It’s the final stretch for Black Myth Wu Kong, who is fine-tuning his final settings to be ready to invade the world on August 20. A colossal pressure on the shoulders of the Chinese developers at GameScience, since their game single-handedly crystallized the definition of the next gen when it was announced in August 2020, a few months before the release of the PS5 and Xbox Series. And for the past 4 years, every summer, we’ve been treated to our dose of trailers, gameplay, and demos dissected, except this time, things are different. Indeed, the game was playable during the Summer Game Fest in early June, and a press tour in London a few days ago allowed some media to play the beast for 2 hours. Unfortunately, Jeuxactu was not part of the happy few in London, but I still managed to get some new gameplay from the developers who also confirmed that no, Black Myth Wu Kong is not a Souls-like strictly speaking, but a combination of several genres, with the added bonus of a desire to tell us the story of Sun Wu Kong, with a real narration and beautiful, well-crafted cutscenes. And there, I want to say hallelujah!
First thing to know and that you have already heard since the previews of the Summer Game Fest: Black Myth Wukong will not be a Souls-like, at least not as we understand it. In fact, the game will be a combination of several game typologies, inspired by several genres, a bit like Stellar Blade was a few months ago. And in truth, it’s rather good news, especially since at the moment, it’s a bit of an overdose of Souls-like, the DLC of Elden Ring also occupying a lot of media space in recent weeks. According to the developers of GameScience who took advantage of their presence at the beginning of June in Los Angeles, Black Myth Wukong will in reality be a demanding Action-RPG, but with a faster pace and above all, the game will give pride of place to the story and narration. Since we are also here to discover the adventures of the Monkey King in his journey to the West, the Chinese studio also wants to take the opportunity to tell this monument of Chinese literature in an epic way. This is why it was also specified that we will be entitled to beautiful staging and other presentations as soon as a boss appears, some having downright lines of dialogue, and that we will also be able to count on beautiful cutscenes. The kind of things that Elden Ring and its DLC lacked, the latter matrixing people with its narration as cryptic as it is anecdotal. No, if you buy Black Myth Wukong also for its story, you should not be disappointed.
BIG BOSS (1971)
That said, in terms of bosses and enemies, Black Myth Wukong will not be too picky either, since no less than 80 bosses and more than 160 types of enemies have been mentioned in the game. A nice generosity that we hope will balance with the exploration aspect that also seems to be another promise of the game. Moreover, I take this opportunity to specify that the game will not be an open world, and that too, I know that many people will appreciate. In fact, Black Myth Wukong will offer a more narrative experience, peppered with many fights of course, but the idea of showing the West that Chinese folklore can also please outside of China. It is quite well known, but it is not bad to specify it once again, but Dragon Ball, Son Goku and all the rest, it is a reworked adaptation by Akira Toriyama of the story of the monkey king with whom he was in love. GameScience’s game will not hesitate to explore lesser-known aspects of the Monkey King, such as his ability to transform and take on the appearance of totally different beings such as insects for example. In literature, Sun Wukong masters 72 transformations, we will see how many of these metamorphoses will be covered in the game.
So for people who were afraid of a harsh difficulty, even exaggerated like the games of FromSoftware, I can reassure you, Black Myth Wukong will not be insurmountable, far from it. Demanding without doubt against the big bosses, but you will not have to spend hours making your character level up to have the chance to defeat an enemy. However, the game will offer a skill tree to evolve Sun WuKong who will start the adventure with his famous magic stick, which he can obviously hide in the hollow of his ear and enlarge it when he needs it. A stick that we can also evolve over the course of the adventure, with cosmetic additions, but also additional powers. At this stage, the skills of the stick are still vague and we recently learned that Sun Wukong will have other weapons, like this magic whip which should vary the pleasures. Is this a weapon that can be combined with the staff, or will it replace the latter that our monkey king will have lost during the adventure? We will have to wait for the release of the game to find out for sure.
In terms of structure, Black Myth Wukong will not be an open world, but will offer a more compact structure. The game has been compared to Sony’s God of War in its approach to adventure, with a game that knows how to find a balance between action, boss fights and narration. This means that the game will offer a traced path, sometimes with several branches and even the possibility of skipping, to avoid certain bosses who are on the path of the Monkey King. The idea for the developers of Game Science is to offer a semblance of freedom and exploration, knowing that the boss fights will obviously be numerous. Inevitably, when we announce 80 bosses, it is also to measure ourselves against them. Most of the time, we will find them in a closed arena, the most important ones obviously, but some can therefore be avoided.
Regarding the combat system of Black Myth Wukong, it is based on this way of alternating between fast and spectacular attacks with heavier, more powerful attacks. In fact, when you spam the fast attack button, Sun Wukong will start performing acrobatic movements that make the action fluid and very stylized. The idea is also to show that our monkey king is a martial arts aesthete and that he wields the stick like no one else. A stick that can obviously lengthen under certain conditions to hit enemies from a distance or pierce their guard too. What is interesting, however, is that the heavy attack must be charged before it can be used, either by holding the heavy attack button for a few seconds or by performing consecutive light attacks until you store a charge that you can unleash later. Note that the default value of this heavy attack is a long-range aerial hit. Be careful though, Sun Wukong is subject to an endurance gauge that will limit his attacks and movements, in order to prevent you from spamming light attacks constantly, and thus balance the fights. Moreover, I noticed that the clashes, even against weak enemies, require patience and an interesting reading of their pattern, obviously taken from Souls-like.
ROTARY DODGE
On the other hand, there is no button to counter or parry enemy attacks, Black Myth Wu Kong focuses on dodging, a bit old-fashioned, and this is where the game stands out from the usual Souls-likes. The game will favor the player with perfect dodges, which materialize with a silhouette that leaves behind and thus slows down time, which gives him time to take advantage of the enemy in question. There is however a mechanic that allows you to protect yourself from projectiles thrown by enemies when Sun Wukong spins his staff to create a protective field. It’s very stylish, but it is obviously limited, since you won’t be able to do more than three in a row. I had already talked about it in my previous video, but I’m giving a reminder today: Sun Wukong will be able to juggle between three different postures at any time, which will give him access to specific attacks. We have Smash Form, Pillar Form and Thrust Form, and this will allow us to vary and multiply the combos, knowing that we can also use additional magic spells, in order to improve our abilities, or conversely weaken the enemy. Among the known magic effects, there is Immobilization, Stone Solid, Ring of Fire and The Pluck of Many. Enough to face the toughest bosses who will not give a gift. That said, another detail that proves that Black Myth Wu Kong is moving away from Souls-like, each time we bite the dust, we do not lose our XP and skills. In fact, each time we go to take down an enemy, whoever it is, we recover Will, it is a kind of bonus, or currency, which then allows us to buy consumables, which can be used in the different skill trees.
As you will have understood, Black Myth Wukong will not be a game where you will die constantly. This will obviously be the case, because the game is demanding, but nothing will be insurmountable, especially since the approach is not the same as a Souls-like. The game is indeed located rather between Stellar Blade and God of War with a neat narration that should honor the legend of the monkey king. We will of course wait until August 20 to be sure, but if there is one thing we are certain of today, it is the technical and visual quality of the title. Not only does the Chinese studio master Unreal Engine 5 like no one else, but in addition, it has developed its own tools, particularly in terms of boss animations, which are often four-legged creatures. This was one of the challenges of the developers who also called upon domesticated cats to recover their animations, via motion capture. This is also why the movements of some animal bosses are so fluid and natural. In short, on this side, I have no doubt, Black Myth Wu Kong should be among the milestones of the genre.