Why mastering Black Myth: Wukong’s combat is so satisfying

Black Myth Wukong is out now, and fans are currently flocking to the game in droves. It’s proven to be a real success so far, with the action game bringing the 1600s Chinese novel, Journey to the West, to life. 

Game Science has taken the story of Sun Wukong, as well as other aspects of Chinese Mythology, and translated it into a gaming structure. While the story takes somewhat of a back seat in this rendition, the Chinese developer has taken the powers Sun Wukong is known for and amplified them immensely through its game design. 

Black Myth Wukong’s combat is the main way you interact with this fantastical world, as you try to defy the heavens itself and face off against its defenders – as well as those that are just out to get you for simply trouncing through their domain. 

Defining your style

Due to this combat-heavy focus, the systems Game Science has created are almost entirely to do with upgrading your weapons, armor, and combat stats. While you have a limited set of spells and skills to choose from, you get to choose the emphasis you’d like to build into, offering you options to further define your playstyle. 

There are several avenues you can go down that will let you make this monkey warrior your own. Critical chances and damage can be augmented by certain skill points, weapons, and armor, so you can build into that, making for certain hits to be massive compared to your usual ones. 

However, you can also go an entirely different path. You can invest in various skills and magical abilities, playing more into the spell warrior idea. Maybe you are all about turning invisible and reappearing to deal devastating damage to enemies. What about turning to stone to stun enemies who hit you, allowing you to lay down a counterattack on a boss for a huge flurry?

Of course, you could spec into one of Wukong’s most powerful abilities too – his ability to make multiple clones of himself. Why whack a big boss just once, when you can hit them multiple times with several versions of yourself?

Zero to hero

Of course, you will start at square one though (after an epic opening sequence), so even before you get to decide your playstyle, you’re going to be thrust into the fire and forced to learn to fight. 

This is where you’ll really feel Black Myth: Wukong’s fast-paced brawling. Using Wukong’s legendary Ruyi Jingu Bang, you’ll be able to smack, whack, and thwack enemies and bosses through the game’s combo system. You can mix it up with intricate combos or simply button-mash the attacks (we won’t tell), to try and fell the challenges before you. 

Combat is made more dynamic with the introduction of stances. These are attacks you can switch to on the fly whilst in combat that augments your powerful focus attacks. For example, you can do an enormous slam into the ground, a long-ranged poke, or even stand atop it as it extends, allowing you to miss certain ground-based attacks. 

That last one has proven invaluable in certain circumstances. Coming up against one of the bosses towards the end of Chapter 2, I found myself in the midst of a fight, myself out of spells, gourd uses, and health. The boss also was teetering on low health.

After a flurry of attacks, I desperately rolled away from the towering figure (I’m trying to avoid spoilers) using all my available stamina. After my previous attacks, I had built two Focus points you use to execute big moves.

The boss lunged at me, and I immediately retreated to the top of my staff, very, very narrowly avoiding damage that certainly would have killed me. I then let go of the button and Wukong twirled, slamming the massive stick onto the head of the boss, allowing me to steal victory from a very uncertain situation. 

Mastering combat is the key

Black Myth Wukong’s combat allows for that kind of play, allowing you to decide how you are going to tackle a boss. Again, it’s not about making use of a massive variety of tools or spells, but instead allowing you to emphasize the things you want to excel at. 

You’re not making yourself a healer, or a tank, or an assassin – you’re instead given a variety of abilities to tackle the challenges Black Myth: Wukong throws at you. It’s on you to string them together in the correct sequence. Its combat is one of the main drawing points in the game, and mastering it is one of the most satisfying things you can do in it.