science that sent ripples throughout the gaming world, Black Myth: Wukong became a highly anticipated title that many looked forward to.

Fast forward to 2024, and the monkey king has finally graced our PCs and consoles with his majesty. It’s not quite the game we thought it would be, but breaking expectations seems to be something that this game is all about.

Inspired by the classic Chinese novel, Black Myth: Wukong tells the story of “The Destined One” as he sets out on a journey (to the West) to recover lost relics, all while traversing beautiful landscapes and overcoming godly threats along the way.

Is this journey to the West worth taking? Let’s find out in our Black Myth: Wukong review!

No Longer a Myth

Is Black Myth: Wukong a Soulslike? Much like a recurring theme throughout this review, yes and no. While it does incorporate some elements, such as shrines, larger-than-life bosses, challenging encounters, and stamina-based combat, the game also defies expectations with no penalties for death, no equipment-based builds, and more. Maybe think of it as being closer to the likes of God of War Ragnarok, Devil May Cry, and other similar titles.

As such, Black Myth: Wukong plays out like your standard action RPG, where players can pick up new gear to equip, skills to learn, and enemies to slay. And slay you will, because one of the best features of the game is its exhilarating combat encounters, especially with bosses. In fact, the “boss rush” term has been thrown around so much to give you an idea of what to expect. It’s quite nice to see how this game isn’t just jumping on trends but tries to give itself an identity of its own.

Combat revolves around basic attacks, combos, skills, and a lot of dodging to stay alive. These sequences are fast-paced and intense, stylish and flashy. As with similar games, the overall feel of fights gets more complicated and dynamic due to the additions of new abilities, and even a feature called Transformations, allowing Wukong to turn himself into a previously defeated foe. Not only do you transform, but you also take on their skills and moves as well, basically giving you a new character to play.

The Destined One has an array of spells at his disposal, and these span the full range. Whether defensive, where you can turn into stone to stave off attacks, or offensive, where you can summon multiple copies of yourself to swarm the enemy a la Shadow Clone Jutsu, there are enough tools to provide players with a fighting chance against increasingly difficult and frustrating battles.

What Black Myth: Wukong lacks in impactful storytelling, it makes up for in extremely stylish and spectacle-filled boss fights. These boss battles are amazing and wild, with some being downright difficult that multiple tries will be required to beat them. I can already imagine the number of clips of impressive challenge runs being uploaded on social media, and the game is a testament to how well these battles are designed.

In between these boss fights are forgettable blips of exploration that really don’t add to the experience even if the areas you can explore are vast and breathtaking. These areas are surprisingly linear, and while there are a few worthwhile rewards here and there, putting these areas to good use would have been much appreciated. There’s no denying, though, that Black Myth: Wukong is one of the most beautiful games to come out this year, making these areas screenshot-worthy, at least.

One more pain point in Black Myth: Wukong is the fact that the game seems to not be as optimized as it should be, leading to several crashes and restarts while playing. I’ve read reports of some having to repeat sections and boss battles, but thankfully I have yet to encounter a bug of that severity. Small glitches and audio desyncs were what I encountered the most, but seeing them multiple times added up to something that is not negligible any longer.

Steam Deck: Wukong

Black Myth: Wukong is an unbelievably beautiful title that takes advantage of a powerful PC and, when played with such a rig, will yield a great experience that plays as well as it looks. Of course, we had to try it on our OLED Steam Deck to see if this tiny portable could handle the Monkey King. Well, yes and no.

First off, you’ll need to accept that visual quality will take a nosedive when playing on the Steam Deck. Don’t even think about trying the game out with medium settings, as it defaults everything to low. Setting the frame limit to 30 fps will help stabilize the game, and it is not at all advisable to cap it higher.

With the TDP limit on and maxed out at 15W, Black Myth: Wukong can be played decently, but turning this setting off should be the ideal way to go about things, especially with boss fights.

That said, technically Black Myth: Wukong is playable on a Steam Deck, but you’ll be sacrificing a lot of graphical fidelity for it. It’s not ideal, but barring some frame dips here and there, some muddy textures, and a couple of hiccups, it could be an option should there be no other alternative.

Verdict: Buy it!

Black Myth: Wukong is an amazing and impressive debut effort from Game Science, and while it has a few missteps, it lives up to the hype. From the gorgeous visuals to the dynamic and intense combat system, few games can replicate the satisfying feeling of conquering a challenging boss, only to face another one a few moments later.

Interestingly, the game can be played on the Steam Deck, but there are concessions you’ll have to make, especially in the visual department. You’re losing out on a huge chunk of the experience because the game is gorgeous, but it’s better than not getting to play it on the go, which in itself is a remarkable feat.

*Black Myth: Wukong was reviewed on a PC/Steam Deck with a review code provided by the publisher.