Black Fantasy: Wukong is, finally, a sport about boss fights. Tense, dynamic boss fights that’ll have you ever gawking in awe one minute, and doubtlessly spiking your controller the subsequent. It is a difficult motion title — a relentless push towards more and more complicated and lethal opponents, and there are not any problem settings to fall again on. That reality alone can be sufficient to place some folks off, however for those who can persist with the sport and turn out to be invested in its relatively distinctive model of staff-based battling, you will be rewarded with a level of spectacle that is so hardly ever seen exterior of bona fide blockbusters like Closing Fantasy 16 and God of Struggle Ragnarok.
Structurally, Wukong is a conventional Soulslike. There are shrines that you will return to upon demise, there are devoted boss arenas, and the extent design is essentially linear, all the time funnelling you in the direction of the subsequent battlefield. Certainly, exploration is saved to a naked minimal. Whereas later environments are barely extra expansive total, it is not like there is a must-see secret down each lifeless finish, and frequent use of invisible partitions — a jarring alternative given the title’s graphical prowess — ensures that you simply undergo the crushed path.
Wukong is at its weakest while you’re trotting between boss encounters. We’re not saying that the sport wants exploration, that it could be higher if it copied Elden Ring’s homework — however past a bunch of fairly vistas and the occasional aspect quest (which is often accomplished simply down the street anyway), Wukong struggles to totally 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 area between the fights that really matter.
On a elementary stage, nevertheless, you might 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 doubtless the beating coronary heart of the expertise; they’re each frequent and impressively diversified — a seemingly endless stream of immaculately crafted opponents so that you can battle towards and ultimately 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 sport’s opening, and also you tackle the function of one other, anonymous ape who units off searching for Wukong’s scattered relics.
Admittedly, it is a plot that significantly better resonates for those who’re already conversant in China’s most culturally impactful legends. With out prior data, 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 for those who’re firmly out of the loop, there is a fairy story whimsy to Wukong’s writing and dialogue that makes every thing appear… cohesive.
However Wukong would 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 onerous to fault. Fight exists in an area someplace between your traditional Soulslike blueprint of assault, retreat, repeat, and a extra action-oriented strategy, replete with combos and particular talents. It is an odd combine that, at instances, can really feel somewhat confused, prefer it’s making an attempt to have the perfect of each worlds however by no means fairly manages to decide on an identification 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 ultimately 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 primary 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 totally appreciating the fight system as an entire.
We’re hesitant to say that Wukong will get simpler as you unlock increasingly nodes throughout its shockingly giant talent bushes, however most gamers will hit a degree the place the sheer breadth of your arsenal helps you to bypass the cautious fashion of play that earlier chapters enforced. It really makes for a satisfying sense of progress; similar to Wukong himself, you are starting to embrace the internal monkey, taking your opponents for a journey with more and more devious ways.
It takes some time to actually click on, however this is a superb motion sport 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 sport. Nonetheless, Wukong’s 60fps is actually an phantasm — a product of clumsy body technology. In essence, you are enjoying at 30fps, however visually, it appears like 60.
Enter lag is a really unlucky byproduct of this method, and it may completely be felt from time to time, when your dodge would not come out in time, or when your heavy assault would not hyperlink up along with your normal 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 demise was all the way down to a scarcity of talent, or the sport’s technical ineptitude, will be deeply irritating. We will solely hope that developer Sport Science cleans issues up post-launch.
We would not thoughts a lift in decision, both, if solely in order that we are able to higher respect the sport’s frankly unbelievable artwork course. Visuals clearly aren’t every thing, however Wukong’s eye-popping presentation is a purpose to maintain enjoying, pure and easy. Each new enemy, each new boss, is a pleasure to find, and so they’re all fantastically animated. The artistry on show throughout your complete journey is excellent, even on the meagre 1080p decision of efficiency mode.
Conclusion
It takes time for Black Fantasy: Wukong’s fight to actually click on, however when it does, this is likely one of 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 unbelievable artistry. As an entire, nevertheless, the expertise is held again by restricted stage design and irritating technical points on PS5 — a rattling disgrace, since Wukong is pure monkey magic at its peak.
