Black Myth: Wukong Review - Our Game Of The Year!

I know the title of our review is bold, but this game stands out not only in technical quality but the story, and the characters, this is our Game of the Year front-runner of 2024, a true masterpiece.

Black Myth: Wukong, developed by the Chinese studio Game Science, is an action role-playing game inspired by the classic tale, Journey to the West. Alongside other literary masterpieces like Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, and Dream of the Red Chamber, it is a cornerstone of Chinese literature.

Adapting Sun Wukong in Journey to the West, a story rich with influential characters and themes across East Asia is no small feat. Fortunately, Game Science has successfully tackled this challenge, crafting a narrative that is not only complex and original but also occasionally deep and thought-provoking.

Black Myth: Wukong Takes you on an Adventure

The game unfolds across six chapters, each enhanced by stunning animations that bring to life the story of the chapter’s central character. The mini-boss transformations will have you planning your next move carefully, as some of the more intense main story boss fights will need a bit more fire power and you can chop and change the ones you need, also this game really caters to those who have different fight styles, by the time you reach chapter 3 you will be so well versed you will be dodging, transforming through fights like the ultimate warrior.

The best thing about this game is the ability to go wandering off the path as there is no in game map and see what advenure you can get up to, or in this case how many enemies can you take out without using your Gourds – Gourds are your main source of health regeneration. As you journey through a collection of captivating chapters, you’ll find yourself transported to vibrant groves, sun-kissed beaches, and charming rooftops adorned with snow. While some chapters present their share of challenges and frustrations, the overall spirit of adventure is perfectly captured.

Striking Where the Enemy is Most Vulnerable

All the beauty and adventure is nothing without ataining the combat skills and spells to get you to your goal, and the combat is amazing, combat involves not much blocking apart from twirling your staff to redirect arrows, making battles essentially a choreography of evading and executing precisely timed strikes.

You have the option to use the sparks in three distinct staff stances: Smash, Pillar, and Thrust. Remarkably, you can switch between them seamlessly, and each stance boasts its own impressive set of unlockable moves. Honestly, I find myself loving the dynamic of switching among them all. The alterations also allow you to transform into even more formidable creatures for extended periods, like some of the first bosses you encounter.

For all the merits of the skill tree, I do think it has lots of foundational benefits, like upping health and mana and the like, which makes you question whether you should be using those points into those, or skipping them for the fun stances and spells. You can refund your sparks at any point and mess around with builds which as mentioned before you may need depending on specific boss fights or your style of fighting.

If you love adventure, RPG’s and would like to take on over 100 bosses, looking for spectacular design, and exhilarating combat then Black Myth: Wukong is for you, and as stated earlier our pick for Game Of The Year.