In development for nearly six years, Black Myth: Wukong is finally out on PC and Playstation. Coming from a rise in AA and AAA video game development in China, Black Myth: Wukong releases as a rather impression entry title from a new studio. You play as The Destined One, a clone of Sun Wukong tasked to go on a journey to retrieve six relics said to have the power to revive the original Wukong who has lost himself after a fierce battle. The Destined One also retrieves Wukong’s hidden abilities and gear spread throughout the West.

Black Myth: Wukong is a 2024 action role-playing game, it was developed and published by Game Science. It is currently available on PC and Playstation 5 with an Xbox Series X|S release to follow.

Editor’s Note: Near complete spoilers for Black Myth: Wukong and its source material may be present within this review.

Play as The Destined One on a journey to revive Sun Wukong.

Originally announced in 2020, Black Myth: Wukong and Lost Soul Aside kick-started a major potential first step in China’s in-house development of AA and AAA video games. Developer Game Science was notably transparent on what to expect with the final product of the game even asking players to temper expectations. The developers’ willingness to be honest with the community ended up having an opposite effect with many already referring to the game as a late contender for Game of the Year. With the ever-growing popularity of Chinese mythology in the West not only due to an increasing number of adaptations but also the popularity of the Dragon Ball franchise, Black Myth: Wukong will only further increase the intrigue and love of the story of Sun Wukong and Chinse mythology as a whole.

Travel to a world setting based on the Journey to the West to face storied Chinese mythological creatures.

THE GOOD: Having undergone many trials and tribulations to achieve Buddhahood gaining access to Heaven, Sun Wukong grows tired of paradise and soon abandons it to live the rest of his days on Mount Huaguo where he’s made his home. Feeling Wukong is untrustworthy, The Court attacks him before he can even think about acting. Led by Erlang Shen, The Court sends its army to battle Wukong in the clouds where the latter is defeated and hides. Some centuries later a monkey presumed to be Wukong tells the story to a clone known as The Destined One who set out to become a vessel meant to revive him to full strength. The Destined One goes on a journey to find six relics meant to revive Wukong fully and as he leaves Black Wind Mountain he is guided by its Keeper.

The Destined One battles several enemies of Wukong who are and aren’t aligned with The Court while gathering the six relics. As The Destined One continues he meets an old friend of Wukong named Zhu Bajie who tells him more stories of Wukong while guiding him on his journey and even aiding him in battle. On their journey, The Destined One and Zhu encounter the daughter of the former’s lover Violet Spider, and following a fight she gets curious about the duo spying on them. Zhu begins to act hostile to The Destined One and fights him after being manipulated by spider poison. Upon recovery he and The Destined One fight & defeat Violet Spider. They soon encounter Violet and her daughters with Hundred-Eye who fatally wounds Violet leading to a battle.

Zhu momentarily mourns the loss of Violet as they collect the relic and move on. Following many more battles The Destined One & Zhu collect the six relics and prepare for the final steps to revive Wukong. If the player unlocks and defeats the five main secret bosses, they can face Erlang Shen who will provide additional story and a new transformation. The Destined One and Zhu reunite with the elder monkey who has them go down a river of Waukon’s memories where they meet the remnants of what they believed was the original Wukong. However, the elder monkey reveals that this “Wukong” is another clone given the same task as The Destined One. The Destined One fights the Wukong remnant and the player is given two endings; if they unlock and defeat the Erlang fight The Destined One will regain all of Wukong’s memories essentially replacing him as a new version, if the player didn’t fight Erlang a second time then the old monkey will trap him in stone.

From dragons to giants, witness beasts of all kinds from mythological China.

Black Myth: Wukong at first glance seems like your typical soul-like, but as you play the game it becomes much clearer that this isn’t 100% the case. At its core, it’s far more akin to a traditional action RPG with armor & weapon hunting and a leveling-up system based on experienced gain. There is a bonfire mechanic in the form of shrines where you can regain health, specifically The Destined One, craft, etc., but this and difficult enemies are where the Souls comparisons kind of begin and end. From here out you venture into a semi-open map where there’s a fair bit of exploration available that even leads to secrets such as bosses and spells to aid the player in the more difficult end-game areas. You can backtrack to previous areas as you move forward in the story if you missed something important. As you traverse the game you can acquire material to make potions for health and stat boosts such as mana, stamina, attack, and armor and weapons.

The game wants players to take full advantage of everything it offers regarding fighting enemies. In addition to new weapons, armor, and potions you have spirits that you acquire upon defeating certain bosses and traveling the world for side quests. These spirits can also be upgraded and interchangeable at the shrines giving advantages over certain enemies including bosses. Transformations of enemies with unique abilities are also available and can be spected to increase their attributes.

If you’re even the lightest of fans of Chinese mythology chances are you’re pretty familiar with the story of Wukong and The Journey to the West. It’s a global phenomenon and many of our favorite franchises have adapted or taken inspiration from it in some form or another. The average person with that familiarity with the mythology will likely have a deeper connection to Black Myth: Wukong’s story. A classic tale of what cost comes with the obsession with power, but the game’s story is more so about Wukong’s search for independence from the Court. It’s well-written and fits as a plausible follow-up to the source like a glove. I wasn’t expecting there to be so much emotional impact from the lessons it was teaching, but a few moments hit me.

Many spells, weapons, armor, and more are at your leisure to dispose of your enemies.

THE BAD: Let me get the main issue with Black Myth: Wukong out of the way. There are glitches and quite a few of them,  are common for most players. Outside of the expected dips in frames, there will be moments where the game freezes before eventually crashing. This often happens when there’s too much pop from bright colors. I was playing the game with HDR turned on with my 4KTV so colors pop and are way brighter on average this only happened a few times, but noticeably with heavy use of darker blues, black, and brighter whites. There was a boss fight in the latter part of the game and this would happen often.

The more general glitches were getting stuck in walls or on rocks and other terrain. Those didn’t happen nearly as much, but I have suffered from them even during battle including boss fights. There is a slight pacing issue with the story too. This game is heavily inspired by boss-rush-like gameplay and sometimes when it just kills the story’s pacing. For example, you could have just finished your way out of fighting a major boss with a story-driven cutscene attached only to almost immediately be sent into battle with a lesser boss before you have time to digest what you just experienced. Granted there’s a lot of wiggle room between bosses more often than not, but when these pacing issues occur you feel them because they happen at the worst of times.

Black Myth: Wukong isn’t a souls-like, but does respect the skill and experience of its players with high, but rewarding difficulty.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Black Myth: Wukong is an inspiring action RPG and hopefully one of many coming from areas outside of North America, Europe, and Japan on an AA and AAA level. With the foundation of its story following an already popular IP and tons of hype surrounding it, Black Myth: Wukong was poised for some levels of success and has wildly exceeded those expectations even a month after launch. Though unconfirmed, leaks have suggested DLC and an indirect sequel already being developed by Game Science which is likely to have similar success in sales and reception.

Regarding the game itself for a first-time major project Black Myth: Wukong is an impressively made game from a rather small development team. If you’re a fan of anime or manga chances are you’ve come across some adaptation or even passing mention of Sun Wukong. He’s one of the most famous characters from Chinese mythology and has been adapted across many forms of media across multiple countries. Black Myth acts as a bit of a follow-up to Wukong’s passing after achieving Buddhahood and the results of that through the eyes of a Wukong clone. While the story is a bit original the creative team manages to fit in so many characters associated with Wukong and his lore including nods to his journey to the West. The story also features beautifully animated ending cutscenes for each chapter that looks like animated water paintings.

The gameplay while inspired by Souls-like titles is far more akin to more traditional action RPGs. You level up and increase the abilities and stats of Wukong as you progress the game and defeat enemies. You don’t lose anything of note upon death, but there is a resting mechanic akin to a bonfire in the shape of shrines where you can restore health & mana as well as buy material for crafting potions, armor, weaponry, etc. It can be just as difficult as a Souls-like at times, but it also demands aggression from players far more often than Souls-like games.

Despite a lack of real experience in the AA/AAA space and some glitches aside, Game Science has made a competent and complete fantasy experience based on the legendary Wukong. Rumors and leaks insist that DLC will be released next year along with development beginning on a title that may be focused on Jiang Ziya which has also been receiving several adaptations as of late. If the success of Black Myth: Wukong’s final product is anything to go by Game Science has an extremely bright future ahead of them in a rather saturated medium.