Black Fable: Wukong is, in the end, a recreation about boss fights. Tense, dynamic boss fights that’ll have you ever gawking in awe one minute, and probably spiking your controller the subsequent. This can be a difficult motion title — a continuing push towards more and more complicated and lethal opponents, and there are not any problem settings to fall again on. That reality alone might be sufficient to place some individuals off, however in the event you can stick to the sport and turn into invested in its fairly distinctive model of staff-based battling, you will be rewarded with a level of spectacle that is so hardly ever seen outdoors of bona fide blockbusters like Ultimate Fantasy 16 and God of Battle Ragnarok.
Structurally, Wukong is a standard Soulslike. There are shrines that you’re going to return to upon demise, there are devoted boss arenas, and the extent design is essentially linear, at all times funnelling you in the direction of the subsequent battlefield. Certainly, exploration is stored to a naked minimal. Whereas later environments are barely extra expansive total, it isn’t like there is a must-see secret down each lifeless finish, and frequent use of invisible partitions — a jarring alternative given the title’s graphical prowess — ensures that you just undergo the crushed path.
Wukong is at its weakest while you’re trotting between boss encounters. We’re not saying that the sport wants exploration, that it could be higher if it copied Elden Ring’s homework — however past a bunch of fairly vistas and the occasional facet quest (which is often accomplished simply down the highway anyway), Wukong struggles to completely justify its personal design. At worst, the sport’s world finally ends up feeling synthetic — a walled-off collection of walkways that exist purely to fill area between the fights that really matter.
On a elementary stage, nevertheless, you possibly can argue that downtime between bosses is a necessity. As alluded, key clashes are intense affairs that solely develop bolder and extra bombastic as the sport progresses. Boss battles are doubtless the beating coronary heart of the expertise; they’re each frequent and impressively diversified — a seemingly unending stream of immaculately crafted opponents so that you can battle towards and finally conquer.
Wukong’s many, many foes are plucked from Chinese language mythology, and the sport itself is predicated upon Journey to the West — the timeless sixteenth century novel that is influenced numerous works of fiction. The titular Wukong — a monkey who ascended to close godhood — is struck down within the recreation’s opening, and also you tackle the function of one other, anonymous ape who units off in quest of Wukong’s scattered relics.
Admittedly, it is a plot that a lot better resonates in the event you’re already aware of China’s most culturally impactful legends. With out prior data, the title’s storytelling comes throughout as disjointed and nearly ethereal — little greater than a barely coherent string of occasions that loosely tie every of the sport’s six chapters collectively. However even in the event you’re firmly out of the loop, there is a fairy story whimsy to Wukong’s writing and dialogue that makes the whole lot appear… cohesive.
However Wukong would not need you to get slowed down in lore and narrative — it desires you to clobber demons along with your smacking stick, and in that regard, it is pretty exhausting to fault. Fight exists in an area someplace between your basic Soulslike blueprint of assault, retreat, repeat, and a extra action-oriented method, replete with combos and particular talents. It is an odd combine that, at occasions, can really feel a bit of confused, prefer it’s attempting to have the most effective of each worlds however by no means fairly manages to choose an id of its personal.
Nevertheless, the fight system solely will get higher as the sport goes on, due to a slew of unlockable perks, abilities, and magical feats that each one dovetail fairly spectacularly within the title’s extra demanding moments. Wukong will get brilliantly inventive with the talents that you just’re finally afforded, as our simian hero is able to remodeling into beforehand defeated demons, and casting spells that may flip the tide of battle.
With all of this in thoughts, it’s kind of of a disgrace that you just’re caught with such comparatively fundamental instruments for the title’s first 10 to fifteen hours of gameplay. Granted, there must be some type of development curve, however a number of of the protagonist’s later talents really feel borderline important in totally appreciating the fight system as an entire.
We’re hesitant to say that Wukong will get simpler as you unlock increasingly nodes throughout its shockingly massive ability timber, however most gamers will hit a degree the place the sheer breadth of your arsenal enables you to bypass the cautious type of play that earlier chapters enforced. It truly makes for a satisfying sense of development; similar to Wukong himself, you are starting to embrace the interior monkey, taking your opponents for a journey with more and more devious ways.
It takes some time to really click on, however this is a wonderful motion recreation at its core — and that makes its lack of PS5 optimisation more durable to abdomen. Particularly, it is the title’s ‘Efficiency’ mode that drops the most important metaphorical ball. It guarantees a smoother gameplay expertise concentrating on 60 frames-per-second — one thing that many would declare is essential for any hardcore motion recreation. Nevertheless, Wukong’s 60fps is basically an phantasm — a product of clumsy body technology. In essence, you are taking part in at 30fps, however visually, it appears to be like like 60.
Enter lag is a really unlucky byproduct of this method, and it may possibly completely be felt every so often, when your dodge would not come out in time, or when your heavy assault would not hyperlink up along with your customary combo. It is not a complete dealbreaker — Wukong’s fight is staggered sufficient to the place you are by no means hitting too many buttons in fast succession — however not understanding whether or not your demise was all the way down to a scarcity of ability, or the sport’s technical ineptitude, could be deeply irritating. We will solely hope that developer Sport Science cleans issues up post-launch.
We would not thoughts a lift in decision, both, if solely in order that we will higher admire the sport’s frankly unimaginable artwork path. Visuals clearly aren’t the whole lot, however Wukong’s eye-popping presentation is a cause to maintain taking part in, pure and easy. Each new enemy, each new boss, is a pleasure to find, and so they’re all fantastically animated. The artistry on show throughout your entire journey is excellent, even on the meagre 1080p decision of efficiency mode.
Conclusion
It takes time for Black Fable: Wukong’s fight to really click on, however when it does, this is without doubt one of the most inventive motion titles on PS5. One after one other, its spectacular boss battles steal the present — a procession of memorable encounters that showcase the sport’s unimaginable artistry. As an entire, nevertheless, the expertise is held again by restricted stage design and irritating technical points on PS5 — a rattling disgrace, since Wukong is pure monkey magic at its peak.