With most notable games being produced by the same handful of triple-A studios whose goal is profit rather than quality, the gaming industry has become predictable and oversaturated.
However, Black Myth: Wukong, an action RPG developed by indie studio Game Science, has produced a quality contender for Game of the Year. With their only background being in mobile games, developing a game of this scale was quite impressive.
The story is inspired by the ancient chinese tale of the Monkey King. You play as a sort of reincarnation whose goal is to collect all six fragments to resurrect the original Sun Wukong.
Inspired by Chinese mythology, the game’s landscape is set in ancient China, where gods and demons are as real as the land they encompass.
Unreal Engine 5 holds this mystical world together, providing realistic graphics and optimal performance. These are shown at full capacity in the opening boss fight, where you play as the original Sun Wukong in his legendary battle against Heaven’s army and the Four Heavenly Kings.
Graphics and story aren’t the only things Black Myth has to offer, as the gameplay features have as much quality as they do quantity.
With over 100 skills to unlock in 5 different skillsets and three different staff stances, Black Myth is far from repetitive. With just as many enemies, there won’t be a shortage of combinations to create to acclimate to the different challenges you may encounter.
One of the most immersive features is the incorporation of the original Wukong’s many abilities. From teleportation, clones, rock skin, and freezing enemies, Black Myth’s gameplay makes you feel like a god.
Yet the most revolutionary of all these abilities is the ability to transform into certain enemies and bosses you have defeated. Allowing you to strategize against other bosses using the strengths of defeated foes while creating quite a spectacle on the screen.
With so many abilities, some may believe that the game will be easy; however, this couldn’t be farther from the truth.
Black Myth creates balance by incorporating a mana and stamina bar to ensure that players can’t simply spam, dodge, or cast strong spells without risk. This is combined with Black Myth’s numerous challenging bosses create a game that requires energy and patience to conquer fully.
Black Myth also has a handful of NPCs that will help you along your journey, giving you useful upgrades that can be felt immediately.
Game Science ensures players have a diverse experience by adding dozens of customizable outfits that will give each player’s game their personal touch.
After being in development for more than a decade, Game Science has managed to do something that major studios continuously miss: release a game that is fully complete on release, with limited bugs and no microtransactions.
Game Science released a fully operational product whose main intent is to create a labor of passion, not a game that will rack in money and die due to its many imperfections.
With Game Science hitting the mark on everything, it’s easy to see how this game will surpass expectations and live as a staple in the RPG genre.
