A lot of Souls-like games have been released lately, maybe even too many. Many of them don’t even come close to the quality of the FromSoftware originals, but some games definitely try to get close. Last year at Gamescom, Lies of P, which will be released in a few weeks, attracted a lot of attention, and this year Black Myth: Wukong. A game from the Chinese studio Game Science, which has been in development for several years. During this time, we have seen several trailers, but only now have we seen a full playable demo. In total, I spent 45 minutes in the game, the demo was divided into four locations, and I managed to get through three.
First, the game looks very nice. Developers have been bragging about using Unreal Engine 5 or ray tracing for a long time, and you can really tell that in terms of detail and lighting, you have a lot to look forward to. Similarly, the stylization based on Chinese mythology is beautiful and very unique. The PC version that I had a chance to try out was stable, although there were some stutters.
Management is standard and pleasant for the soul. Of course, you can dodge, fast and slow attack, but it also depends on which combat stance you choose: each of them is suitable for something else. Of course, there is a limited amount of healing or special abilities that have a certain cooldown, but they will help you a lot in combat. For example, the ability to immobilize the enemy for a few seconds was very useful. In addition to the relatively classic abilities, there is also a “superpower”, in which the monkey king changes shape for a certain time and his attacks become stronger.
There are also “bonfires”, but in Wukong they look like some kind of small temples. They serve as a checkpoint, an opportunity to rest (which resets your lives and enemies), but at the same time, you can exchange the already mentioned abilities here, since the slots are limited.
Unfortunately, except for the fourth level, which I did not have time to go through, I did not have the opportunity to view some of the longer locations. In any case, from what I’ve seen, they seem to be very diverse. I looked at the cave, at the snow-capped mountains, at the desert temple, and finally at the more open location in the form of a rock, where I honestly got a little lost.
There also seems to be quite a large number of enemy types, and each one is really unique. Some are downright curious, but you will come across, for example, the classic “walkers” with a sword. One-on-one combat is relatively easy, but once there are more enemies, it becomes really difficult. More than once it happens that an enemy jumps out at you from somewhere, and you do not expect him at all.
The highlight of games like Souls is, of course, the boss fights, and that’s where the demo was focused. The centipede in the cave had already given me a lot of work, but it was just preparation for what was to come. She had a relatively limited set of movements and was not very mobile. But the same cannot be said for macaques in a winter location. The monkey’s combat was very dynamic and unpredictable, the macaque had melee and ranged attacks, but in the end I managed to defeat him thanks to the precise timing of his dodges and attacks. The hardest part was definitely the tiger in the sand temple, which was always dangerous and I could barely beat him. Of course, it took me many tries. He was very fast and attacked unexpectedly, so timing was once again the key to success.
In any case, the feeling of the fights themselves are great. You definitely need to be a bit tactical, and just pressing the attack button won’t get you far. However, constantly dodging is not a solution, because you really need to detect when the enemy is attacking and dodge at the right moment to avoid accidentally colliding with his attack.
The game is really difficult, but completely fair and certainly not disappointing. If you have some experience with this genre, you will get into it very quickly and I believe you will enjoy this new soul-like genre. Although there are many such projects, this one is undoubtedly one of the most promising.
Black Myth: Wukong will release on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S in 2024.
Source :Indian TV
