Black Myth: Wukong Review

Black Myth: Wukong arrived carrying enormous expectations, and against considerable odds, it delivers. Game Science's first major release is a technical showpiece and a genuinely compelling action RPG that draws deeply from the rich well of Journey to the West. It is also one of the most visually impressive games ever made, full stop.

Gameplay

Combat is the beating heart of Wukong, and it is built on a foundation of deliberate, weighty encounters that reward patience and punish greed. The Destined One wields his staff with a fluid moveset that evolves dramatically across the game's six chapters, with three distinct stance types — Smash, Pillar, and Thrust — each offering radically different playstyles. The transformation spells are the real showstoppers: absorbing a defeated boss's power and shifting into their form mid-fight never gets old, and some of the later transformations are absurdly powerful in the best way. Boss design is exceptional across the board. The fight against the Yellowbrow Grandmaster in Chapter 3 is a multi-phase spectacle that demands total mastery of your toolkit, while earlier encounters like the Black Bear Guai teach core mechanics with surprising elegance. Exploration is more linear than it appears at first glance, but hidden paths and optional boss encounters give each chapter enough secrets to justify a second pass.

Graphics & Performance

There is no gentle way to say this: Black Myth: Wukong is the best-looking game of 2024. Running on Unreal Engine 5, the environments are staggeringly detailed — the dense bamboo forests of Chapter 1, the snow-dusted temples of Chapter 2, and the volcanic hellscapes of Chapter 4 are each rendered with a level of fidelity that borders on photorealism. Character models, fur rendering on the various Yaoguai, and the particle effects during spell transformations are all best-in-class. On PS5, the game targets a stable 30fps in quality mode with ray tracing, or 60fps in performance mode with only minor visual concessions. PC players with high-end hardware are rewarded with the definitive experience — full path tracing with DLSS 3.5 frame generation is breathtaking — but even mid-range builds can achieve smooth performance at 1440p with careful settings tuning.

Story

Game Science approaches Journey to the West not as a direct retelling but as a meditation on its themes — legacy, defiance, and the cost of immortality. The Destined One's journey through the remnants of the original pilgrimage is told largely through environmental storytelling and animated chapter interludes that are gorgeous in their own right. The narrative stumbles somewhat in Chapters 3 and 4, where pacing slows and the connections between encounters feel thinner. But the final two chapters bring everything together with emotional weight, and the climactic revelations about the original Monkey King land with genuine impact.

Verdict

Black Myth: Wukong is a triumph for Game Science and a landmark moment for Chinese game development on the world stage. Its combat is deep and rewarding, its world is achingly beautiful, and its reverence for the source material shines through every frame. The middle chapters sag slightly and the absence of any cooperative play feels like a missed opportunity, but these are minor blemishes on an otherwise outstanding debut. This is a game that demands to be experienced.