I still remember the first time I launched Black Myth: Wukong. It was August 20, 2024, and I had spent years watching every showcase, every trailer, every scrap of gameplay. China had been growing in the gaming world for a while, and games like Naraka: Bladepoint had already made noise, but this felt different. This was a big, AAA single-player action RPG from Game Science, and it had been anticipated for years rather than building an audience after release. By 2026, after countless patches, community discussions, and a few replays, I can finally say what I think: Black Myth: Wukong is not Game Science’s masterpiece, but it is one of the most striking foundations I have ever played.
From the opening fight where Wukong stands against the heavens, I knew where the game’s strengths lived. Black Myth: Wukong is one of the most impressive-looking games ever made. Unreal Engine 5 gets a strong advertisement here, but I do not want to reduce it to tech. The lighting, textures, animations, and raw graphical power are all remarkable. What surprised me more was how alive everything felt. Enemies adjust their feet to different heights. Bosses recoil when I interrupt big hits or land a parry. In many beautiful games, that beauty becomes rigid; here it moves, reacts, and breathes. It honestly feels like a technical magic trick.
Yet the technical side is only half the story. Plenty of games look expensive. What makes Black Myth: Wukong sing is how well Game Science marries that power with artistic vision. Using Chinese mythology and Journey to the West as a jumping-off point, the artists created characters and bosses that never stopped surprising me. I kept pushing forward because I wanted to see what beautiful creation waited around the next corner. The boss-forward structure suits that strength perfectly. Each major fight is a showcase of visual flair, animation, and style.
Under the hood, yes, it is a Soulslike. Game Science has been cautious about the label, but I have to call a spade a spade. I navigate areas filled with enemies, collect their essence, upgrade myself, items, and spells, rest at checkpoints, and eventually find a boss. There are flourishes that differ from FromSoftware’s classics, but the influences are clear. The distance between bosses is usually much shorter than in Elden Ring, Bloodborne, or Dark Souls. Some chapters offer a little more exploration, but the connective areas are brief. Wukong knows its bosses are strong and wants me to reach them quickly. That creates a directed, linear feel. Sometimes it felt like a cut-down version of a much grander vision, a string of vertical slices sewn together. I do not need every game to be as vast as Elden Ring, and I appreciate tight, focused experiences, but this epic journey sometimes felt smaller than it should have.
The bosses are the headline act. They are gorgeous creations, and each one feels like a flex by the development team. Fighting them, however, is not always as polished as looking at them. Black Myth: Wukong is not quite as tight as the best in the genre when it comes to hitboxes, forgiveness, dodging, and parrying. FromSoftware has spoiled us, and that bar is tough to clear. Game Science stumbles a little in movement fluidity and how actions flow into each other. Some bosses, especially in the latter half, feel laborious. In a FromSoftware game, my winning run might last five minutes after many attempts. Here, some fights take much longer because mana is hard to regain, resources are finite, and I have to methodically work through abilities and medicines to whittle down a huge health bar. At times I had mastered a boss’s moveset, but pure attrition held me back.
Difficulty is a strange thing to compare. If I never used Spirit Ashes in Elden Ring, Black Myth: Wukong might feel easier. But I relied on them heavily, so some bosses here tested me without that respite. Still, with perseverance and some genre competency, I managed.
One thing I cannot accuse the game of is lacking systems. I had three staff stances, each with upgrade paths. I could equip four spells at once, also upgradeable. I had transformations into previous bosses, a gourd I could brew for healing effects, Spirit Ash-like abilities from defeated enemies, medicines, celestial medicines, relics, vessels, items, permanent stat boosts, and weapons and armor with different effects. There is a lot here. Some systems feel fleshed out; others feel like feature creep. Collecting and upgrading enemies to call upon in battle is a nice touch. Backtracking to farm medicine ingredients is less so.
Even with all these systems, I did not drastically change my tools. I placed emphasis differently. I preferred boosting critical chance and damage while leaning on Immobilize. Someone maximizing damage reduction and transformations would still have Immobilize and occasional critical hits. That makes the build process closer to Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice than Elden Ring, where every approach can revolutionize how I play. I pull from the same limited toolbox, and victory comes through relatively rigid constraints. That can work, and largely does, but it makes the many systems feel less impactful than they should.
Style over substance is often an insult. It suggests something is hollow, all sheen and flashy lights. But there is room for subjectivity. In fact, style over substance can be good, even great. Black Myth: Wukong excels at presentation. It is an impressive-looking game from a culture we do not usually see flexing this kind of resource, which makes it feel distinct, artistically fresh, and striking. Style over substance does not mean no substance. The boss fights are largely impressive. The systems let me define my playstyle in creative ways, even if they do not go far enough. I often felt this was a blueprint for a bigger, more fleshed-out gameplay experience, but that only hindered so much.
| Quick facts | Details |
|---|---|
| Price | $59.99 |
| Developer | Game Science |
| Release date | August 20, 2024 |
| Platforms | PS5, Xbox Series X/S, & PC |
In 2026, I still see Black Myth: Wukong as a debut that carved out a strength impressively. It is not quite Game Science’s masterpiece, but it is easy to see how it could become the foundation for one. It is style over substance, but it has so much style and enough substance that it largely works. It succeeds at what it tries to do: create one of the most striking marriages of graphical prowess and artistic vision. And when I get to the substance, while it will not rival the best in the genre, it has enough decisions and systems to let me craft my own playstyle, even if I am pulling from the same hymnsheet each playthrough. For a first step, that is more than enough to keep me watching what Game Science does next.