PC Critic Reviews

Despite Black Myth: WuKong achieving world-class standards in art and presentation, with solid and engaging gameplay, rich content, and a narrative and artistic expression that is uniquely meaningful for East Asian players—especially those who grew up with Journey to the West—the game is not without its flaws. The inexperience in level design and the drawbacks of excessive resource allocation have indeed impacted the overall experience…As a Chinese player who grew up watching the Journey to the West cartoons and TV series, playing Black Myth: WuKong is an experience that deeply resonates with me. I appreciate the developers' unreserved presentation of Journey to the West culture, and I am in awe of the game's artistic presentation. This profound cultural empathy has already made up for any shortcomings.

With breathtaking concept art, stunning graphics and sceneries, wonderful score, and one of the most fulfilling playabilities we've seen in role-playing games, Black Myth: Wukong is unquestionably a Game Of The Year candidate, promising a bright future for the genre's fans.

Hands down, one of this year's best action games - Black Myth: Wukong is a flurry of sublime combat and expert boss design.

Black Myth: Wukong delivers breathtaking combat, stellar production quality, and unforgettable boss fights. Its few quirks don’t hold it back from being one of the genre’s best games in recent memory.

To look at Black Myth: Wukong purely through the lens of market sizes and tastes is a disservice that obscures the most critical fact of all: it’s a fantastic game.

Black Myth: Wukong masterfully takes what makes a good Soulslike tick without selling its own soul, delivering what is the best action game of the year.

We expected something grandiose with Black Myth Wukong and we got it ! Whether in terms of its production or its gameplay, Game Science's title is a small miracle. Graphically, the game is splendid, to the point where it will become a reference for future games of this caliber. The Chinese studio proves that not only does it master the Unreal Engine 5, but that it also knows how to deliver an immersive and superbly told universe. On PC the game is magnificent, but on PS5 too, the result is sublime. There are a few failures here and there, but nothing too dramatic considering all the work done. But it's not just the setting that is fantastic, the gameplay too. Fluid, nervous and particularly enjoyable, the gameplay of Black Myth Wukong allows you to enjoy the Monkey King's abilities, from his legendary agility to his multiple transformations, without forgetting the mastery of his magic staff. Sure, we could complain about the lack of a map to find our way around, that the invisible walls could have been better hidden and that some secrets are really too cryptic to find, but that's nothing compared to the generosity that the game shows. Because let's not forget that the Black Myth Wukong project is not only the very first game from a young independent studio, and which started with a team of 13 developers for a year (to end up with more than a hundred at the end), and that, and it's respectful.

Black Myth: Wukong is everything we hoped for and more a game that, by its own merits, is set to crown itself as one of the best of the year, without a doubt. With exquisite gameplay and a cinematic narrative development, it puts the finishing touch on a well-rounded game if you're into challenges. The difficulty curve, in my opinion, is absolutely unbalanced, becoming increasingly harder as you progress through the chapters, with some utterly broken bosses that will drive you crazy. However, the feeling you get after overcoming them is something entirely different. Overall, this is an absolutely unmissable title if you're a fan of Souls-like games. Here, you’ll find hours of entertainment and a good hundred final bosses for your delight, enjoyment, and frustration the Yin and Yang perfectly represented in a video game.

I'm a deeply time-invested Souls player. To be honest, it took me a few hours to give up my Soulslike expectations, engrained muscle memory and to set aside comparisons with FromSoftware's best. When I did, Black Myth: Wukong and its design suddenly made a lot more sense. The biggest disservice to the game would be to come to Black Myth: Wukong as an Elden Ring player, for example, and be disappointed that there aren't quests, companions, a warehouse full of weapons, and the ability to explore the beautiful world…As a massively ambitious game made by a relatively small developer, Black Myth: Wukong could have gone sideways in a dozen different ways. That it didn't is a minor miracle. That the game looks incredible, offers deep and engaging combat and a unique blend of mechanics is even more impressive. Black Myth: Wukong takes a very specific approach to the action-RPG genre that might not be for every player. But judged on its own merits and self-imposed rules, it's an almost entirely successful and deeply satisfying game to master.

Black Myth: Wukong is not only a beautiful demonstration of the graphical power that we can expect from Unreal Engine 5, but it is also an excellent action game and a possible candidate for the Game of the Year race in 2024.