when China shows its muscles and bares its fangs

When it hits the market late next summer, Black Myth Wukong will have put an end to 4 years of pure fantasy. But why are we talking about fantasy? Because this game crystallizes several things at once. The first is that graphically, the game was really tempting and it allowed us to have a little preview of the next gen games that we would be entitled to on the PS5 and Xbox Series consoles, which were not yet available on the time I remind you. Four years later, the truly next gen games can be counted on the fingers of one hand and we can say it, this generation of consoles is undoubtedly that of the greatest fraud in terms of visual rendering. When it was revealed for the first time in August 2020, Black Myth Wukong also represented a renewal for video games, particularly due to its origins, since it immediately highlighted China’s know-how in of AAA. Because yes, Black Myuth Wukong goes beyond the prowess of the Game Science studio, it is also the emancipation of China in the traditional video game market. If the middle country has always been more of a consumer of mobile games, habits are changing and according to Lan Weiyi, project manager at the Game Science studio, the Chinese population has reached maturity and seems ready to consume Western video games, with the same precepts. In 2020, China had more Steam users than the United States and at that same time, more than a million Chinese players were logging into GTA Online daily.

China, and other Asian countries like Malaysia, have always been the little hand of Western and Japanese studios, but the country has other desires and to prove to the whole world that this is it, they can finally create real AAA, capable of competing with the biggest. And this desire to do as well, or even better than others, is already reflected in the graphics. Even though it’s almost 4 years after its announcement, Black Myth Wukong is still a game that will amaze you. Development first started on Unreal Engine 4, but the Game Science studio also switched to Unreal Engine 5 when the latter was made available. We’ll let you admire the latest video that was posted yesterday by NVIDIA, but the game is simply to die for. Environments, characters, bestiaries, lighting, attention to detail, Black Myth Wukong will also benefit from the latest technologies from NVIDIA which fully supports the game. This means that people who have good equipment on PC will be able to have a Full compatible game Ray Tracing via DLSS 3.5. Play of colors, impeccable management of light, reflections in real time, the shadows which are projected with incredible precision on the different objects of the decor, it’s truly striking. And then aim for the richness of the decorations, the small particles added to give life to the whole, we are clearly on a game which is visually next gen and it was about time. When we know that three-quarters of the games on PS5 and Xbox Series do not live up to the capabilities of the machines, we ask ourselves real questions. Bre, the beauty of Black Myth Wukong is very real, and it will undoubtedly be necessary with the best of the latest PC technologies to enjoy it in the best conditions.

ZHONG GUO WAN SUI?

So with this game, China will be able to show what it is capable of in terms of technique, but what could be better than choosing the story of Sun Wukong to show that the country of Xi Jin Ping is capable of shining at the international also by its stories? Hero of the greatest tales of Chinese literature, The Journey to the West is, let us remember, the work which inspired Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball. The little boy with the monkey tail, the magic cloud that flies, the staff that shrinks and grows, the pig-headed companion who adores women, the protective dragon, etc. As for the last point which allowed Black Myth Wukong to create so much buzz during its reveal, it is obviously the type of game into which we immediately assimilated it, namely Souls-like. It must be said that the genre has been popular for several years and that the almost unexpected popular success of Elden Ring allowed the genre to become known to the general public and to people who were nevertheless allergic to this type of game. 23 million copies sold of Elden Ring, that’s as much as a Call of Duty, I don’t know if you realize…

Can Black Myth Wukong be the new benchmark for Souls-like? Well, if we are to believe the few media outlets that have been able to play it, the promises are indeed there, and the game has enormous potential to actually hold its own against FromSoftware’s games. Besides, if we want to have fun making some comparisons, Black Myth Wukong is more like Sekiro and Bloodborne than Dark Souls or Elden Ring for example, and that’s mainly due to its gameplay. and this choice not to integrate a counter or the possibility of parrying enemy attacks. Indeed, the entire gameplay of Black Myth Wukong focuses on dodging and the way in which you will analyze the pattern of the opponents, but especially the bosses, to avoid their lightning attacks. There will be small skits where we will see Sun Wukong parrying an attack, but it will be something pre-calculated, just to give amplitude and a certain staging to the clashes. This means that to avoid enemy attacks, you must either dodge to the sides via a roll, or jump to gain altitude, or flee. Moreover, we can see that dodging enemies with perfect timing allows Sun Wukong to leave a silhouette behind him.

THIS SOULS ME

Where Black Myth Wukong will stand out is through the three postures that Sun Wukong will be able to juggle with and which will give him access to specific attacks. Basically, in addition to the basic light and heavy attacks, you can switch at any time between 3 attack positions: Smash Form, Pillar Form and Thrust Form. In this way, you can vary the combos, knowing that you can also call on additional magic spells, in order to improve your abilities, or conversely weaken the enemy. Known magic effects include Immobilize, Stone Solid, Ring of Fire, and The Pluck of Many. Note that Sun Wukong can also transform, as in the tale, and thus take the form of a bladed wolf or give birth to a creature with venomous attacks. Here again, the goal is to offer a new move-set to the person, in order to vary the pleasures even more. Regarding weapons, so far, Sun Wukong only has his magic staff, but since it can expand, shrink and even transform, this means that his abilities will be different. And then, as you can see, wielding the stick allows you to perform movements as fluid as they are incredible, knowing that you can also use it as a distance weapon, a double-bladed lightsaber, make use of it like a pole or perform acrobatic movements with it.

No, where I’m waiting for Black Myth Wukong like crazy is in its bestiary, its enemies, its monsters, its bosses. And so far, from what I’ve seen, the little guys at Game Science have not disappointed me and have even proven that when it comes to artistic direction and reinventing a tale in terms of visuals, they are stuck. It will be good to relive the story of Sun Wukong but with another point of view, both more modern, but also very traditional in its story. I also expect from the game a beautiful narrative, that it does not forget to present to us all the most important protagonists of the tale, to take us on a journey and to offer more adventure and discovery sequences between two boss fights. The idea is also to travel through Ancient China, on foot as if on a magical cloud, and to discover places that are a change of scenery. And since we are talking about China, its mountains and its dizzying scenery, I also expect a lot of verticality. In any case, it’s clearly one of the 3 games that we’re looking forward to in 2024, in addition to Top Spin 2K25 and The Last Night, and obviously, we hope that it will live up to our expectations.