Black Myth: Wukong
2024
Audio: Chinese, English · Subtitles: Portuguese, Chinese, French, German, Spanish, Korean, Russian, Japanese, Polish, English
- role-playing (rpg)
- hack and slash/beat 'em up
- adventure
- action
- fantasy
- single player
The story
Black Myth: Wukong is an action role-playing game developed by Game Science, inspired by the classical Chinese novel Journey to the West. Players control the Destined One, a staff-wielding monkey protagonist, through mostly linear levels interspersed with expansive areas. The game features Soulslike elements, a flexible skill system, and boss encounters of varying intensity. It was the first installment in the Black Myth series and is widely regarded as the first AAA game from the Chinese video game industry.
What it’s like
Golden-brown dusk light spills over ink-wash mountains, temple roofs and sun-cracked stone, while lanterns and sudden bursts of ember and lightning throw sharp contrast across dark forests and cavern interiors. The camera stays close behind the Monkey King as he swings his staff, and the fights have a weighty, almost painterly rhythm, with dust, petals and sparks hanging in the air after each blow. The score leans on taiko-like percussion, bamboo flute and sustained strings, dropping to wind and distant bells in the quieter stretches between battles. Its vibe is solemn, mythic and tense, a mix of awe and grinding persistence, best suited to a dedicated evening with headphones or a long weekend session rather than background play. Pacing is deliberate: long traversal through dramatic landscapes punctuated by demanding boss encounters that reward patience and repeated attempts. Violence is frequent and stylised, with brutal, bloody hits on monstrous foes, though the gore reads as mythic spectacle rather than grim realism, and fear comes mostly from difficulty and ominous atmosphere. For players who love Journey to the West, sweeping visual myth-making and challenging, Soulslike combat.
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