Black Myth: Wukong; The Monkey King Game Reviews by Eviralnews

Although Black Myth: Wukong is inspired by the book Sir Bakhtar, and people who are familiar with this work will definitely have a better relationship with the story of the game, but we do not see a work that requires reading the book to understand it. Because the game is almost a free adaptation of the mentioned book and its references to the story of the book are only limited to the presence of some familiar characters and the whole incident that Sun Wukong translated in the book; Other things, especially the adventure of the main character of the game, do not have a strong dependence on previous knowledge of any other content, and the game itself tries so hard in telling its story and uses various factors for this purpose that you can be satisfied with it separately.

One of these factors is definitely the characterization of Black Myth: Wukong. The narrative of the game takes place in 6 different chapters, each of which is an almost independent storyteller, but in the heart of a general story. The use of the independent adjective is mostly due to the fact that many characters of each chapter of the game are specific to that chapter; For example, in the first part of the game, we have a short old man who accompanies the main character, and we face unique enemies in this area of ​​the game, and this applies to the following parts to a large extent. First of all, the characters fascinate the gamer with their special and different design, and in addition, each of them has stories to tell, following them has a good narrative appeal, and accompanying these characters or even fighting with them from a superficial presence. And it simply takes it out and gives it depth.

But the main tool of the game to tell its story should be found in the passage from one chapter to another. Along with these chapters and while you are tired and have palpitations after fighting the last boss of each section, the game presents itself to the audience in its beautiful art as a sedative. First of all, we have a number of animations that both narrate a very lovely story and the diversity of their design style is really admirable. For example, one of the animations is made in the form of stop motion, and in the true sense of the word, we are surrounded by its amazing beauty. In addition to these animations, which I suggest you watch carefully in order to understand their meaning and connection with the overall storytelling of the game, the narrator of the game also describes the events of the painting in the style of beautiful Chinese paintings that every Iranian once had in his home. It describes the game and in this way, many of the gamer’s doubts and doubts about the events of the story are answered.

People who have read the inspiration book Black Myth: Wukong will relate to its story better, but we do not see a completely direct adaptation of the book.

One of the questions that may arise for many reading these descriptions is, how much of the Eastern theme does Black Myth: Wukong have? In other words, like some Japanese works, are we on the side of a work that is only aimed at the eastern audience or lovers of this type of content? Honestly, no. Personally, I am not a big fan of games with a completely oriental atmosphere, and usually I am interested even in the works of Japanese game makers that do not have such an overly oriental atmosphere. But Wukong, while using illustrations and symbols belonging to his own country in the game, is truly a universal work, and from the game process to even the type of story it tells, it can be valuable for any video game enthusiast with any taste. . In general, the game tells a story that is worth following until the end; A story that people familiar with the book Sir Bakhtar will enjoy even more, and other gamers can be satisfied with it simply as a good and rich story.

From the very first show we saw of Black Myth: Wukong, many doubted whether this game is going to be one of the countless works that try to repeat the success formula of Fram Software and its games. Anyway, Soulslike games are really popular and trying to use these components is not a wrong thing. But Black Myth: Wukong, although it has definitely taken inspiration from Fram Software’s works and even in the design of some of its enemies, you can notice similarities with, for example, Elden Ring, but it is mostly a role-playing action game with a relatively high degree of difficulty. Some of the most important elements of Souls-like works, such as the penalty you have to pay for dying, are not seen in this game, and you can safely fail as many times as you want and try again to succeed. Even the game’s character upgrade system is less strict, which I will talk about in detail later.

Calling the overall process of Black Myth: Wukong linear is not a wrong word. The game has specific chapters, in each of which you have a main and specific goal, and to achieve it, you must defeat all kinds of bosses and enemies. But this linearity does not mean that the game is completely straightforward, and the creators have added a little freedom of action to their creation. Gamers can freely explore the eye-catching worlds of different game chapters while following the main path. Fortunately, the game gives a good value to the audience for this work and during this exploration, you can fight mini-bosses, find valuable items to upgrade or even meet people who give you side missions with often valuable rewards.

Of course, freely is not the right adjective for exploring the world of Wukong; Because in a strange way, invisible walls are used in this game, which I don’t think we should really see in video games anymore. This issue sometimes and just when you feel that there is a wide world in front of you to explore its corners, it appears in front of you in the form of an invisible obstacle and it makes you happy. We even see this issue in some boss fights and even though a large environment is designed, but a limited area of ​​it is available and this can mess up your calculations in dodging and movement range.

Boss fights are where Black Myth: Wukong shows its real magic

But we talked about boss fights, and let me say here, this is exactly the part where Black Myth: Wukong shows its real magic. Made by Gamescience Studio, it is undoubtedly a first-class and wonderful experience in the field of boss design and battles related to them. The game does not spare the gamer in terms of confronting all kinds of bosses, and the good news is that this expansion in quantity did not mean sacrificing quality. Rather, every battle in Wukong has the potential to become an unforgettable experience for the audience. The first factor that causes this high quality is the appropriate variety and excellent visual design of the basses. In Wukong, you must prepare yourself for at least 50 hours of combat with all kinds of merciless enemies; A tiger that guards the temple and challenges you to a pool of blood. A bear in a fiery environment will do whatever it wants to you. Or a dragon on an icy lake that doesn’t prove we can’t have a trace of Red Dragon Country and not fight a dragon in it! Add to these all kinds of bosses with human appearance but with terrible powers and other bosses that I will not go into the details of their design in order not to spoil your game experience.

Almost most of the boss fights in the game appear in the overall atmosphere of the great battle scenario. The environment in which you face the bosses perfectly evokes the feeling of being on the battlefield of a bloody war, and like the overall environment design of Black Myth: Wukong, eye-catching is the easiest adjective we can use to describe it. To better understand this issue, it is enough to know that each chapter of the game takes place in a unique environment; Wukong first takes us to a forest of bamboo trees and lush green surroundings, and after that, he embarks on an adventure in the heart of a dry desert. The snowy environment, a dark world in the fourth chapter and the war-torn world in the fifth chapter are the continuation of the path, and the common point of all these cases is the really amazing visual beauty of the game, and the creators have been obsessed with the details of the game’s environment.

But let’s go back to the second factor that makes the battles interesting, and that is the very good depth of the combat mechanics in Wukong. The movements of the main character of the game are a combination of light and heavy strikes, using different magics and dodging. Although the parry system is also available using a magic, the main way to protect yourself against the enemy is to dodge; If you do it at the right time, it will become perfect and fill your focus. What is focus? Focus is an element in the game that is filled with various actions such as dodging or delivering light blows to enemies, and finally you can deliver a very deadly and damaging heavy blow to enemies. Using this feature plays a key role in determining the winner of battles and especially boss fights.

Game battles challenge your speed and accuracy in the best possible way; However, don’t expect anything like the recent Elden Ring DLC ​​in terms of difficulty. If you have a good track record in challenging games, you’ll be able to beat some of the bosses in Wukong after a try or two. But still, a series of main bosses, especially the bosses at the end of the chapters, can challenge every gamer, and this also adds to their breathtakingness. In general, the battles of Wukong are really exciting and the overall mechanics of the fights are so deep that you can become a professional fighter by combining the different capabilities you have; Especially, the role-playing system of the game allows you to become stronger and feel the effect of this becoming stronger.

The character upgrade system is very extensive and you can change your playing style whenever you want.

Each time you level up the main character, you will receive a spark point that you can spend to upgrade your desired skill. Game skills have a very wide range; You can upgrade the main character’s abilities such as health level or mana and things like dodging, you can spend Spark to strengthen your various spells or you can go to different fighting stances, in each of which the type of heavy hits and also the movement abilities of the main character are changed. takes You can even increase the number of focuses to four by spending a spark in the relevant part, and avoid the heavy blow that delivers four complete focuses to the enemies! But one interesting thing about the upgrade system is the freedom the game gives the gamer to reset the sparks and spend them on different things whenever they want.

This may not be pleasant for some gamers, but before prejudice, let me say that this work of the developers had its own reason in Black Myth: Wukong. In this game, you will gradually face enemies who have a completely different fighting style, and for this reason, it is not possible to prescribe the same version to face all of them. In fact, the game has allowed the gamer to reset sparks He can also change his fighting style depending on the enemy he is facing. For example, one of your magics is the power of shape-shifting, and various creatures are gradually introduced to change shape, and for example, one of these creatures deals fire blows and another one ice blows. Now, each of these are useful for certain enemies, and you can change the shape-shifting magic when facing that enemy, and then use sparks to strengthen it. This leeway has actually varied the game’s fighting styles, and thus its overall diversity, and if Black Myth: Wukong had even the slightest chance of becoming monotonous, it’s stopped it!

Among the other factors affecting the general process of the game and creating more diversity in it, we can mention the possibility of upgrading drinks, making armor and weapons, making permanent or temporary medicines, as well as freeing the souls of mini-bosses and using them in battles as an effective blow. that show the proper breadth and depth of the game’s role-playing elements. But along with all these good and lovely features, Black Myth: Wukong has some problems. One of these cases, in some of the simple battles of the game as well as facing a series of giant Wukong bosses, shows itself in the form of camera weakness; Where sometimes our monkey gets lost in the arms and legs of the bass and in a work like Wukong, that is enough to witness the death scene. This issue can be seen in normal battles in tight environments, such as the prison that is part of the game, and when your distance to the wall is small, you will see a strange camera angle where the main character is not in the frame.

But my main problem with Black Myth: Wukong is related to the sixth chapter of the game. I mentioned above that Wukong is a linear work as a whole, and the first to fifth chapters have a definite structure that involves following the storyline and exploring the environments to find more. Unfortunately, this structure is completely broken and changed in the sixth chapter of the game. It is really impossible to explain this issue without spoiling the game, but the main problem of this structural change is that at the beginning of the sixth chapter, you feel that there is a vast world in front of you so that you can explore its corners and find all valuable items. But in practice, this vast environment, compared to the previous chapters, is really empty of content and you just have to go through a few battles, which of course are quite exciting, and continue the story.

Black Myth: Wukong could be the Witcher’s verdict for GameScience for CD Projekt Red and put them on a global level.

We talked in detail about how much of a visual experience Black Myth: Wukong is, and the good news is that the music of the game is at the same level as the visual details, and the tunes that are heard in it are completely tailored to the atmosphere of the situation in which we are. So, in boss fights, the music itself is a factor to make the battles more exciting, and sometimes it is used as a relaxing tool to make the scene ahead as beautiful as possible. We at Zumji experienced Black Myth: Wukong on both PC and PlayStation 5. The PC version has a smoother performance overall, and especially due to having options like Frame Generation, you can have a good frame rate in it, although sometimes in busy scenes, especially in one of the final parts of the game, I saw a noticeable frame drop. In the PlayStation 5 version, this issue becomes a little more noticeable, and especially if you experience the game on the quality mode, both the frame loss and the overall frame rate are not very pleasant, and it is better to go to other graphic modes and sacrifice visual beauty for better performance.

A while ago, in a conversation I had with a friend of Zumji, I said that after experiencing Elden Ring, I still haven’t experienced a work that I can immerse myself in and enjoy for a very long time, and that’s exactly where Black Myth: Wukong came from. arrived Gamescience studio has created a work that can literally be immersed for a long time and once again touch the magic of video games with all your heart. Is Wukong a perfect game? Definitely not. The game has problems such as frame drops, weak camera and the not very interesting structure of the sixth chapter, which affect it, but Wukong is lovable even with these problems. The breathtaking and exciting actions of the game are definitely among the best and make every boss fight an unforgettable battle. The beautiful graphics and music and the interesting story of the game complement the valuable gameplay of the work and make it more worthy of respect. So if you are a fan of action games, you should not miss Black Myth: Wukong and deprive yourself of its pleasure.

The Game Review is written based on the experience of the PC and PlayStation 5 versions.