Black Myth: Wukong, the action-RPG from Chinese developer Game Science, is due to launch on August 20th for PC and PS5. Just days ago the developers did a fantastic, consumer friendly thing by launching a PC benchmarking tool. Now, they’ve pulled off a second consumer-friendly trick by allowing reviews to go live a full four days ahead of the game’s launch.
Before we dive into the reviews themselves, I’d like to offer a brief synopsis of what the critics are saying: the game takes around 30+ hours to play through, and like Game Science made sure to emphasis it is an action-RPG rather than a Soulslike, which is what some media outlets branded Black Myth: Wukong. That said, a lot of reviews still push it as being more Soulslike than ARPG.
It’s so big than Eurogamer had to post an article stating that they need more time with it: “It’s a big ol’ game, and we haven’t had very long with it, meaning we’ve not had enough time to make significant enough progress for a full review.”
UK outlet Push Square also don’t have a review up yet, citing that only PC code has been made available so they understandably want to wait until they can get some PS5 hands-on time.
Now let’s dive into the reviews. Over on Metacritic the game currently holds a score of 82 based on 52 critic reviews at the time of writing.
GodisaGeek slapped Black Myth: Wukong with a staggering 10/10 in a review penned by Mick Fraser: “You might argue that GameScience is just putting new gems in old jewellery, but it simply doesn’t matter. When the level of quality is this consistently high, no one need ask for more. A flurry of sublime combat, intuitive level building, and expert boss design, Black Myth: Wukong is, hands-down, one of this year’s best action games.”
GamingBolt was equally impressed with Black Myth: Wukong. In Rashid Sayed’s review, the author gave it a 10/10: “Black Myth: Wukong delivers breathtaking combat, stellar production quality, and unforgettable boss fights. Its few quirks don’t hold it back from being one of the genre’s best games in recent memory.”
On the other end of the scale, we have GameRant’s review which was handled by Dalton Cooper. Scoring it a 3/5, Dalton writes: “Black Myth: Wukong is a game that shies away from the Soulslike label, yet it is clearly gunning for the Soulslike audience. It is far from the best in the genre, but it’s also not the worst game that has followed in Dark Souls‘ footsteps. If you go into it expecting a mostly standard Soulslike experience with some blood-boiling boss encounters mixed in with basic level design, you will have a better time than if you were going into it expecting it to be like a traditional character action game.”
Jason Coles of The Sixth Axis also wasn’t overly impressed, giving the game a solid 6/10. He wrote: “Black Myth: Wukong is a stunning game to look at, but the exploration is lacking, and the fighting is just sort of fine for the most part. It’s just a bit uninspiring, and isn’t a game that I’m expecting to stick with me for any length of time now that I’m done with it.”
Venturing into the middle ground we find Mitchell Saltzman of IGN. In his review he mentions the game suffering from technical issues, stating that the game could be “even greated if GameScience can Squash the bugs.” It didn’t stop him from handing it an 8/10 though, and saying: “Despite some frustrating technical issues, Black Myth: Wukong is a great action game with fantastic combat, exciting bosses, tantalizing secrets, and a beautiful world.”
The Gamer gave it a 4/5 in their review which was put together by Joshua Robertson, who also seemed to lean heavily into the idea of Black Myth being a Soulslike. Here’s what he had to say: “Over the past few years, it’s become clear that we don’t need to rely solely on FromSoftware for competent and entertaining soulslikes. Lies of P, Stellar Blade, Rise of the Ronin, and Another Crab’s Treasure all launched in the past 12 months and managed to impress, but Black Myth: Wukong goes one step further. It’s the most polished, intricate, and entertaining soulslike I’ve ever played outside FromSoftware’s masterpieces.”
Windows Central went with 3.5/5 in a review posted by Brendan Lowry, who notably also mentioned some performance woes. Here’s how he described the game: “Ultimately, Black Myth: Wukong is a very solid action RPG with its thrilling cinematic boss fights, diverse, gorgeously rendered locales, rich combat system replete with build options, and well-told story. However, it holds itself back with bland level design and disappointing enemy variety, along with a superfluous gear system and a few noteworthy performance issues.”
Let’s wrap up with Tyler Colp of PC Gamer who gave it an 87/100, saying: “Black Myth: Wukong blossoms with an eccentric cast of characters and expressive combat all wrapped up in the rich world of its source material.”