Black Myth: Wukong review: fast-paced action makes this Soulslike its own beast

Black Myth: Wukong MSRP $59.99 Score Details Pros

Great combat mechanics
Fantastic progression
Inventive bosses
Gorgeous visuals

Cons

Performance issues
Frustrating difficulty spikes

When I took down a giant flying blue dragon on my very first try, a feat accomplished even after I entered the fight with half of my allotted healing potions available, I never felt so accomplished.

Black Myth: Wukong, a new action-RPG from Game Science, is one of the few “Soulslike” games where I was able to overcome so many bosses in my first encounter with them. I won’t say whether that means it’s easier than your average genre game or if I’m really that good at it. In either case, it scratched an itch in my fur that similar games don’t always quite reach. The satisfaction of a hard-fought victory is always within my reach.

Black Myth: Wukong is only a Soulslike in the way Stellar Blade is, and that’s to its credit. It lightly borrows elements from the subgenre but carves out a niche for itself by focusing on its key differences. Despite some performance issues and frustrating difficulty spikes, Black Myth: Wukong’s frenetic combat and emphasis on fluid movement make it feel unlike any of its other contemporaries.

Journey to the west

Black Myth: Wukong’s story follows the Destined One as he works to gather relics and uncover the truth behind a past legend. I’m more enamored with what Black Myth is based on — the ancient Chinese story Journey to the West — than its actual execution. While it’s not nearly as cryptic as Elden Ring’s story, it still merely serves as a backdrop for the game’s selling points: fierce and furry action.

Black Myth‘s combat delivers where it counts.

The combat feels much more like Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice than any other FromSoftware game. In Dark Souls, players can experiment with different weapons, whereas Sekiro has players mastering a specific set of gameplay mechanics. Instead of parrying, Wukong focuses on dodging. This immediately makes it a much