I’m not trying to talk anyone out of playing Wukong (though I do recommend you at least inform yourself about the allegations of discrimination and harassment at Game Science ). It’s a Soulslike through and through and I expect it will be popular with fans of the genre. But if Erdtree is too hard for you because the bosses are relentless, I’m sorry to say it, but Wukong isn’t going to treat you any ni

As a filthy casual, I can confirm that Black Myth is not going to be a beginner-friendly entry point to the genre, but it’s also easy to see this is the real deal - something that transcends the label of ‘Dark Souls clone’ and stands on its own as a competent, well-designed action RPG. The only criticisms I have are about the generic forest environments that, while beautiful, don’t leave much room for exploration, nor do they inspire the imagination the way Bloodborne’s Yarnham or Blackmythwukongfans.Com even Lies of P’s Krat do. This is just the game’s intro though, so I anticipate there’s a lot more to see.

Ornithropy grants Wuchang players access to a variety of magic and techniques, and this can be tailored to specific playstyles by pairing it with a weapon type of the player's choice from the numerous ones on offer. Build variety is becoming more paramount in Soulslikes than ever before, so it's great to see Wuchang: Fallen Feathers has players covered in this regard. Boss fights are one of the most important Soulslike staples , and here, they are promised to feature multi-phases and be as challenging as expected. The entire game is being built using Unreal Engine 5, which should ensure crisp, clean visuals to capture the lightning-fast action on scr

There’s no block or parry in Black Myth, which might be the thing that separates it the most from the rest of the Souslike genre. You have a staff spin ability that allows you to deflect ranged attacks, but when you’re facing off against an enemy, dodging is your main method of avoiding damage.

Of course, dodging doesn’t stagger or interrupt an enemy's attacks the way a parry would, and one of the most difficult things about Wukong’s boss fights is how often you’re required to dodge multiple attacks in a row. Every time I nailed a perfect dodge my instinct was to immediately retaliate with a barrage of attacks, but more often than not, you need to string three or more perfect dodges together before the enemy gives you an opening. Most of my deaths came because I dodged too early, or failed to dodge a bunch of times in a row.

After defeating an optional boss called Guangzhi, a wolf wielding a flaming staff, I earned the ability to transform into him. Guangzhi has a powerful move set and the ability to ignite enemies, applying a burn that damages them over time, but what really makes this ability handy is that turning into Guangzhi gives you a new, full health bar. Eventually time runs out and you transform back into the Destined One, but transforming can be a great way to survive when your health is low by allowing you to tank a bunch of difficult to avoid attacks. Again, more layers of resource management.

So, while there may not be builds in the traditional sense, players can approach Black Myth: Wukong in different ways based on their spell and Transformation choice. They can also take things a step further by spending skill points on different staff forms (switched using the d-pad) that have their own attack patterns. For the preview, we unlocked the Tower Form , which has a nifty move where Sun Wukong climbs to the top of his staff and stands out of harm’s way before doing a flashy flip and slam move. It seems likely that most players will unlock all of the skills by the game’s end, but those different staff forms seem to do enough to mix up combat and allow for unique approaches to varied enem

Players were given 30 minutes to try and defeat four of the game's different bosses, with most people I spoke to only managing to defeat two of them. The Elite Macaque Chief and Tiger Vanguard were two of the more popular bosses, with Game Science saying the Tiger was the harder of the two, but a member of the public sharing that "actually, the Monkey was hard

I, frankly, couldn't handle the wait, nor did my scummy press pass count for much for this particular game, so I figured I'd do the next best thing and get impressions of those who had actually managed to play it at Gamescom. Here's what I uncove

After it was officially unveiled back in 2021, until this recent trailer, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers had somewhat fallen by the wayside, due to the increasing number of Soulslikes being released in quick succession. One such game is Black Myth Wukong , which releases in August. Featuring Soulslike mechanics, similarly fantastical boss fights, and steeped in Ancient Chinese history, Wukong will likely be compared to Wuchang , even though the art styles are quite different. Indeed, Wuchang 's tone and aesthetic seem more similar to the likes of Team Ninja's critically acclaimed Nioh ser