There was a second, roughly 20 hours into my near-40-hour playthrough of Black Fable: Wukong, when issues lastly clicked. A number of chapters prior to that time had left me scratching my head, baffled on the introduction of varied minor characters, adversaries, and ideas. However at that second midway via, when issues lastly grew to become clearer, I couldn’t assist however smile. I used to be hooked, and there was no going again.
Black Fable: Wukong, made by China-based studio Recreation Science, is an motion role-playing recreation impressed by Journey to the West. It, together with Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, and Dream of the Crimson Chamber, is one of many nice pillars of Chinese language literature. To adapt the story of Journey to the West, a timeless traditional with characters and themes which have remained influential all through East Asia, is already a frightening activity. Fortunately, Recreation Science has managed to pull off the unimaginable, weaving collectively a story that’s intricate, unique, and, at occasions, thought-provoking.
The toughest half about scripting this evaluate of Black Fable: Wukong is that the evaluate embargo stipulates that we’re not allowed to expose too many particulars in regards to the recreation’s plot exterior of a few chapters. Suffice it to say, you play because the Destined One, a monkey warrior tasked with retrieving relics which have been misplaced. You set out by yourself odyssey — maybe not “to the West,” however via six chapters of motion and world-building.
As a Filipino, I contemplate myself extra of a Romance of the Three Kingdoms buff, although I briefly learn Journey to the West ages in the past throughout my highschool years. However, I did respect the marketing campaign’s inclusion of quite a few characters and plot factors, in addition to Buddhist teachings and Daoist philosophy, from the novel. These are both proven intimately, relayed in poems, or talked about in passing, a few of which made me go, “I understood that reference.”
The narrative is additionally a few sure companion’s background, which I don’t need to spoil right here. The story explores themes of lifelong regrets, sacrifice, the immutable shaping of 1’s destiny, and the notion that everybody, heroes and villains alike, may simply be looking for redemption or a spot within the solar. The complete marketing campaign’s arc, steeped in Chinese language and wider Asian cultural traditions, is woven like advantageous tapestry and is additional complemented by beautiful visuals and scenes that left me in awe.
Comparable to Journey to the West, my journey in Black Fable: Wukong took me to a number of areas. From lush forests and sand-swept deserts to snow-covered fields and mountains of magma, every atmosphere felt intricately crafted, as if taken from the pages of the novel and introduced to life. These biomes are subdivided into a number of areas; the sport is not an open world, although there are some massive sections with a number of branching paths that lead to extra enemies and rewards.
As an illustration, one chapter happened in a hollowed-out underground cavern that’s crawling with innumerable spiders, centipedes, and all method of many-legged creatures. I adopted one winding path that led me to a number of main bosses. Then, I fast-traveled to a beforehand visited shrine and I took one other fork within the street. I ultimately stumbled upon some non-compulsory bosses, together with a scorpion monk that had escaped to another a part of the cave system. These paths additionally had some nifty HP, mana, and flask upgrades, in addition to tranquil meditation spots. And these are simply from the preliminary zone on this explicit chapter; the second half really takes place in a temple advanced atop a mountain! The sheer scale of every stage made all of them both daunting and terribly beautiful in equal measure.
There are numerous aspect quests and secrets and techniques, too. For instance, I rang shrine bells within the first stage, which prompted me to get teleported to a hidden temple. Within the desert biome, in the meantime, I collected eyes from Buddha statues. I additionally helped break the curse of a person who’d been trapped in stone, who then offered key gadgets. Later, I tackled the aims to unlock a hub, permitting vendor NPCs to transfer to my humble abode. Finishing these actions, a few of which concerned fixing cryptic riddles, was a gratifying expertise.
Surprisingly sufficient, there’s no map in any respect, and I do admit to getting misplaced a number of occasions. Nevertheless, studying from the exploits of Journey to the West’s Tang Sanzang, Solar Wukong, Zhu Baije, and firm, I embraced the notion of exploration, investigating mysterious locales and dealing with all types of perils. With none hand-holding, I used to be free to discover to my coronary heart’s content material — which naturally made discoveries much more rewarding.
Picture: Recreation Science by way of Polygon
Enemy design in Black Fable: Wukong is additionally nothing in need of excellent, with the sport boasting numerous variants of hostiles, generally known as yaoguai, and practically 80 bosses to encounter throughout your travels. You’ve bought all the things from masked monks and anthropomorphic creatures like zodiac animals to celestial entities, gargantuan goliaths, shambling undead that wield totally different armaments, and even a terrific dragon that flies round whereas hanging you with lightning.
Some foes are surprisingly macabre in nature, nearly with a darkish fantasy aptitude, together with twin-headed monks that induce insanity, ogres that carry the skeletal stays of their beloved, misshapen entities within the throes of corruption, and an angel-like common with a hand for a head. It’s not simply the sheer epicness of those battles that makes them memorable, but additionally the best way the sport’s designers have lovingly crafted the characters and creatures in homage to the legendary story and regional folklore.
The variety of bosses within the recreation made for a difficult romp, as every opponent had their very own movesets and talents that I had to be careful for. Thankfully, Black Fable: Wukong greater than holds its personal within the motion division, thanks to fast-paced fight, fluid animations, responsive controls, and a plethora of strikes at my disposal.
Because the Destined One, I made use of varied magic spells, corresponding to turning right into a mist decoy, immobilizing a foe, and summoning a number of duplicates of myself. There are myriad transformations, too, akin to Solar Wukong’s powers. Spirit types momentarily flip you into an elite enemy that you simply defeated to solid their spell, considerably akin to Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow. The precise transformations, in the meantime, trigger you to shape-shift into bigger creatures with their very own well being bars and distinctive movesets. My favourite has to be the Yin Tiger, which allowed me to deflect incoming blows earlier than countering with a devastating slam utilizing my Buster Sword-esque blade.
Picture: Recreation Science by way of Polygon
As for common melee fight, Black Fable: Wukong solely enables you to wield one kind of weapon: a employees with three battle stances. Whereas this idea is comprehensible lore-wise for a monkey warrior, it sadly does end in monotonous gameplay as time wears on. At greatest, every stance’s charged assault and blended combos have a tendency to be totally different, however regular assault flurries are the identical. After I lastly unlocked the defensive-counter-oriented Thrust Stance at stage 20, which had a backstep transfer to keep away from hits, I barely used the others.
In relation to the above, though there are dozens of enemy types that you could flip into, they’re nonetheless restricted to two keybinds, one for spirit casts and one for transformations, and by assets which might be simply spent. Parrying, a staple of the Soulslike style, isn’t out there by default both. As a substitute, it’s unlocked as a spell, so I relied extra on dodging blows. In impact, I principally simply carried out the identical melee combos, interspersed with a choose few magical talents, which made the entire affair repetitive after some time.
Moreover, theorycrafting or experimentation with totally different builds in Black Fable: Wukong isn’t that viable, at the very least in my preliminary playthrough. Though I accomplished the marketing campaign at stage 80 and it’s doable to respec at any shrine, I nonetheless had to put quite a lot of factors into stances and stat boosts. I solely had sufficient left to allocate for a couple of spell perks, and not so much to assign for transformation perks themselves. In contrast to different Soulslike video games, I can’t say if magic-focused or transformation-focused builds can be workable in apply.
Picture: Recreation Science by way of Polygon
Efficiency-wise, I reviewed the sport on PC. With an Nvidia RTX 3080, Intel i9-10900K, and 32 GB of RAM, I skilled clean efficiency at 4K decision and with larger graphics settings chosen. Notice that I wasn’t in a position to attempt raytracing, since we have been informed that there have been points with the present pre-release construct.
All in all, Black Fable: Wukong is an astounding triumph, one which blends a narrative celebrating Chinese language and different East Asian cultures with an unique retelling that has resonant themes, all complemented by spectacular design and exhilarating fight. Whereas the narrative is complicated at first — as I can personally attest to — it nonetheless encourages you to embrace that sense of strangeness and surprise as you enterprise into distant lands, very like a sure journey written centuries in the past that has stood the take a look at of time.
Black Fable: Wukong will probably be launched Aug. 20 on PlayStation 5 and Home windows PC. The sport was reviewed on Home windows PC utilizing a obtain code offered by Recreation Science. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These don’t affect editorial content material, although Vox Media could earn commissions for merchandise bought by way of affiliate hyperlinks. Yow will discover further details about Polygon’s ethics coverage right here.
