Review of the epic action RPG "Black Myth: Wukong" from China! In a world based on "Journey to the West," players can enjoy adventures in a variety of fields and exhilarating action using ruyibo and jutsu!

Players embark on a journey to revive the Great Sage Qi Tian Sect as "Heavenly Deities.

The story of this title begins when Sun Wukong returns from his journey to Jersey and engages in an epic battle with Kenshojiro Makoto. After the fierce battle, Goku was defeated, and where he fell, only a large stone remained. Hundreds of years have passed since then, and the hero is ordered by his elders to embark on a journey in search of six sacred treasures that are said to be necessary for the revival of the Great Sage Equal to Heaven.

The protagonist of this work

This title uses the latest game engine, Unreal Engine 5. A game engine is a development platform for game production. This title, developed with the Unreal Engine 5, uses realistic graphics that are as realistic as the reality of the field. Every aspect of the game is precisely rendered, including the main character's equipment, the surface of the water that surges as enemies move, and the light that shines through the gaps in the bamboo forest, enhancing the player's sense of immersion.

The main story is divided into chapters, and each chapter features a variety of fields, including a mountain covered with bamboo groves and a desert-covered wilderness. The structure of each field is a single path, and the final route is limited, but instead, each field has various small and large detours, and there are bosses waiting in the back, gimmicks to get to hidden fields, and other discoveries to be made.

Since there is no element of falling to one's death in this work, it is nice to be able to look around for places where a single misstep could result in a fall, such as cliffs or pathways made of old trees. This is a welcome feature, as the realistic graphics make it difficult to distinguish where you can and cannot go in the "Black Myth". If I had a wish, I would have thought that a direction indicating a dead end would have made the search more convenient.

The text in the game is also well written. The information about the people you fight or encounter in the story is registered in a kind of pictorial book, but the amount of information is very large. The text also carefully describes the existence of the monsters and how they interacted with Sanzo and Son Goku on their journey to Jersey, making it a very rewarding read. It seems that a lot of effort has been put into the translation, and the dialogue in the story as well as the text in the illustrated book is in natural Japanese, making it very easy to read and understand. It is not only useful to know the background of the subject, but also those who are familiar with "Journey to the West" will enjoy it more.

If you follow the story in order, the chapters are only about 3 or 4 hours long, but if you are interested in collecting hidden gimmicks and items, and searching for materials used to forge weapons and equipment, you can easily spend several dozen hours before completing the main story.

The exhilarating combat system centered around a flexible and extendable club.

The main character, Tenmeito, uses a club as his weapon. The two main weapons are the "light club," which is less powerful but allows for quick, continuous attacks, and the "heavy club," which is more powerful but slower. There are no defenses in this game, and the player basically has to avoid the opponent's attacks.

The "konsei" is necessary for launching a heavy attack, and it gradually builds up when the player hits an attack or successfully evades an opponent's attack with a "shunmei," a move that is performed just in time to avoid the opponent's attack. If the heavy attack button is held down for a long time, the player can temporarily accumulate konsei in exchange for consuming stamina, or physical strength.

In addition, there are three styles of attacking with the club: the kekkon style, the tachikon style, and the stabbing style. The kikon style is highly maneuverable, as it allows the attacker to hold a blended stance while moving, while the rikkon style allows the attacker to use the tame (tame) technique to climb up on the edge of the extended club, avoiding enemy attacks from a high place and moving on to a specialized attack. In the stabbing club form, the extended club can be thrust at an enemy from a distance, allowing the attacker to attack from a safe distance.

At the beginning, you can only use the kata of kyakkon, but as you progress through the storyline, you will be able to use both the tachikon and stabbing kata, and you can switch between them at any time after learning them. It is a great combo to use the kata of kyakkon to move around at high speed and then respond to an opponent's attack with a special move from the tachikon or stabbing kata.

Along with the kon, the main weapon is the "jintsu," which is a kind of magic. There are four categories of jinchu, including kijutsu (magic). One type of kijutsu, josei-jutsu, can temporarily stop the movement of a locked-on opponent. It is a simple yet powerful jutsu that is very easy to use, such as striking a combo against a stopped enemy or using it on an enemy who is performing a powerful technique to buy time until he escapes.

In addition, in addition to "change," which transforms into some of the enemies that have been defeated so far and attacks them, there are "body techniques," including "vigor technique," which hardens the body to repel attacks from enemies, and "ki-gyo-jutsu," which allows one to become invisible and escape from enemies, plus "bifida," which allows one to split oneself and attack enemies at once, making the number of methods available during battle overwhelming. The number of methods available during battle is overwhelming. It is important to find the right moment to use it.

Among the divine powers, the most powerful is change. In the area we played this time, we were able to obtain "wolves" by defeating the boss, Hirochi, and they were extremely useful in the strategy. The ability to act as a boss for a certain period of time allows for a different kind of wide-range, high-powered techniques. It is a technique that can be used conveniently from the time of attack to the time of death.

The variety of techniques available, from physical attacks with the club to evasion to attacks with the divine sense, and the various options available to the player, make it very easy to fight both zakos and bosses. If it is a zako on the road, it can be quickly defeated by simply using light and heavy attacks.

The bosses have more HP than the zakos, and their attacks are more intense, so it is not a simple task. However, the final blow of the light attack combo and each type of heavy attack with the club have the effect of frightening the enemy, so if you can make a good decision, you can attack even the bosses unilaterally. Add to this the use of the jinjutsu to restrain the enemy and the shinjutsu (alter ego), which allows the player to alter his or her body and strike the enemy in the back, and you have a more aggressive tactic.

Although I played only about a dozen hours in this review, overall, the bosses are moderately strong for players who are familiar with 3D action games. If you are good at action games, you will probably be able to defeat them on your first try.

The game ends when the player's "life force," or HP, reaches zero, and the player is returned to the "shrine" that was last used. Shrines are like checkpoints located throughout the field. If you are defeated by a boss, there is no penalty for losing the battle, although you must go to the location of the opponent again after reviving yourself at the shrine. In this work, when the experience gained from defeating enemies reaches a certain level, a "Myougo value" is accumulated, which can be used to acquire skills as described later in this article.

Strengthening the main character through skill acquisition and equipment combinations using Myougo value

In "Black Mythology," there are not only ways for the protagonist to fight, but also a wealth of ways to strengthen him or her. Depending on the skills learned, the player can increase basic stats such as vitality, which is HP; hōryoku, which is used for divine power; and physical strength, which is needed for various actions such as attacks and movement, as well as learn new techniques for the three kata of the club.

As already mentioned, there is no penalty for players who are revived at the shrine after being killed by an enemy. Experience is not lost, so if there is an enemy that cannot be defeated, the player can push to increase the experience value and learn more and more skills. If you choose "Rest" at the shrine, you will regain your life force, legal power, and the number of times you can use the gourd, which is a recovery item, to the maximum, and almost all enemies will revive. In other words, it is easy to earn experience.

In addition, the head, torso, arms, and legs each have their own armor. In addition to increased defense, equipping a set of armor in the same category activates a set effect, which provides special enhancements. It is also interesting to customize the enhancements given to the main character by changing equipment, since there are various effects, such as an increase in attack power when running for a certain period of time.

Equipment is basically created by "equipment forging," which can be selected at the shrine, but most of the items required are plants that can be obtained by defeating enemies or collected along the way. The battles in this game are speedy, and plants are naturally found as you explore the area, so as long as you do your time fighting and exploring, you will never be short of materials.

Along with the epic storyline based on "Journey to the West," this title offers a wide variety of combat using the kon and shinto, and a variety of fields to explore, all presented in realistic graphics. Although the fact that each time you die, you have to revive at a shrine and try again gives the impression of difficulty, in reality there is no penalty for game over, so there is no need to worry that this will slow down the series of training, which involves gaining experience, acquiring Myougo value, and learning skills. It is also possible to use force to strengthen the main character all over again, and by mastering the powerful kamikaze, it is easier to gain an advantage in battles against the enemy. This is an action game that can be adjusted to a level of difficulty that is easy to play by developing the main character, even for players who are not very good at action games.

Although the "death game" style is tough, we can confidently recommend this title to those who want to play a challenging action game, as well as to those who are interested in action RPGs and games of a grand scale.