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Black Myth Wukong is easily one of the most eagerly awaited games of recent years, and not for nothing has it managed to sell at least 10 million copies in a short space of time. An impressive figure considering it was the first console game from the studio that developed it, Game Science.

One of the main reasons it sold so well was that it was always presented in the most impressive way possible. We almost always saw a very "real" and considerably extensive gameplay, which always gave the public a great deal of confidence. Not even a few controversies could take the shine off it.

Initially, I wasn't that interested in the game because, as I've said a few times in previous posts, I'm not a big fan of souls-like games and Black Myth Wukong has always given me that impression. But as it got closer to release, I became a little more interested and decided to order it for review.

It wasn't this time that we got a game from this studio, who knows next time? But as always, Nuuvem came through and gave us a huge boost and I was finally able to get my hands on this game. But did it meet my expectations? Well, that's what we're going to talk about in this review.

Souls-like?

To repeat, my biggest fear was that Black Myth Wukong would be yet another in the ever-expanding souls-like genre. I confess to being a little relieved when the game's studio said that this game wouldn't fit into that genre, but it's very easy to see that it has a big influence here.

If we take into account the existing games in the genre, and From Software's games more specifically, I think this one can be compared mainly to Sekiro. As for the gameplay, Black Myth Wukong is characterized by faster, more dynamic combat.

There is no defend button, for example. To survive the fights, you always have to calculate the exact moment to dodge the enemy's blows. It's very important to learn the enemies' moveset in order to dodge their attacks at the right time and thus counterattack them.

And that's important, because if there's one thing this game is like soulslikes, it's its difficulty. I'm not the most identified person with the genre, but I've heard from people with more knowledge of the genre that this game is comparable to some games, despite being a little easier. And it's at these moments that I remember why I don't like games of this type.

It's not even because of the difficulty, but I have a certain neurological problem that unfortunately activates when I go through moments of high stress, which almost always happens to me in games like this. For most of the game, now talking about Wukong, the battles, including those against bosses, are quite easy. But there are some that tend to be quite tricky.

Boss Rush

Going back to the way this game was presented, we always saw incredible boss battles that made our eyes glaze over. And it was always a totally different one, but just as impressive. And watching those videos, the idea came to me that this might be one of those games where you go from boss to boss until the end.

Well, in Black Myth Wukong we have some easier enemies in the course of the levels, the so-called "mobs", which are almost always very weak and easy to defeat. However, they are very important, because it's from them that we get most of the XP we use to improve our skills through a considerably complex tree.

And although most of them are weak and easy to defeat, there are some that are much stronger and, if you're not careful enough, will wipe out your progress in a matter of seconds. But past these enemies, it's basically a boss rush.

I remember at one point when the game was being promoted, the developers said that there would be more than eighty boss battles in the game. And they weren't lying. We have a lot of battles here, from those that make the story run to those that are optional. In general, the story battles are more difficult, in my opinion, but there are some optional ones that will give you a hard time, even at the start of the game.

What can we do in the game?

In terms of gameplay, we have a game very similar to hack'n'slash games, but in this game you can't just press buttons at random. At the base, you have weak attacks, which are faster, and heavy attacks, which take a few seconds to fully charge. It's even possible to use a heavy blow without fully charging it, but the damage would be less.

As mentioned earlier, we don't have a defend button, so we have to dodge as many attacks as possible in order to survive the fights. If you dodge at just the right moment, the time quickly decreases, allowing you to think more carefully about your next move.

By using L2 (on the PlayStation, which is where we played), we can rotate our staff, which allows us to parry the arrow attacks. When you hold down R2, you can use various spells by pressing one of the four buttons (square, triangle, x and ball), and you can even use some consumable items if you use the directional keys instead of the aforementioned buttons.

It's worth mentioning some interesting special abilities, such as one that freezes enemies, allowing us to deliver devastating blows. We also have an interesting one that allows us to use a "shadow clone jutso", creating several clones of our character that help us in combat.

But by far the most impressive ability is the one that allows you to transform into some of the enemies you face in the game. When you use these skills, a new life and stamina bar appears. The skills, when used, use up our magic bar.

In addition, by pressing L1, we can use our Porongo, which has a liquid that heals us when ingested. In addition to all of the above, you can run, jump and interact with some of the NPCs you meet on the maps. It's good gameplay, but I feel that at various times the game isn't very responsive. I ended up dying a few times because I pressed a certain button and it didn't do the job.

Another open world?

And the answer is no, this is not an open world game, but this is far from being a problem, but there are some points that could be improved. This game is one of those famous runner games, where you almost always just walk forward for a long time until the stage is over.

However, some stages offer a certain degree of exploration that is very welcome. And it's in this exploration that we find various items that improve our character, as well as the various optional enemies that Black Myth Wukong offers.

However, one point where the game has a lot to improve is the way it shows you the way, even though it's very straightforward. What do I mean by that? Well, the game uses and abuses that old and well-known feature called the invisible wall.

The thing is that in this game, they find themselves in places that seem entirely possible to access. And the opposite is also true, as at various times we come across places that don't seem accessible and actually are. It's a game design problem that could be improved in future game content or even in the studio's next game.

A visual glimpse

One of the things that was most impressive about the game's announcements was its visuals. As I said, I played Black Myth Wukong on PS5, both in quality mode and in performance mode (there is a third, more balanced mode, but I didn't test it that much). Whichever mode you test, the game is very beautiful, but for me, far from as impressive as it looked.

I also tested the game on my PC, which is considerably more powerful than the PS5, and on it the game is really impressive, but also very heavy. Even on the PlayStation, because no matter which game mode you choose, it's very noticeable that the game has several performance problems, especially frame drops.

The textures are very good, the lighting effects, the scenery are very well designed, everything is beautiful. But if there's one thing that impresses in this game, it's the animations. There are some bosses that are very well animated, and when you pass a chapter, the game presents a cutscene that is simply wonderful, each with a different type of animation.

Was it worth it?

Well, if you're looking for a challenging game with a lot of fun and extensive gameplay, Black Myth Wukong is the game for you. There's a story too, but it's best to do some research before playing, as the game doesn't really explain everything that's happening on screen.

Once again, I'd like to thank Nuuvem for giving us a key to the game, it was a very memorable experience. The length of the game varies from person to person, but I think you'll need at least 33 hours to finish the game's 6 chapters.

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