Hands On – Black Myth: Ukong | atom —

China wants a place at the table

It’s a time of change for the industry we love so much. There is a strong sustainability crisis in the West, while Japan is trying new models to stay current. Amidst all this, some of the Asian powers are starting to look for a place at the table with the big boys. South Korea has shown some great cards already P’s lie y Stellar Blade, while the entire Chinese power is ready to leave mobile and service games behind to show that they are equal to the big traditional AAA. From a few years ago, Black Myth: Wukong Shown, it surprised by its spectacular visuals and interesting concept, it is, of course, with a good dose of skepticism due to the little experience of the studio behind everything and, of course, we are still not used to the titles coming out of it. This is part of the cut world. How about the new Game Science thing?

A few days ago we had the opportunity to be at the expected event Black Myth: Wukong Which was held in the heart of Los Angeles, California, together with our friends sports science, where we were allowed to check out its ambitious and highly anticipated game for nearly three hours. To begin with, we can tell you that yes, it is real despite what some may think and from what we have tested and talked to the developers, the game is practically finished and ready to hit the market in a few more months. Things like its graphics, art direction, well-crafted controls, and functional mechanics make me think that its promise to be one of the most important offerings of the year is going to be fulfilled, and it might have enough legs to fight for a place. A coveted group of Game of the Year nominees. In this special preview we tell you what it was like.

Journey to the West

Undoubtedly, one of the oldest and richest cultures in the world is China. Basically, all the wonderful culture, art, gastronomy, language, religion and customs that we see across Asia come from that part of the world. Its myths, stories and legends are part of all of the above, being Journey to the West One of his most important works. If you can’t identify it, I’ll tell you it’s a 16th century novel. Written by Wu Cheng’en, and which, in addition to being translated into countless languages, has been adapted in various ways, including anime and manga. dragon ball. Here we are told the story of a Buddhist monk who travels through Central Asia and India in search of scriptures.

Black Myth: Wukong Another adaptation of the aforementioned novel, now only in video game form and introducing many elements from various Chinese mythology. In the game we take on the role of Wukong, a warrior and monk, who is the monkey king, the hero of the novel I told you about earlier. During the demo we didn’t get to see much of the path the narrative would take, however, we were told that they are actually pretty faithful to the work that everything is based on, but with certain freedoms of characters and elements that make more sense inside a video game. do Of course my favorite part of it all was the presentation of Tudigong, our mentor, who besides carrying a certain amount of humour, always spoke in an instructive manner and who, I understood, was always based on the beloved Master Roshi.

I’d love to be able to talk more about the tone of the story with you Black Myth: Wukong, but the demonstration was rather focused on the game’s core gameplay, as it was shown right after the intro to start our session; That is, we haven’t seen any cinematics or anything like that in live action. I can tell you that the game has voices in English and Mandarin. The first of them is very well done, but it is important to mention that the lip sync is made for Mandarin, at least that was the case with this first method that we had with the game, which of course may change in the final version. I think whoever is behind everything would recommend playing in the original language.

¿Otro Soullike?

Yes I know. The overpopulation of games based on the subgenre invented by Hidetaka Miyazaki and From Software is starting to become a real plague for the industry. In the beginning we thought this new way of making action RPGs would have a significant impact on the medium, but few saw it coming. As communicated since the announcement, Black Myth: Wukong It strongly follows the formula of the so-called Soulslike, but has a well-focused objective and its own concept that undoubtedly gives it personality.

You might expect something very traditional about the structure of the game; That is, we encounter a title that almost follows the letter as a Dark Souls. At least in these first hours, we travel through levels limited to, but interconnected by, consisting of corridors, but certain areas are also semi-open to exploration. In one of them, for example, we met several completely optional bosses, one of them seems to be guarding another area, so although we have something, our curiosity and exploration will be rewarded. Classic rest points and potions are present to replenish your energy, plus most enemies will respawn if you use them.

Moving on to the core gameplay and combat, we have two main attacks. One is strong but slow, and another is weak but fast. Managing your stamina will be important, because if you’re on zero, you’ll be weakened. Our defense is limited to our ability to avoid attacks. The hero is an agile character who can move at high speed. What caught my attention was the possibility to do a flying kick if you attack with a jump at the same time. Black Myth: Wukong It’s a Soulslike, but it flirts with being a hack and slash where speed matters. Likewise, if you dodge at the right moment, you’ll be able to counterattack more effectively.

But hey, while all of the above works great, the reality is that they’re ideas we’ve already seen too many times. Really interesting thing about Black Myth: Wukong, we have expertise. We were able to try a few of them in this demo. The first allowed us to completely freeze the enemy in question for a few seconds to attack at will, while the second allowed me to transform into one of the bosses I defeated. Yes, it is possible to turn into certain enemies for a limited time, which completely changes the way you play, since your movement is completely different and you have a separate life bar which is definitely very helpful. When things get complicated. I can’t wait to see what kind of crazy things we come up with as you progress.

Speaking of enemies, let me tell you that I felt that the difficulty was quite fair and balanced, a very characteristic element of these games that tend to be extremely challenging. In about a three-hour session, I beat about five bosses between main and optional. I think the window they give you to avoid attacks is pretty wide, so I’d say that if you don’t have such good reflexes and battle spirit, you might find something more tolerable here. Of course, we’ll have to see if there isn’t a significant jump in difficulty later on.

Progress follows a fairly traditional path. As you progress, you’ll get a specific unit that will help you unlock new moves and abilities. In addition, your equipment can also be improved by using the various materials you collect. Something special about Black Myth: Wukong There is really only one weapon. The hero has his characteristic staff which will change as we progress so that the battle is not static. This is the part that worries me a little; You can vary considerably with a single type of weapon.

Unreal Power 5

We are in the midst of an era where technology has become the central axis of any experience. Especially when we talk about AAA productions, a magnifying glass is put on how the game in question performs. Black Myth: Wukong Became one of the first major titles to use Unreal Engine 5, promising a truly next-gen experience.

For demonstration we were presented with a build that didn’t share the running specifications on a PC, but we can assume that was pretty important, since the game ran very cleanly at 60 frames per second. There were freezes from time to time, but this is clearly an issue in non-final versions of the game. Plus, we saw it in a pretty impressive 4K resolution. yes, Black Myth: Wukong It’s a game that fascinates, because in addition to an art direction that really screams that beautifully recreates China 500 years ago, it makes Unreal Engine 5 in all its glory with highly detailed situations and lighting that sometimes makes you . Imagine you are watching a real scene.

And what about the PS5 problem? Well, though, like I said, the session was only on PC, a Game Science rep told us Black Myth: Wukong It will run at a resolution of 2K and 60 frames per second on the Sony console, even though it was revealed to us that work is being done to bring everything to 4K without sacrificing performance, which certainly seems complicated if not impossible. The other elements that I liked were the audio editing and the music. The sounds of the game are really catchy and always make me feel like I’m in the middle of a big forest in the middle of Asia.

Black Myth: Wukong It’s a game that, at least from what we tested, lived up to what was taught from the start, which, frankly, seemed too good to be true. The use of new epic games technology continues its first steps, but as time progresses, it impresses us with brutally realistic graphics that make you wonder how far video games will reach in a few decades.

Doubts cleared?

It is perfectly understandable to have doubts about what it is Black Myth: Wukong. In fact, I’ll tell you that it’s always the most prudent thing to be a bit skeptical when we’re talking about a new or not-so-well-known developer. After this extensive session with the Chinese-produced game, I will tell you that something special has been created that can surprise more than one person, since we are seeing a title with clear objectives, good design, solid controls and so on. The mechanics level offers its own, and a really screaming technical section. It’s clear to me that Game Science has done its homework and understanding how a modern AAA should work as well as understanding that this particular work could open many doors for other productions to be made in the imposing Asian nation that remains. In other words, he stopped being a supporting character in the world and became a real hero.

Black Myth: Wukong It is scheduled to launch on August 20 on PC and PS5. As for the Xbox Series X|S version, we still don’t know when it might be ready. To supplement, we asked if there was any news about the unfortunate fact that the physical versions of the title will not have a disc, where we were only told that Game Science is working on it. I will tell you that it will happen, we just have to wait beyond the official release day.