Black Fantasy: Wukong is, in the end, a recreation about boss fights. Tense, dynamic boss fights that’ll have you ever gawking in awe one minute, and doubtlessly spiking your controller the following. This can be a difficult motion title — a relentless push towards more and more advanced and lethal opponents, and there aren’t any issue settings to fall again on. That truth alone will likely be sufficient to place some individuals off, however should you can keep on with the sport and develop into invested in its slightly distinctive model of staff-based battling, you may be rewarded with a level of spectacle that is so hardly ever seen outdoors of bona fide blockbusters like Closing Fantasy 16 and God of Warfare Ragnarok.
Structurally, Wukong is a conventional Soulslike. There are shrines that you’re going to return to upon loss of life, there are devoted boss arenas, and the extent design is essentially linear, at all times funnelling you in the direction of the following battlefield. Certainly, exploration is stored to a naked minimal. Whereas later environments are barely extra expansive general, it is not like there is a must-see secret down each lifeless finish, and frequent use of invisible partitions — a jarring selection given the title’s graphical prowess — ensures that you simply undergo the crushed path.
Wukong is at its weakest once you’re trotting between boss encounters. We’re not saying that the sport wants exploration, that it will be higher if it copied Elden Ring’s homework — however past a bunch of fairly vistas and the occasional facet quest (which is usually accomplished simply down the street anyway), Wukong struggles to completely justify its personal design. At worst, the sport’s world finally ends up feeling synthetic — a walled-off sequence of walkways that exist purely to fill house between the fights that really matter.
On a basic degree, nonetheless, you would argue that downtime between bosses is a necessity. As alluded, key clashes are intense affairs that solely develop bolder and extra bombastic as the sport progresses. Boss battles are no doubt the beating coronary heart of the expertise; they’re each frequent and impressively diverse — a seemingly endless stream of immaculately crafted opponents so that you can battle towards and finally conquer.
Wukong’s many, many foes are plucked from Chinese language mythology, and the sport itself is predicated upon Journey to the West — the timeless sixteenth century novel that is influenced numerous works of fiction. The titular Wukong — a monkey who ascended to close godhood — is struck down within the recreation’s opening, and also you tackle the function of one other, anonymous ape who units off looking for Wukong’s scattered relics.
Admittedly, it is a plot that significantly better resonates should you’re already conversant in China’s most culturally impactful legends. With out prior information, the title’s storytelling comes throughout as disjointed and virtually ethereal — little greater than a barely coherent string of occasions that loosely tie every of the sport’s six chapters collectively. However even should you’re firmly out of the loop, there is a fairy story whimsy to Wukong’s writing and dialogue that makes all the pieces appear… cohesive.
However Wukong does not need you to get slowed down in lore and narrative — it desires you to clobber demons along with your smacking stick, and in that regard, it is pretty exhausting to fault. Fight exists in an area someplace between your basic Soulslike blueprint of assault, retreat, repeat, and a extra action-oriented method, replete with combos and particular talents. It is an odd combine that, at instances, can really feel just a little confused, prefer it’s attempting to have the most effective of each worlds however by no means fairly manages to decide on an id of its personal.
Nonetheless, the fight system solely will get higher as the sport goes on, due to a slew of unlockable perks, abilities, and magical feats that each one dovetail fairly spectacularly within the title’s extra demanding moments. Wukong will get brilliantly inventive with the talents that you simply’re finally afforded, as our simian hero is able to reworking into beforehand defeated demons, and casting spells that may flip the tide of battle.
With all of this in thoughts, it is a bit of a disgrace that you simply’re caught with such comparatively fundamental instruments for the title’s first 10 to fifteen hours of gameplay. Granted, there must be some type of development curve, however a number of of the protagonist’s later talents really feel borderline important in absolutely appreciating the fight system as a complete.
We’re hesitant to say that Wukong will get simpler as you unlock increasingly nodes throughout its shockingly giant ability bushes, however most gamers will hit some extent the place the sheer breadth of your arsenal permits you to bypass the cautious type of play that earlier chapters enforced. It really makes for a satisfying sense of progress; identical to Wukong himself, you are starting to embrace the interior monkey, taking your opponents for a experience with more and more devious ways.
It takes some time to really click on, however this is a superb motion recreation at its core — and that makes its lack of PS5 optimisation more durable to abdomen. Particularly, it is the title’s ‘Efficiency’ mode that drops the largest metaphorical ball. It guarantees a smoother gameplay expertise focusing on 60 frames-per-second — one thing that many would declare is essential for any hardcore motion recreation. Nonetheless, Wukong’s 60fps is actually an phantasm — a product of clumsy body technology. In essence, you are enjoying at 30fps, however visually, it seems to be like 60.
Enter lag is a really unlucky byproduct of this system, and it might probably completely be felt now and again, when your dodge does not come out in time, or when your heavy assault does not hyperlink up along with your commonplace combo. It is not a complete dealbreaker — Wukong’s fight is staggered sufficient to the place you are by no means hitting too many buttons in fast succession — however not understanding whether or not your loss of life was all the way down to an absence of ability, or the sport’s technical ineptitude, could be deeply irritating. We will solely hope that developer Recreation Science cleans issues up post-launch.
We would not thoughts a lift in decision, both, if solely in order that we will higher respect the sport’s frankly unimaginable artwork route. Visuals clearly aren’t all the pieces, however Wukong’s eye-popping presentation is a motive to maintain enjoying, pure and easy. Each new enemy, each new boss, is a pleasure to find, they usually’re all beautifully animated. The artistry on show throughout the whole journey is excellent, even on the meagre 1080p decision of efficiency mode.
Conclusion
It takes time for Black Fantasy: Wukong’s fight to really click on, however when it does, this is among the most inventive motion titles on PS5. One after one other, its spectacular boss battles steal the present — a procession of memorable encounters that showcase the sport’s unimaginable artistry. As a complete, nonetheless, the expertise is held again by restricted degree design and irritating technical points on PS5 — a rattling disgrace, since Wukong is pure monkey magic at its peak.
