Monkey Business

Black Myth: Wukong

Black Myth: Wukong
Rating: 4.5/5
Developer and Publisher: Games Science
Platform: PC, XBOX, PP5
Price: Rs 3,599

We first heard about Wukong last year during Gamescom, and their demo stall had some of the longest lines at the exhibition. It was a game from a relatively unknown company called Game Science, and the demo they had was mind-blowingly beautiful and had excellent combat. Fast-forward a year, and Wukong is probably one of the biggest games to have released this year, building with it an enormous amount of hype. So, let's cut through the hype and see if there is a game to be played here.

The game has stunning visuals and is based out of the book Journey to the West

Black Myth: Wukong is based on the book Journey to the West, which was published in China in the 16th Century and has seen countless adaptations in movies, anime and even video games. Unfortunately, with regard to the book the game does nothing to bring you up to speed on who these characters in the game are. Instead, you are thrown into a long sequence of cutscenes and combat bits where you are fighting some god before you are eventually defeated, and it turns out an old monkey is narrating the story. It's the classic technique many games employ, which lets you have a taste of the souped-up car/character before throwing you into a junker. In the game, you play a monkey who after listening to that story decides to find the six relics to become the monkey king. While every story continuation after every boss fight looks gorgeous, more could have been done to immerse the player into the mythos behind Sun Wukong and explain the significance behind all of the quests. It is obvious that the developers were deep into the source material, but forgot that the audience might not be that into it or even aware of the origins of the game.

Other than the informative side of this tale, Wukong, at its core, is a robust game. It is probably one of the more stunning titles out right now, and its gameplay mechanics are simply amazing. It involves fast-paced action that can be combined with spells and special abilities. Wukong can also take on the form of creatures he has defeated. There are gear drops, and you just swap out the old for new ones as you progress. You can also craft gear with things you find around, which is fun. Unlike most modern RPG games, this system is pretty simple. The combat and bosses are tough to defeat, and you might find yourself repeating boss battles several times. You can also die during exploration. In fact, there are some overpowered monsters/demons roaming around that you might want to avoid before you are at a certain level or have collected enough will to upgrade your skills a bit.

The world of Black Myth is spectacular. Every bit of foliage and water, as well as the details of the characters' equipment and costumes, are done to perfection. It has to be one of the most beautiful-looking games out right now. The game uses Unreal 5 to deliver its crisp graphics and gameplay while bringing your computer to its knees. The setup I ran this game on has a respectable AMD Ryzen 5800x, and an Nvidia RTX 3090 graphic card, but the game struggled at many key moments, lagging especially during combat and in the first few moments when you start a stage. There are also a few bugs here and there that often crop up at the most inconvenient time, usually when you are in a tough boss fight. This can get frustrating, but it isn't a game-breaking bug. I believe that the developers will eventually get it to a stage where it is playable.

In conclusion, if you have the hardware setup to run Wukong, it is definitely a game you want in your collection. However, if you don't have the requisite hardware, pick up the game when it eventually gets cheaper. Given this game's momentum, you are looking at a long wait, though. Regardless, Wukong is a game you want in your collection, and it is something that you keep going back to once they iron out all the issues.