I got my ass kicked by a monkey in the Black Myth: Wukong demo, and it was amazing

(Image credit: Game Science)

The one thing you need to know about Black Myth: Wukong is that I picked it up surprisingly quickly. I was already drawn to Game Science's upcoming action-RPG for the simple fact that I grew up watching Monkey King cartoons at school, so seeing the legend lifted from the pages of Chinese mythology making his Souslike debut was sure to be a treat.

I was prepared for striding through snowy mountains as a humanoid ape, with a long martial arts stick tight in my grasp. I was also prepared for a lot of dodging and squeezing in a good few whacks wherever I could. What I didn't expect, however, was that the devs would take such a popular subgenre and craft a demo that actually helps you get better as you progress, starting you off with simpler abilities and slowly stepping up the complexity over the course of a 45-minute playthrough.

An ape-x legend

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In a year so well-served for punishing Soulslike games, Black Myth: Wukong still manages to add something new to the mix. The demo I played at Gamescom took me through four levels – or rather, it would have if I'd made it past the second – featuring four very different, very aggressive boss fights.

After dying at the hands of the Macaque Chief, I light an incense stick and go over my spells. In the game's first level, you can only bring two spells with you, so I've opted for a temporary invisibility buff called Cloud Step, and Immobilize to stop my aggressor in their tracks. These had served me well against Centipede Guai, the venom-spitting giant insect I'd vanquished in the first stage of the demo. But now, facing off against the Macaque Chief and his icicle-blasting attacks, it calls for a different approach.

I ease off during my first attempt at beating this enemy, taking the time to learn its attack patterns rather than running at it in a flurry of stick-whacking mayhem. Dodging feels blissfully smooth in Black Myth, most likely because I'm not weighed down with heavy armor like my build in Elden Ring. This is how I accidentally perform a perfect dodge, causing my enemy to go into slow-mo while I land a good few extra hits, not to mention a ranged heavy attack that knocks him flying immediately. Nothing feels more satisfying than following up such a combo with Immobilize, keeping the Macaque Chief frozen in place, meaning I can land even more free hits to further whittle down its health bar. After my enemy snaps out of it, I'm prepared to use Stone Solid – a move that helps me deflect its next attack. Lovely.

"Despite failing to get past the Macaque Chief and his icy magic, I love how Black Myth takes its time in teaching its mechanics."

As I dodge and swerve the Chief's frenzied ice storms, I keep an eye on my power gauge. Enough successive hits mean I'll be able to use my newly-unlocked Transformation ability, Red Tide, which temporarily turns me into the Fireblade Wolf. As the Wolf, I'm able to not only deal plenty of damage with fire-based attacks, but I replenish my own health while doing so. I only manage to activate Red Tide once per attempt, using it as a quick way to raze the Chief's health right down, before transforming back into my pseudo-Monkey King self.

In hindsight, Red Tide would probably have made a better finisher move against an enemy like the Macaque Chief. Despite numerous attempts, I kept running out of health flasks at the absolute worst times. At one point I got the boss down to a tiny fraction of its health bar, but after being caught in an icicle cage, I ended up being blasted across the snowfield at the last moment in a staggering one-hit kill.

Despite failing to get past the Macaque Chief and his icy magic, I love how Black Myth takes its time in teaching its mechanics. It made for a truly powerful taster session, encouraging me to experiment with different powers and ways of using them before loading my plate with anything else. Soulslikes have a way of humbling you early on, and that's still true in the case of Black Myth. Armed with my martial arts moves and unique abilities, though, I felt far more able to take on the challenges and come back better(ish) each time.

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PRODUCTS

Jasmine is a Senior Staff Writer at GamesRadar+. Raised in Hong Kong and having graduated with an English Literature degree from Queen Mary, University of London, she began her journalism career as a freelancer with TheGamer and Tech Radar Gaming before joining GR+ full-time in 2023. She now focuses predominantly on features content for GamesRadar+, attending game previews, and key international conferences such as Gamescom and Digital Dragons in between regular interviews, opinion pieces, and the occasional stint with the news or guides teams. In her spare time, you'll likely find Jasmine challenging her friends to a Resident Evil 2 speedrun, purchasing another book she's unlikely to read, or complaining about the weather.