Black Myth: Wukong (Game Science, multi-format)
WHILE I’ve never actually read Journey to the West - the 16th century tome Wukong is based on - like many kids of the early 80s, I have seen Monkey.
Dubbed by the Beeb with cod-Oriental accents, Monkey offered dependably demented action malarkey, with our curly-tailed hero (born in an egg on a mountaintop, no less) knocking seven shades out of baddies and flying about on a cloud. And then there was that theme tune (“Monkey magic, Monkey magic!”), which was invariably belted out as you slapped hapless mates around with a broom handle.
Now, Gen-Xers can re-live Monkey’s chop-socky shenanigans without garden implements in Game Science’s simian spin on Hong Kong action.
Playing as the Destined One, a mute descendant of the Monkey God, our hirsute hero must hunt for six relics sought by a league of evil, using his staff and mystical flummery to battle a menagerie of beasts from Chinese mythology.
At first glance, Wukong invites comparison to the Souls games - and with good reason. Essentially a non-stop series of boss fights, the challenge is fierce while enemies respawn when players rest at shrines. So far, so Souls.
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Once you scratch beneath the surface though, Wukong is a very different barrel of monkeys. For a start, it’s much more approachable, with the Souls stock-in-trade of lumbering enemies and laborious blocks and parries replaced with lickety-split combat where you’re always on the attack.
Combat is still stamina-based, but Wukong is all about dodging, counter-attacks and managing its myriad upgrade systems, with a bewildering toolset of skills and spells at your disposal.
The Destined One may start off with a crummy stick, but you’ll quickly unlock new stances, each with their own menu of attacks, transformations, spirits and upgrades. And, while combat is a bullet-quick ballet of butchery, success often comes from knowing when to scarper.
When first revealed, Game Science promised an eye-watering 160 enemy types - and they weren’t lying. There are more bosses here than at a corporate away-day, 91 of the beggars in fact, and while a few pop up more than once, each encounter is by and large unique.
A high-kicking extravaganza that never takes its hairy foot off the gas, Black Myth: Wukong is also no technical slouch. With its succession of ravishing set-pieces whisking players from lush forests and vast deserts to snow-topped mountains, Wukong is one of the finest looking games yet committed to binary.
A far-out, Far Eastern beatdown, Black Myth: Wukong offers monkey business of the highest order, and is an early contender for the year’s best actioner.
Monkey magic, indeed.
