Game Science’s Black Myth: Wukong is flying high right now, reportedly selling over 4.5 million copies on its launch day and crossing 2.41 million concurrent players on Steam (the second highest in the platform’s history). It has a 96 percent “Overwhelmingly Positive” rating based on 255,718 user reviews. The critical response has also been pretty strong overall, with praise for the game’s combat, visuals, environments and bosses. There’s even talk of it being a contender for Game of the Year.
Considering the long development period and developer size, it’s nice to see things going so well for Game Science. Of course, very few games are perfect, and Black Myth: Wukong has its fair share of issues that must be addressed. Whether it’s technical issues or gameplay shortcomings, here are ten things for Game Science to patch up, ideally sooner rather than later.
Lack of In-Game Map
Perhaps the biggest annoyance with Black Myth: Wukong is the lack of an in-game map. You can fast-travel to various locations in an area or region, allowing you to backtrack and take on optional bosses that were too much before (you know the one). It may not be difficult to remember where to go if it was an hour or two ago, but what if you’re dozens of hours into the game?
What if you finished it and want to return to previous areas to mop up all the optional bosses and discover the remaining secrets? Then there’s the potential of getting lost in an area and trying to figure out where to go next, which you can’t because there’s nothing to denote the places you’ve already visited.
Invisible Walls
You could argue that at least this isn’t an open-world game and that you could figure out where to go eventually. However, another issue that arises is the abundance of invisible walls. It’s one thing to cordon off spaces that the developer doesn’t want you to go to, which is annoying in its own right.
What if you spot something that seems like it could be further explored, only to be stopped? The immersion breaks despite the utter beauty of the environment. Call it a nitpick, but knowing those walls exist results in traveling off the beaten path, much less trying to jump around and see where you can go, utterly pointless.
PC Performance
It’s no secret that this is a demanding game – one look at the opening sequence is all the proof anyone needs. However, when you get to a point where even high-end rigs have to knock down the settings for the sake of frame rate, it’s a problem. AMD users are also seemingly having a rough time, with a few Steam user reviews setting the quality to Low and locking the frame rate to make it through the early going. Regardless of opinions on other aspects, here’s hoping that Game Science improves the overall performance on PC.
Loading Times
Loading times are another anomaly of sorts. They’re roughly 21 seconds on PC with ray tracing enabled when continuing from the main menu. When fast traveling, PC requires 28 seconds. Not particularly bad, but it feels like the game should be loading faster. Though not an open-world title, seeing games in that genre like Elden Ring load up in a few seconds or Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 having near-instant fast travel highlights how much further Wukong has to go.
Input Lag on Performance Mode for PS5
The PS5 version, on the other hand, is an interesting case. There are three different modes, and given the fast-paced action, it makes sense to play in Performance Mode for 60 frames per second. While it’s very stable throughout, we discovered drops in larger combat scenarios (like certain boss fights).. However, the worst part is the input lag. When the main appeal of your hack-and-slash action RPG is the combat, and it feels less than responsive, that’s a problem. Your mileage may vary on how significantly it brings down the experience, but it needs fixing.
Bugs
Of course, there are other technical issues like the PC version crashing. If you crash right after defeating a boss, you must fight it again, which is a downer. IGN’s review noted bugs like the sudden lack of audio and subtitles in a cutscene for no reason or English voice acting suddenly switching to Chinese. Another bug saw the character slammed into and through the ground, resulting in an infinite fall. One Steam user review noted how the AI of two bosses suddenly stopped working, resulting in both needing some restarts before they could finally be defeated. As with many triple-A titles, expect these to be ironed out in subsequent patches.
Lack of More Challenging Difficulty Options
Black Myth: Wukong has no difficulty level, and while it can feel pretty challenging on the first go-round, what’s next after that? No upgrade, low-tier gear runs without upgrading skill trees? Does a run with no magic, Transformations and Spirit Skills sound appealing? Completing the entire game using only a single stance? Yes, there is New Game Plus, but it would be nice to have additional difficulty levels or modifiers that players could activate for a more challenging experience. Heck, throw in a hardcore mode with only one life and tougher bosses to push some players’ skills to the limit.
Enemy Density in Some Areas
Black Myth: Wukong’s bosses have been front and center of the marketing for years, but there are other enemies to fight and side areas to explore in between. The problem is that the enemy density in some locations can feel sparse, particularly in the first two chapters. Tossing in some more foes and maybe upping their challenge would strongly contribute to these areas feeling more lived-in and organic. Besides, as cool as it is to see the protagonist laying the smackdown on serpents, raging bears, and whatnot, demolishing hordes of hapless fodder has its appeal.
Lip-Syncing for English Dub
If you’re someone who played the game with the English dub instead of Chinese, it’s pretty obvious that the lip-syncing doesn’t match (and we’re not talking just a few lines). On the one hand, you could say that this is inconsequential since the Chinese voice acting is the ideal way to experience the story (and perhaps better overall). However, why include an English dub if you’re not going to go the extra mile to ensure proper syncing? As Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut has proven, lip-syncing issues are fixable post-launch, though hopefully, Game Science won’t look to charge for it.
Tough to Follow Story
While it’s straightforward, the fact that you’re thrown into the thick of it makes the general plot harder to grasp, thus making it harder to keep track. Some additional backstory would be appreciated, especially for those who want to know more about the story.
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