Black Myth: Wukong – Why I Stopped Playing

Sometimes Plans Change

Black Myth: Wukong was originally announced three years ago, and the game immediately caught my attention. The Chinese mythology aesthetic mixed with the action-based combat looked awesome. During its original showcase, it was believed to be a Souls-like but, as we approached the release date, it became clear it leaned more towards a traditional action game with a few Souls elements. It’s missing a crucial design philosophy, which is being penalized by death. Besides losing used items in your last life, dying has no real consequence in Black Myth: Wukong.

My original plan was to play through the game and write up a review. After slogging up to Chapter Four, I wasn’t having fun anymore. The issues I was having with the game were stacking on each other. For now, I decided to shelve my play-through and move on to the next titles I am interested in Such as Warhammer 40k : Space Marine 2 and the DLC for Personal 3 Reload. Maybe it’s just not for me, since Black Myth: Wukong sold eighteen million copies after two weeks of release. I do believe that the discourse about this game will change over time for many.

PlayStation 5 Performance Isn’t Good

When Game Science, the developers behind Black Myth: Wukong were handing out review codes for the game, they were all on PC, and not a single review outlet was given a code for PlayStation 5. I saw this as a red flag but stayed optimistic for release. Soon after, it was obvious that the game was poorly optimized for PlayStation 5. The game has three graphics modes on the console which are Fidelity, Balanced, and Performance. Each of these strives for different things but they all have unique issues.

In an action game, most players want a higher frame rate so, I want to talk about the big issue with performance mode. This mode does target 60FPS but it’s doing so in a way that’s causing a major problem. The game is running lower and utilizing frame-generation technology to close the gap. This causes bad input latency. Many times, during boss fights, I had inputs not register such as healing which, is not a recipe for fun but is one for frustration.

Level Design Identity Problem

Black Myth: Wukong starts off being relatively linear and begins to open up while going through chapter three. In my opinion, this is when the level design becomes frustrating and sometimes just flat-out boring. First, we have to talk about the invisible walls. The game does a poor job of communicating to the player where you can and cannot go. So, in one area you can take a shortcut under a tree but in another area, you are fumbling around because there is an invisible wall. Generally, I don’t usually care about this, but they are poorly implemented within the exploration flow. What makes this problem worse is each area lacks a diverse landscape so, it’s easy to get turned around as you try to figure out where to go next. I believe the game would benefit greatly from a map being added.

I have beaten all FromSoftware titles such as Elden Ring. The difference with those games not having a traditional map or one at all is the unique environments created within themselves. They are designed in a way that helps the player identify where they have been. Black Myth: Wukong may have unique levels from each other but it’s what’s within that level that bleeds together easily.

Combat is Repetitive

While progressing through the game, the player will unlock different stances, abilities, and spirits to change up your playstyle. The issue I found with this is most abilities in each stance rarely mattered and I was often using the same strategy, that being light attacks to build up my focus meter to unleash a heavy blow. Occasionally used the same spells in between depending on what I was fighting but, I rarely found an incentive to change anything unless I needed a different heavy swing. Overall, combat is fine but, I feel it lacks the true variety that is trying to be achieved design-wise.

Also, regarding combat, bosses are a mixed bag since there are so many. You can complete a story boss, walk into the next area, and suddenly fight a side boss. What’s annoying about this is the difficulty and overall scale changes drastically. For example, you may be stuck on a story boss as you learn his attack pattern and overall flow. Leave that and find an optional boss that can be destroyed through a spamming light attack. Kinda makes you feel “What was the point?”

Let’s Wrap This Up

Black Myth: Wukong went from being one of my most anticipated games to one that I may never finish. Even with patches, most of the issues I have with the game are fundamental design decisions that can’t be fixed. Regarding upcoming patches, developer Game Science is aware of PlayStation 5 performance problems but has stated it will take some time to fix due to “Bottleneck issues”. They have also announced that DLC is in the works for the game. I would much rather they focus on a sequel so the issues I covered here can be addressed properly.