The Monkey King

The story of Black Myth: Wukong can be considered as an extension of the legendary work of writer Wu Chengen, Journey to the West, very popular in the East, but not so widespread in the West. But if, like me, you have never read this classic, know that the adventure of Goku and company in Dragon Ball is strongly inspired by the tale.

It is striking that the game does not make much effort to explain its story in detail, leaving us several times a little lost about who this character mentioned is, or where a certain scenario is located. Perhaps it is because the studio itself did not believe in the interest of players on this side of the map, or simply because they consider their tale so legendary that everyone should know it. Anyway... this is still a question mark.

But in short, the game's story revolves around our character, a young wukong known as "The Predestined", who is in search of locating the six mythological relics of his kind and reviving all the lost glory taken by ancient gods. These, which are seen at the beginning of gameplay, but I will talk about that part soon.



Despite the story of Black Myth: Wukong definitely not being the main point of the game (at least for this one who writes to you), it managed to be competent enough to arouse my curiosity to seek more information about these fighting monkeys and all their glory experienced in the past. If the idea of Games Science was to do this, they hit the mark.

A character of few words, but with much to say

Abruptly, the game begins by presenting a beautiful cutscene, in which the main character is preparing for a battle in the skies against some ancient gods, wielding his magical staff and jumping off a cliff, falling onto a flying cloud (that flying cloud), heading towards his destiny.

Upon arriving at the intended location, we challenge a God, who apparently has decided to expel us from paradise, leaving all the magnificence of our simian species aside, but for no apparent reason. In an attempt to set things straight, an epic battle begins demonstrating all the power of the game in terms of gameplay, but we will talk about that in more detail soon.

After the outcome of the battle, our character falls from the sky like a meteor, and from that moment on, the true journey of the game begins, as the first wukong we control is old, like some kind of elder of his kind, passing on the responsibility of glory to a young monkey, but different from the old one, does not mention a word throughout almost more than 40 hours, between battles, journeys and victories in pursuit of his goal.



It is worth mentioning that after the conclusion of each of the six chapters, cutscenes are presented, bringing all their splendor of graphics, as well as always bringing a tone of drama and rare beauty.

The focus of Black Myth: Wukong

Since its first trailer published in 2020, Black Myth: Wukong made it clear that it was a game with a lot of influence from soulslike style games, but not necessarily trying to emulate the combat of Dark Souls, for example. We can say that its movements are more inspired by NieR: Automata, Vanquish, Bayonetta, among many other characters action, with the monkey using and abusing speed in attacks, but always keeping an eye on the stamina bars, vigor, etc.

Using his magical staff, our Predestined will have a long death corridor, facing gigantic, terrifying and very stylish bosses, as well as some smaller enemies, but that die after one or two hits. Yes, I dare say that Black Myth: Wukong is practically a boss rush. Not that this is bad, by any means.

In Black Myth: Wukong, our character will not have a series of weapons to discover which is the best to face a certain enemy, nothing like that. The focus is 100% on frenzied action, making sure you can dodge at the right moments (since the game does not have a proper parry), and deliver powerful blows potent enough for the threat to suffer a lot of damage.

Try again

Keep in mind right now that Black Myth: Wukong is very difficult, challenging, but also fair. In lost battles, you don't get the feeling that the game is unbalanced, but rather that you may not have understood the enemy's attack pattern very well, as the game characters have a considerable range of movements.



To assist wukong in battles, the character will learn saving spells, such as the possibility of freezing the enemy for a few seconds and delivering good sequences of strong blows. These must be used wisely, as the energy for use is controlled by a mana meter.

Another very interesting and creative way of assisting in battles is the transformation into previously defeated bosses, being able to use even the moves that used to crush you into tiny pieces. You literally change your visual appearance and inherit all the attributes of the defeated creatures. This brings a special charm to the adventure.

I confess that despite the numerous options to fight and win epic battles, I still miss a good old parry. It didn't need to be a defense for a devastating counterattack, but something with a shorter time window.

Other similarities

Even though it is not a soulslike at its core, Black Myth: Wukong leaves essential traces of a good and beautiful game from FromSoftware, such as a very extensive range of study of enemy movements. But not only that, as you may have noticed, with so many ways to attack, it is obvious that you must choose carefully what to use. It cannot be something too generic, or you will not be able to advance much.

As is customary, Black Myth: Wukong has savepoints at shrines, unlike the traditional bonfires, but they also work so that it is possible to make changes to your attack build, as well as improve your skill tree, which is much more simplified.

The stamina, vigor, and magic bars catch the attention and you must always be attentive to their consumption, which I personally found to empty too quickly, even when just walking a basic path.

The exploration of Black Myth: Wukong is not so enjoyable to do, being something more linear, without many surprises along the way. Items with larger rewards will invariably be easy to reach, but of course they are optional. Despite its linearity, it still presents beautiful environments.

Brilliance not only in combat

As mentioned earlier, Black Myth: Wukong enchanted the gaming world with its action and also its incredible scenarios. Well, all of that was maintained, perhaps, improved even more in its final version. It had been a long time since a game impressed me so much with its setting.

From a simple tree leaf to the design of the simplest creatures, they make you admire what is around you for a few seconds before making a decision. Everything in the game is a sight to behold. 



Even the graphical ballet implemented in battles makes everything much more beautiful to play and pay attention to every detail, from the monkey's walk to the awakening of the grandeur of his most skillful movements. Everything enchants in Black Myth: Wukong.

Some thorns

Not everything is perfect in Black Myth: Wukong, but despite some missteps, all are quite correctable over time with brief updates. The first negative point is the size of the subtitles, which for someone like me, with myopia, seeing the subtitles clearly is not very easy. And since the game does not offer an adjustment, this complicates the situation.

Another point that draws a lot of attention is regarding the characters' mouth movements, which if you opt for the English language audio, you will notice a lack of synchronization with the characters' lips. I noticed some freezes after the end of cutscenes, but nothing that ruins the experience.

Finally, the soundtrack is not bad, but I missed more epic music in certain moments of the journey, when you are close to a great threat, for example. Like when you know that something spectacular is about to happen just by listening to the soundtrack.

Black Myth: Wukong was reviewed on a Playstation 5.