ALBAWABA - After selling more than 10 million units across the board and reaching more than 2.4 million concurrent players on Steam, Game Science broke records with Black Myth: Wukong, and let's just say that the positive attention it received was nothing but deserved.
2024 has seen quite a roster of excellent games including the Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, Helldivers II, Stellar Blade, Persona 3 Reload, Palworld, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Hades II, and many more, but in our opinion, Black Myth: Wukong makes a strong contender for Game of The Year.
Gamers also received some stinkers such as Sony's answer to Overwatch 2, Concord, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, the self-proclaimed AAAA game Skull and Bones, Dustborn, Silent Hill: The Short Message, and many more.
Why Black Myth: Wukong deserves to be GOTY
Today, we will be going through everything that makes Black Myth: Wukong GOTY material from its beautifully crafted world and characters, to its simple yet excellent gameplay mechanics and graphics.
Moreover, we simply don't get enough games exploring Chinese mythology but thanks to Wukong things could change in the future.
1) Fleshed out storyline and characters
Every character in Black Myth: Wukong, from basic enemies and side bosses to main characters and NPCs, has an extensive storyline written about them in the menu for players who want to know more about the game's lore.
Moreover, every chapter gets its own beautifully crafted animation short summarizing its events and storyline from 2D animation to stop motion.
Keep in mind that the story might seem confusing to some if they are not familiar with the 16-century novel Journey to the West, on which the game is based, although it takes place right after the novel's events.
The story explores the world of Yaoguai, creatures in Chinese mythology, folk tales, and literature who are defined due to their supernatural abilities and weird appearances. Despite all that, in this game, they appear more humanlike with issues humans also suffer from including love, family quarrels, loss, and even the seven deadly sins.
2) Stunning Art direction and graphics
The art and design department did an amazing job with Black Myth: Wukong's art direction, featuring 36 real-life locations from China. Moreover, 27 of them are located in Shanxi province near Beijing's capital.
Additionally, not a single area across all chapters in the story felt the same as it explored different weather conditions, color palettes, and architecture making the game a joy to explore despite some hiccups like invisible walls and the cursed Pagoda area.
Each character looked carefully crafted while also incorporating their appearance from mythology scrolls and artwork, keeping what made them unique and interesting in the first place.
Thanks to Unreal Engine 5 and the hard work put in by the developers, Wukong might be one of the most impressive and visually stunning games we've experienced.
The beautifully drawn and interactable scrolls at the end summarizing the chapter also add to the experience.
3) Secret areas to explore, 100 bosses to fight, and excellent gameplay
Enemy variety in this game was seriously impressive! Till the end of the game, we kept discovering new enemies with different move sets and appearances to fight, keeping the experience fresh and leaving us wanting more.
This didn't include the already huge roster of 100 bosses players could go against across the game from main story ones to secret area foes with a storyline equivalent to the main one and the occasional ones we came across while exploring the map.
Moreover, specific secret areas could unlock different overpowered armor and weapons which could be crafted at the nearest shrine or blacksmith.
Hint: You need to keep your eyes open when it comes to the secret areas as they are easily missable but add so much to the story. Some also give items to make the final boss of each chapter a little easier if you find it difficult.
Players will be met by a huge skill tree where they can explore different staff stances, survival options, damage boosters, spells, and transformations from specific enemies they defeat since this is Wukong we are talking about, making the gameplay simple yet engaging.
4) Just the right amount of difficulty
One thing many players hate in gaming is when studios hand-hold them into every questline and gameplay mechanic making the game less challenging and more of a "Chore." But this was not the case with Why Black Myth: Wukong.
In our opinion the game has the right amount of difficulty, making it challenging enough but not easy despite nearly wanting to throw the controller at the monitor due to camera lock-in issues when facing more than one enemy and some difficult boss encounters.
No game is "Perfect", here are some cons we encountered
1) Invisible walls and camera lock-in issues with multiple enemies
The game suffered from camera lock-in issues when multiple enemies were in our viewpoint making some boss encounters that featured two at the same time annoying.
It would suddenly lock on to a different enemy when it attacked which made the fight more difficult and irritating than it should've been.
2) The storyline might be confusing to some
To some players, the storyline might appear as confusing if not familiar with Wukong and the Journey to the West novel.
3) no map can confuse many players
The game doesn't incorporate a map as a UI element leaving the player on their own, while we didn't mind getting lost and exploring the world without it, many other colleagues expressed their anger due to it missing.
Last but not least, what did you think of Black Myth: Wukong and do you believe that it should win 2024's Game of the Year title?
Verdict and score:
(Photo credit: all photos taken from Game Science's official website)
