The action role-playing game Black Myth: Wu Kong is a graphics smash hit with a lot of potential – the first gameplay leaves no doubt about that. However, you need a lot of patience as well as anticipation.
Before Pandemic Carousel first started moving last year, I attended a Cirque du Soleil performance. I still had a stiff neck days later, so spellbound was I the whole evening looking at the artists who, carried by music, light effects and seemingly only air, danced under the tent ceiling as if it was the easiest thing in the world.
I felt the same way about the gameplay of Black Myth: Wu Kong. The action role-playing game doesn’t just want to be a graphic dazzler, but in the first videos choreographs a seemingly flawless dance, even mechanically, of perfectly timed parries, elegant dodging rolls and surprising moves: The character slips into completely new guises, duels with entire armies in the sky or fearlessly defies a mighty dragon.
But as with the circus, there is no magic behind it, but rather iron-trained technique, hard work and, to some extent, a cleverly staged illusion that only lets me notice what I am supposed to see. In the same way, the almost 30 minutes of gameplay shown so far reveal quite a lot, but at the same time urge caution – because it might have less to do with the finished game than we now wish.
In the shadow of a god
Even without gameplay, if you’re a fan of classic Chinese literature, you already know a lot about Black Myth. For the game is based on the well-known novel “The Journey to the West”. It follows the good-for-nothing and monkey king Sun Wukong, who plays all kinds of mischievous tricks with his divine powers and finally has to do penance on a pilgrimage.
The story follows this arduous journey from China to India. We won’t be replaying it, however, but will be looking at it from a new perspective: As the colleagues from Eurogamer have found out from the Chinese trailer texts, we are playing an imitator.
Sun Wukong ascends to the Buddha at the end of his journey and thus leaves the world. The monkey from the video could thus either be his body left behind or someone who wants to follow his example. At the very least, he repeatedly encounters surprised enemies who notice his resemblance to someone else.
In one scene, his apparent mirror image then parries the staff – only in much more stately armour. If that’s not Sun Wukong, I’ll eat a banana. The actual Monkey King could thus be a teacher, role model or even adversary.
But he will probably still be playable, because several gameplay excerpts show how the shrewd primate kills entire enemy masses in the sky in the finest Dynasty Warriors style or floats on a cloud – both are attributed to the legendary figure. Perhaps you’ll experience Sun Wukong’s rise via flashbacks as you emulate him.
Competition for Sekiro
And with impressive skill. When wolf and monkey fight, the latter gets the short end of the stick. Actually. In a duel between the monkey hero from Black Myth and the one-armed wolf from Sekiro, I wouldn’t bet on it anymore. Because the protagonist of Black Myth counters enemy sword strokes just as effortlessly as the lone ronin from the From software game, which not only stops the opponents, but apparently even deals out extra damage. Each hit causes orange sparks to fly and promises powerful feedback.
During unstoppable counter-attacks, the nimble monkey whirls through the snow with lightning-fast dodging rolls, catapults himself into the air with his staff, breaks the defence of his enemies and beats them up according to all the rules of Soulslike art.
The deadly ballet captivated me in the gameplay debut last year. But the new interface in the second gameplay trailer now reveals far more about how it actually plays:
– The hero heals himself with a gourd that displays a filling level. On the way, you presumably collect or craft the contents.
– On the bottom left you can see three bars: Health, Stamina and Energy. Your stamina drains when you dodge or block, while the third bar is claimed by special abilities.
– With these, for example, you freeze time for your opponents, briefly protect yourself with an impenetrable shield, summon a doppelganger army to distract you, or paint a magic spell circle to heal yourself undisturbed in its midst – all powers the Monkey King is said to have possessed.
– At the bottom right you can also see your staff stance, which like in Nioh you can and apparently should change to vary your attack pattern to suit the enemy and situation.
– If you manage an optimal counterattack or dodge just right, a circle symbol will fill up in the bottom right corner, which will then provide energy for a particularly powerful strike.
– Your weapon allows for a variety of manoeuvres: like a pole vaulter, the monkey lashes out at eye level with a flying dragon and immediately hits it on the nose or balances on the tip of the pole to avoid large-scale lightning damage on a frozen lake. Apart from classic punches and blows, you can also use it to deflect projectiles such as arrows by spinning the staff quickly. Or throw it like a deadly boomerang.
The combination of high speed and special abilities is reminiscent of Sekiro, where thanks to grappling hooks and rapid-fire prosthetics, things were also much more nimble than on the battlefields of a Dark Souls. Lightning-quick dodging seems to be more important than in the Japanese counterpart, where the parries with which you make the opponent stumble are the most important.
Whereas in Dark Souls it’s mostly steel clanging on steel, the nimble hero of Black Myth always keeps moving to avoid the powerful sword blows of an unfriendly fellow ape. Timing and positioning play an even more crucial role with larger and less human opponents like the Asian dragon that winds through the air like a snake and chases lightning attacks across the landscape.
Don’t get too excited too soon
So where’s the hook conjured up above now? It all sounds like a playable dream for fans of crunchy action role-playing games, doesn’t it? Yes it does. But not least because it’s a pitch. And not just to us gamers, but also to developers that the studio Game Science is currently trying to recruit to make this ambitious adventure a reality.
Black Myth: Wu Kong is still at the very beginning of its development – in pre-alpha. The monkey has already taken off the children’s shoes of the concept phase, but the production, even if these terms are rather vaguely defined, is certainly not far advanced yet.
Simply put, much of the content in this phase is only developed after the basic idea and a playable prototype or vertical slice have been convincing – excerpts from which are likely to be shown in the gameplay trailers. A lot can still be turned over here: New features will be added and old ones cut or modified.
The change of the development environment also fits in with this. The change from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5 is supposed to be much less complicated than with the previous version. Nevertheless, it would be dared sooner rather than later in the project in order to avoid unnecessary complications. Moreover, even the planned release in 2023 still seems optimistic. The developers themselves only talk about taking as much time as is necessary.
So for all the excitement about cool battles and fancy graphics, we should be aware that it will be a very long time before we actually hold Black Myth in our hands – if ever. In the worst case, the project won’t be viable at all if the developer doesn’t generate enough attention now to attract capable people or investors.
But I’m already keeping my fingers crossed for Game Science, because it’s not only what’s been shown that impresses. A single-player experience with a story over several parts, possible co-op and without Pay2Win airs and graces also sounds like a strategy I can very much get on board with.
