Wukong is the New Benchmark for the Perfect Soulslike

As I progress in Black Myth: Wukong, every enemy I take on and every secret I find in its expansive and sometimes confusing levels convinces me that Game Science has created a title that is truly special.

Black Myth is a title that can hold its own against the very best of Hidetaka Miyazaki and FromSoftware’s work that inspired its combat system and environmental storytelling even as it builds on their trademark formula to deliver a unique gameplay loop that keeps me coming back for more.

Inspired, Intuitive, and Innovative in More Ways Than One

While Elden Ring and Shadow of the Erdtree will always hold a special place among my list of all-time favorites, Bloodborne and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice were my previous benchmarks for Soulslikes that had combat systems that felt like an extension of my controller in ways that I still find hard to describe.

It isn’t just the agility of their protagonists and the proficiency with which they wield their weapons. Their combat works so well because every enemy in the game is a threat to their players, making each victory feel like a challenge surmounted through skill, precision, and expert timing.

Elden Ring – and perhaps Dark Souls III too – were titles that did rely on precision to some extent but also required a more methodical approach to their many threats, requiring a careful balancing of offense and defense to gain the upper hand in battle.

But Bloodborne, Sekiro, and Black Myth eschew that approach by encouraging aggression, requiring their players to get up close and personal with an enemy, carefully observing their moves to create openings in a gameplay loop that gets the adrenaline surging in a way that other titles have not managed to achieve.

Game Science has taken things up a notch, creating a combat system that relies on players using every tool at their disposal as much as it uses its incredibly designed bosses in encounters that had me grinning to myself even as I was close to panic, having only a sliver of health and none of my spells left to use to score that final hit against a particularly challenging boss.

Every hit felt earned as did every defeat, with the “tough but fair” concept that is the bread and butter of Soulslikes permeating its combat in several ways to deliver an experience that I just can’t get enough of.

Perfectly Balanced, as All Soulslikes Should Be

While Elden Ring had a plethora of weapon types and unique tools with which I could create builds that could shred boss health bars with ease as the game progressed, Game Science has gone the other way with a limited selection of armor, weapons, and spells with specific perks that expand on their utility in combat.

However, a staggering skill tree allowed me a lot of flexibility in how I created a build for my Destined One, with separate upgrade trees for my stances, martial prowess, spells, and transformations that may be overwhelming at first but begin to make more sense as new perks and equipment get thrown into the mix.

If Elden Ring was a game in which players could learn the nuances of a specific weapon and wield it with skill like a musician playing their instrument of choice, Black Myth allows its players to command an entire opera!

This balance and flexibility extends to the game’s bosses and level design. Black Myth seemed linear to me in the initial stages but quickly disabused me of that notion as I missed several important items left, right, and center during my playthrough, often relying on tips from its already vast community of players to find my way through its convoluted levels.

And with bosses blocking my way at every turn, opportunities to enjoy the balance Game Science has lovingly baked into its debut AAA title were plentiful. What’s more, every single one of them served as an example of how that very balance is what makes them special.

With the bold move to remove the loss of accumulated XP and Will upon death, taking on Black Myth’s bosses may have lowered the stakes if not for every fight requiring using its excellent mechanics with a mix of finesse, aggression, and careful strategizing that blends the best of Bloodborne, Sekiro, and Elden Ring.

Every enemy has specific visual cues to signal an attack alongside an audio cue that makes fighting them an immersive dance of attacking and dodging without the excessively long combos of some of Elden Ring’s harder foes. A perfect dodge often makes sparks fly off your weapon in a rewarding animation that I cannot get enough of.

The move to Unreal Engine 5 has proved to be an excellent choice for Game Science as it addresses a major complaint about several other Soulslikes that came before it with Black Myth’s visually astounding iterations of ancient China being a sight to behold.

I’m certain that I will find more to love about Black Myth: Wukong as I dig deeper into its final act and the inevitable dive into its excellent New Game Plus mode. But for now, all I will say is that Game Science has written a love letter to the Soulslike genre, taking inspiration from it while inspiring others in that space to scale greater heights – Miyazaki included.

I cannot wait to see what Game Science comes up with next but I know that I will be among its first players when it finally releases its next project.