Black Myth: Wukong swings big - and mostly connects

By Games Revealed · Black Myth: Wukong

Black Myth: Wukong is a Soulslike that read the room and decided to be a spectacle first. Think Sekiro's combat rhythm meets a Journey to the West fever dream - but with boss fights that look like the budget got away from someone in the best way. Combat is the star. The staff stances, the transformations, the shapeshifting - when it clicks you feel like the Monkey King instead of a guy holding a stick. The bosses are the reason to be here, and there are a lot of them. Now - it's not flawless. Traversal gets confusing, some level design leans on invisible walls harder than it should, and depending on your rig it can bog down when the screen fills up. Worth knowing going in. The presentation, though - chef's kiss. Some of these arenas are the best-looking environments in an action game right now, and the source material finally getting a AAA treatment is wild to see. If you bounced off Soulslikes for being punishing-for-punishing's-sake, the spectacle here carries you through the rough spots. Not a genre reinvention, but a hell of a debut. For a combat-and-boss junkie at full price, this is an easy yes.