The Case

Journey to the West is one of the most adapted works of literature ever. You may only be familiar with a few of them, myself growing up with the 70s Japanese adaptation Monkey/Monkey Magic. But when I say there are a lot more, be aware that that is an understatement of proportions so epic, it could rival Journey to the West itself. Which is so large, just one of its four volumes makes The Lord of the Rings look small. Which brings us to the here and now. With a new video-game which takes place long after the main story, and tells the story of…well, let’s take a closer look and see what it’s all about.

The Trial

Okay, first things first. Let’s get this out of the way. It ain’t a Soulslike. At least a few people have been commenting about how it’s not a “true” Soulslike. And that’s because it isn’t. It does bear a lot of similarities, but it also does enough to stand apart as being a different thing. It’s more of an action RPG with Soulsborne elements. Possibly the single largest divergence being that you lose nothing, bar consumables, on death. You keep all your levels, EXP and are only set back as far as your last save point. Which are shrines, in this game.

Another notable difference is in how levelling works. You don’t drop your accrued experience into stats. Rather earning a skill point after every level which can be used to purchase new skills and the like. Which is actually becoming quite a common thing, I’ve noticed. And I rather prefer that system, but that’s a side issue. Your skills themselves are split between several different areas, with straightforward stat increases, magic spells and fighting styles offering different nuances to your overall gameplay experience.

It’s worth noting, however, that the three fighting styles don’t mix things up significantly. As your actual attack combos are tied more to your chosen weapon than anything else. And there aren’t even any real differences between them, because they’re all (almost) just different versions of the same staff with unique effects. Even the spear doesn’t change things in any meaningful way. It swaps out one part of the combo for a series of stabs. Though it does look rather cool. Anyway, styles themselves affect your heavy attacks. Pillar is my personal favourite, because it allows old monke to stand up on top of his staff, extending it higher up to three times depending on how many Focus Points you’ve unlocked.

This has the advantage of making you immune to ground attacks, with them hitting the staff itself. And it just looks cool. Very on brand. Though, be aware, the so-called “immunity” is far from universal. Especially with bosses. And even if the enemy doesn’t land a blow that damages health, it will always reduce your stamina. And when stamina runs out, you can’t charge your attack anymore. Although, there is a skill that allows you to automatically finish the heavy attack when stamina is exhausted. Truly a must have.

Speaking of bosses. Well, there are a lot of them. Like, a lot of a lot. With wildly varying levels of difficulty and design. To be expected, of course. With end of chapter (of which there are six) and secret bosses tending to be the more challenging. And this is where the real crux of the conundrum comes in to play. You ultimate enjoyment of Black Myth will depend entirely on your tolerance for fighting seemingly insurmountable roadblocks for possibly multiple hours at a time. Because these guys can vary wildly. Like, they are completely all over the map. And your play style will have an impact.

There were multiple instances where certain bosses were an absolute cakewalk, whilst being soul crushing meat grinders for other people, and vice versa. Though, I personally found certain cast iron, MLG prop strats that clearly worked for other people just did not function the same way when I tried them. A certain, unnamed chapter 2 tiger boss delayed my progress for about five hours, I kid you not. Because no matter what I did, he was always right on my case and would not stop attacking. Like, at all. Multiple instances of the fight just did not give any room to do anything other than dodge.

And there were other enemies, not just bosses, that could be like that at times. Including some that were supposed to go into a stunned state after specific heavy of combo attacks. Sometimes, they just flat out wouldn’t. And don’t even go there about the Perfect Dodge. It wasn’t frequent, but there were distinct instances when the sound would play, the little ghost monke would spawn, and then I’d take damage anyway. But, hey, it’s a very, very large and quite complex game, made by a small team of new developers, so a few bumps and glitches are to be excepted. There is some leeway, in this case. Some. Because it”s still absolutely rage inducing.

Perhaps the worst part of it all is that we don’t have the more commonly accepted indicators for enemy attack patterns. No glowing red and yellow auras to clue us in about what our optimal defensive options are. Which honestly isn’t a huge issue, this isn’t going to be an old man yells at cloud moment. It wouldn’t even be worthy of note in isolation. Because there are still sound cues (more on that later) and general enemy movement to inform the player of what to expect. Powerful attacks are slower, for example. It’s clear the devs intended for the end user to be pushed to pay close attention, rather than relying on the typical crutches. It’s just a little nitpick that cannot be left unmentioned for those who are less patient…which is people that probably shouldn’t be playing these kinds of games in the first place, really.

Something which is a lot less forgivable, however, is how the game looks. Not because it’s bad, oh no, it’s an absolutely stunning game. But great visuals, as we all know, always come with a price. And that price, in this instance, is the eternal struggle of balancing fidelity and performance. Without ray-tracing, it already looks superb. With ray-tracing switched on…a lot, like, a lot of a lot, of people are going to have to make the very difficult decision between playable framerates, and an even more beautiful world to look at. Personally, I went with the latter, and was able to tweak things just enough to get a balance between the two. But if ever there was an incentive to hit the truly high end of PC components…

Pigsy (Zhu Bajie) in particular caused some issues. Because the narrative (and Chinese mythology) revolve so much around animal spirits, typically known as guai, many of them are furry by their very nature. And with Sun Wukong being a monkey…he and Pigsy travel together at times. So that’s two very furry characters in one place, in a game that makes a point of having settings specifically for hair quality. It can be quite taxing, especially with the RTX on. But boy oh boy, does it look nice. Curiously, even the furrier enemy models don’t seem to be as highly detailed, though. Which is kind of nice. Perhaps a deliberate design choice to help offset how intensively demanding it already is. Boss fights are where you most need those extra couple of frames, after all.

Lastly, that brings us to sound design, which is something that has most certainly earned some attention. As alluded to earlier, many both player and AI, attacks are accompanied with distinct sound cues. And even when everything is at its most hectic, the ones which are most important ie the next hit will wreck your shit, are always prioritised. Not only on volume but also their distinctive nature. Now, whether or not you can notice them in the heat of the moment, that’s a completely different story. But it is most certainly a point of praise to see how much effort and thought has gone into this.

Music is a bit more nuanced. Personal taste and all that. Shockingly enough, there are a lot of slower, more whimsical compositions. Traditional Chinese music has quite a distinctive flow and style to it, and there has been a great deal of effort put into ensuring things sound both authentic to the culture, but also the time period. It fits incredibly well, which is something I expect everyone will agree on, even if they find the overall style to be not to their taste. The sombre piece right near the very end, when ruminating on the history of Wukong was especially moving.

Lastly we have the voice work. Some of the English direction raised an eyebrow of three, but absolutely none of it was anything less than great. Some performances even standing out as truly excellent. Though, you really should be playing in Chinese, with subtitles. Which is even better. Pigsy and the little fox girl (Pingping) in Chapter 5 standing out as being, if not the very, then certainly amongst the best. Absolutely S tier, as the kids might say. Oh, and the incidental, environmental sounds are forgettable in the best sense. Hence them ostensibly being an afterthought. They are there, they fit the environment, they don’t dominate your attention.

The Verdict

For a first game from such a relatively small studio, it cannot be understated just how well put together it is. The few niggles it does have, like certain enemies being a grind that feel like a relief to pass rather than a challenge, are not strong enough to ruin the experience. It may drive some people away, but others will find this to be one of the best of the year. It’s nigh impossible to hate it, rather acknowledge that it might just not be for you. The consistently high quality is something that simply cannot be understated. Reject modernity, embrace monke.