Black Myth: Wukong - Review

[HiddenX]

Capsule Computers reviewed Black Myth: Wukong:

Black Myth: Wukong Review

Overview
For many people when it comes to a video game being developed and published out of China the first thing they’ll think of is likely a gacha title as a certain company has grown quite famous through the years with its multiple efforts. When it comes to Chinese stories though, many will likely think of The Journey to the West in one way or perhaps Romance of the Three Kingdoms though the former has stretched far beyond its roots and encouraged countless inspirations that take elements of Sun Wukong’s story and make it their own, be it through a game, manga, tv series, and even films. These different stories all came from other countries, however, and now this time with Game Science we have a Chinese developer telling a tale so steeped in The Journey to the West with Black Myth: Wukong that those unfamiliar with elements of the book may miss out on some aspects. Filled to the brim with lore and designed to be a challenging action RPG, has Game Science managed to make their own mark on Sun Wukong’s legend?

[...]

Overall
Black Myth: Wukong takes the classic Journey to the West and successfully manages to put its own spin on things while delivering a very solid and impressive looking action RPG. It does often feel more like a boss rush than anything else, which isn’t a bad thing by any means, but some annoyingly placed invisible walls betray the game’s gorgeous design and lackluster standard foes make the boss encounters the only, albeit incredibly bright, shining moments of the title. Thankfully with a vast array of combat and upgrade options available for the player to take advantage of, challenging these difficult bosses is a frustratingly great time, making Black Myth: Wukong an impressive albeit flaw.

Score: 8.5/10

More information.

 

[JDR13]

It's still in the top 3 on Steam both in sales and number of players.

 

[Couchpotato]

Well according to other articles the vast majority of players keeping it popular are from China. Steam numbers even show this week English users lost the majority.

Something Just Happened on Steam That's Never Happened Before

Some gamers spot that something that never happened before recently happened on Steam, the leading PC gaming platform in the world.

gamerant.com

 

[JDR13]

Yeah, there was a discussion about that here recently. It makes sense that the majority of players for Black Myth Wukong are going to be Chinese.

I still haven't played it myself, but it's one that I'm interested in.

 

[sakichop]

Well according to other articles the vast majority of players keeping it popular are from China. Steam numbers even show this week English users lost the majority.

Something Just Happened on Steam That's Never Happened Before

Some gamers spot that something that never happened before recently happened on Steam, the leading PC gaming platform in the world.

gamerant.com

I'm a little confused by the numbers. Basically, Chinese went up 3% which makes sense, but English went down about 3% which is confusing since you change the language in game.

So, people that have been using steam in English just decided to change their entire steam to Chinese because they played Wukong. Doesn't make sense to me.

Anyway, I'm in chapter 3 and really enjoying it. It's an excellent game no matter what country you're from. Doesn't mean everyone will like it of course.

 

[Couchpotato]

I'm a little confused by the numbers. Basically, Chinese went up 3% which makes sense, but English went down about 3% which is confusing since you change the language in game.

So, people that have been using steam in English just decided to change their entire steam to Chinese because they played Wukong. Doesn't make sense to me.

Anyway, I'm in chapter 3 and really enjoying it. It's an excellent game no matter what country you're from. Doesn't mean everyone will like it of course.

Yeah it's not easy to understand as another hardware survey claims 57%.

 

[Redglyph]

I'm a little confused by the numbers. Basically, Chinese went up 3% which makes sense, but English went down about 3% which is confusing since you change the language in game.

So, people that have been using steam in English just decided to change their entire steam to Chinese because they played Wukong. Doesn't make sense to me.

Isn't that simply because the absolute number of players has increased in favour of the Chinese-speaking population?

 

[sakichop]

Isn't that simply because the absolute number of players has increased in favour of the Chinese-speaking population?

Yes, thanks. Total brainfart. I got fixated on english going down and chinese going up and got it stuck in my brain that one must be taking from the other. Totally ignoring the fact that a higher total number from an influx of Chinese users would cause English to go down. Man, tunnel vision.

 

[Redglyph]

Yes, thanks. Total brainfart. I got fixated on english going down and chinese going up and got it stuck in my brain that one must be taking from the other. Totally ignoring the fact that a higher total number from an influx of Chinese users would cause English to go down. Man, tunnel vision.

I hope they won't increase too much. Maybe that makes me a racist, but I'm not eager to see Chinese games invading our market on top of everything else. So far, they've mostly sold internally, contrary to the US, Japan, and Europe.

 

[sakichop]

I hope they won't increase too much. Maybe that makes me a racist, but I'm not eager to see Chinese games invading our market on top of everything else. So far, they've mostly sold internally, contrary to the US, Japan, and Europe.

Why would it matter? I guess if you went to steam to just browse for a game it might be problematic, but I always know exactly what I want to get when I go to steam.

 

[Redglyph]

Why would it matter? I guess if you went to steam to just browse for a game it might be problematic, but I always know exactly what I want to get when I go to steam.

Yes, it's true that browsing games there is already difficult as it is.

 

[JDR13]

I'm not sure I've ever randomly browsed for a game on Steam. Maybe back in the early years, but certainly not recently. There are already far too many games imo to do that and have a good chance of finding something you want.

 

[Robollix]

I'd really love to give this game a go...but yet another "souls-like"??? FFS... can't people just make a game where you don't continually get your bloody arse kicked?? I didn't realize how many masochists are playing games....

 

[Redglyph]

I'd really love to give this game a go...but yet another "souls-like"??? FFS... can't people just make a game where you don't continually get your bloody arse kicked?? I didn't realize how many masochists are playing games....

I can understand the sentiment. I haven't played Black Myth, but if I had to advise one game to anyone who never played a Soulslike (if that's your case), it'd be Elden Ring. I could be wrong, though.

 

[Couchpotato]

Well it cost over $70 million and took seven years to finish it's development.

Numbers available online claim it made over one billion in profit as well.

 

[sakichop]

I'd really love to give this game a go...but yet another "souls-like"??? FFS... can't people just make a game where you don't continually get your bloody arse kicked?? I didn't realize how many masochists are playing games....

The dev’s say it’s an ARPG, not a souls like, but yes, it has difficult boss fights. Soulslikes are a very small segment of games as a whole. There’s way more games that have difficulty settings or are easy why not just play those instead of wishing soulslikes were easier?

 

[Redglyph]

The dev’s say it’s an ARPG, not a souls like, but yes, it has difficult boss fights. Soulslikes are a very small segment of games as a whole. There’s way more games that have difficulty settings or are easy why not just play those instead of wishing soulslikes were easier?

We're hearing a lot about them, though. And a series of games in the spotlight that aren't deemed pure Soulslike are obviously inspired by the mechanics.

 

[sakichop]

We're hearing a lot about them, though. And a series of games in the spotlight that aren't deemed pure Soulslike are obviously inspired by the mechanics.

Absolutely, there’s definitely a subgenre forming of ARPG and soulslike hybrids like BM: Wukong and no rest for the wicked and I expect it will continue to grow.

However, games with extreme difficulty are still just a drop in the bucket and there’s no shortage of games that are easy or have difficulty settings if extreme difficulty isn’t your thing.

 

[pibbuR]

The dev’s say it’s an ARPG, not a souls like, but yes, it has difficult boss fights. Soulslikes are a very small segment of games as a whole. There’s way more games that have difficulty settings or are easy why not just play those instead of wishing soulslikes were easier?

I agree. I probably would have liked Elden Ring if I could survive in it, which I no doubt can't. But as you say there are a lot of soulsunlikes i want to play (but won't have the time to).

Pibbur, level close to 70.

PS. For some of them there may be mods lowering the difficulty. And there may also be a few very-close-to-soulslike which allow adjusting it. DS.