Black Myth: Wu Kong – 13 Minutes of NEW Gameplay revealed today
Many of you grew up watching the Anime Dragonball Z, I am sure you are familiar with Son Goku. Akira Toriyama the writer of that iconic anime based his famous character from Sun Wukong, A Mythological humanoid Monkey King from an old Chinese novel from Ancient China titled ” Journey to the West. The name Son Goku is actually the Japanese translation for the name Sun Wukong.
If you see a fictional character with Monkey traits that rides a cloud and uses a staff as a weapon, most likely that character is inspired by Sun Wukong. Other great examples will be Son Son from the Capcom game Son Son and Monkey from Enslaved: Odyssey to the West.
Most Asian Pop culture with elements of fantasy and magic have influence from Journey to the West.
Black Myth: Wukong by the developer Game Science jut launched a gameplay trailer of a Dark Souls playstyle like RPG that showcases their new title for 13 minutes.
The visuals of this game show beautiful scenic views of Chinese Landscapes with more dark and haunting lighting. This cinematic decision could be a clue that this game is not the usual flashy and bright portrayal of Wukong. This game is going for a more mature and darker route compared to the pass adaptations of the legend.
The trailer starts with a voiceover of an old man speaking in Mandarin. The dialogues are subtitled in English. Different environments of the game are showcased until the reveal of an old man who seemed to be a Monk who is revealed to be the narrator.
That short introduction ends with a demo of the gameplay. The stealth mechanic of turning into a cicada insect is shown as one of the original features of this game. Most stealth games have the characters stay on their original size trying to hide from different obstacles. The Cicada mechanic shows a new original experience we never had before. The ability to hide right in front of our enemies and they still won’t notice.
On the legend, Wukong has 72 kinds of transformations. He can transform into different animals. The Cicada mode is his transformation mode that is revealed. He also has a form that seemed to turn him into a Tiger and he attacks with his claws. These different transformations remind me of the different forms Link has in Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of time. The time limit of his transformations gives me Devil May Cry vibes as he has a powerful form you can use only for a limited time and needs charging before becoming usable again.
When an enemy notices Wukong on his cicada form, They attack him right away forcing Wukong to transform back on his humanoid form.
Wukong also has the ability to make shadow clones of himself. The clones can die easily when hit by the enemy. Think of Naruto’s Kage Bunshin technique. If used right, the clones can be used to overwhelm the enemy from having multiple attacks at the same time.
The Staff seemed to be the main Weapon on this game but we eventually have other kinds of weapons the more we play. A boss fight is shown on the demo and the combat system has some Hack and Slash elements. I have some nostalgia from Megaman games when Wukong claims and salvage the weapon of the enemy he defeated as his own.
Base on what I see on the trailer most characters will be Anthropomorphic animals in humanoid forms. It is a nod to the original material because most companions and enemies of Wukong are animals except for few humans like the scholar. He also some giant enemies based on Chinese folklore.