When it was revealed to the world back in 2020, Black Myth: Wukong set the soulslike community on fire. And with each new gameplay video, that fire burned hotter and brighter. Among a growing crowd of FromSoftware imitators, Black Myth: Wukong stood out thanks to what appeared to be lightning-fast, responsive combat that doesn’t fall into the staple sword-and-board rhythms the genre found its feet with. But that impression has always been based on what we’ve watched. Now, after actually playing 30 minutes of Black Myth at gamescom 2023, I’m thrilled to report that seeing really can be believing. It genuinely does feel as good as it looks.
First, let’s address where Black Myth: Wukong sits along the action RPG spectrum. While it definitely falls under the soulslike umbrella thanks to its punishing centre-piece boss fights and bonfire-like checkpointing, Black Myth isn’t directly comparable to any FromSoft game. It sits somewhere between Sekiro and Bloodborne; it has the relentless speed of the former and emphasises evasive dodging much like the latter. But while the combat encounters pull on some of the same strings as the genre’s established titans, the actual act of fighting feels like its own slick beast.
Much of that comes down to the aforementioned evasions. Your staff-swinging monkey protagonist, based on Sun Wukong of China’s classic Journey to the West story, cannot block incoming attacks. Instead, dodges and leaps are your primary method of avoiding damage. This creates an incredibly kinetic foundation for the combat system, one in which you are constantly running circles around foes. While the lack of a traditional block means there’s not the satisfaction of a perfect parry, the feeling of dashing just before an enemy lands a blow is just as sweet.
The best thing about this speed-focused foundation is that it never feels as if it’s slipping away from you. Black Myth’s controls are incredibly responsive, and that flows from the movement to its stance-based attacks. Switching stances allows you to fluidly mix different strike patterns, from spear-like lunges to a twirling assault reminiscent of Jedi: Survivor’s double-bladed lightsaber. Light attacks build into spectacular heavies that have you pole vault upwards, or even spin on the end of your staff and strike enemies with each rotation. It’s in these moments that Black Myth’s Chinese mythology and martial arts roots really come alive, and each acrobatic feat feels all of your making.
The gamescom demo was split into four segments – three standalone boss battles, plus a longer section with regular enemies and exploration pulled from a dusty, rocky area known as Fright Cliff. Details on those bosses – Centipede Guai, Macaque Chief, and Tiger Vanguard – can be found in our previous hands-on preview, but what I will add is that each provides a wonderful sense of theatre. These are incredibly memorable fights, with smartly designed attack patterns, that take place in absolutely beautiful locations. The brutally fast Tiger Vanguard is especially true of that last point; the brawl takes place in a pool of blood that splashes and ripples with each pouncing movement.
The Fright Cliff chapter is the new showing for gamescom 2023, and it demonstrates that as good as Black Myth: Wukong is shaping up to be, it maybe won’t always be delivering its A-game. The level design leading up to its two bosses snakes through sandy and arid terrain. Fallen Buddha statues lie embedded in the earth, and occasional incense burners mark your journey’s checkpoints. Regular enemies guard each turn and fork in the road; some with shields that make the fight a little tricker, others with giant heads made of stone that can be shattered by using the ‘Smash’ stance that swings the staff like a club. Occasionally a branching path will lead to a dead end, forcing a touch of backtracking.
It’s all perfectly fine, but compared to the aforementioned bosses, I found navigating this area of Black Myth’s world a little action RPG-101. I’ve generally found the architecture of urban environments tells a better story and creates a better path network than rural locations. But I can’t help but think back on natural world triumphs like Sekiro’s Sunken Valley and wish that Black Myth’s Fright Cliff had more of that location’s fun verticality and hazardous paths. You play as a monkey, after all, and so it would have been fun to use his leaping and swinging talents to explore this world in a more dynamic fashion. But as we know from prior gameplay videos, our primate protag can turn into a fly, so there’s every chance that further levels have more engaging layouts and opportunities than those seen in this demo.
Towards the end of the stage the path branches with more purpose. To the left lies a wide open space that makes it immediately obvious that a boss is waiting on the sidelines. To the right is a staircase that leads to a huge set of ominous doors that also make it immediately obvious that a boss is waiting behind them. The space on the left is the stomping ground of the Stone Vanguard, an optional boss made up of boulders arranged in a roughly quadrupedal arrangement. Its front legs slam down to create powerful shockwaves that hurl you around like a ragdoll. As a side challenge, the Stone Vanguard isn’t the set-piece that Black Myth’s main bosses are, but it’s a fun time all the same.
Behind the doors, though, is the real star of the show: Black Loong. Best described as a fifteen-foot-tall pig/dragon/man hybrid, he swings massive electrified batons that crash through the rocks that litter his arena. He’s slower than the previously mentioned bosses but hits much harder, building his attacks into lengthy combos that force you into extended defensive manoeuvres. My favourite of these was a series of lightning pulses that burst outwards from his location in patterns that had to be leapt over or dodged through with an almost rhythm action game-like sense of pace and precision.
Should the beat of those lightning rings pose too much of a challenge, you can use the Immobilize skill to freeze Black Loong in place and prevent him from unleashing the attack. This paralysis ability is just one of many different spells that can be used mid-battle. Rather than the sorceries of FromSoft’s games, these are cooldown-based abilities similar to those seen in the likes of Diablo or the recent Assassin’s Creed games. They take a long time to recharge but work as fun punctuation marks throughout a combat encounter.
As you’d expect, these spells cover a wide range of utilities, from Cloud Step, which temporarily enhances your dodge and sharpens up those evasive qualities, to the Fireblade Wolf; a transformation that turns you into a slightly slower but powerful demigod-like character with flaming glaive and a brand new health bar. My favourite, though, was The Pluck of Many, which summons a mini army of monkey clones that immediately unleash their aggression on your target. Locking a boss in place with Immobilize and then activating those clones provides a healthy burst of damage, and I can see that being a go-to technique in the final game.
It’s always a development risk to reveal your game too early. Such a move can build up years of heightened and unrealistic expectations. But, at least as far as this gamescom 2023 demo goes, Black Myth: Wukong has successfully navigated that risk. It’s shaping up to be one of the most exciting action RPGs of the soulslike era, one with its own fresh approach to challenge, pace, and abilities. What remains to be seen is how developer Game Science has approached wider RPG systems, such as character development and levelling up. Should that, plus the level design of further chapters, match up to the quality bar of the bosses we’ve seen, then Black Myth: Wukong will be the success everyone is hoping for.
Matt Purslow is IGN’s UK News and Features Editor.