Black Delusion: 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 doubtlessly spiking your controller the subsequent. This can be a difficult motion title — a continuing push towards more and more advanced and lethal opponents, and there aren’t any problem settings to fall again on. That truth alone might be sufficient to place some folks off, however in the event you can stick to the sport and grow to be 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 Closing Fantasy 16 and God of Conflict Ragnarok.
Structurally, Wukong is a conventional Soulslike. There are shrines that you’re going to return to upon demise, there are devoted boss arenas, and the extent design is basically linear, all the time 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 is not 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 overwhelmed path.
Wukong is at its weakest while you’re trotting between boss encounters. We’re not saying that the sport wants exploration, that it will be higher if it copied Elden Ring’s homework — however past a bunch of fairly vistas and the occasional facet quest (which is usually accomplished simply down the street anyway), Wukong struggles to completely justify its personal design. At worst, the sport’s world finally ends up feeling synthetic — a walled-off sequence of walkways that exist purely to fill area between the fights that truly matter.
On a elementary degree, nevertheless, you may 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 various — a seemingly endless stream of immaculately crafted opponents so that you can wrestle 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 the hunt for Wukong’s scattered relics.
Admittedly, it is a plot that significantly better resonates in the event you’re already conversant in China’s most culturally impactful legends. With out prior data, the title’s storytelling comes throughout as disjointed and virtually 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 arduous to fault. Fight exists in an area someplace between your traditional 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 instances, can really feel a bit of confused, prefer it’s attempting to have the perfect of each worlds however by no means fairly manages to decide on an identification of its personal.
Nevertheless, the fight system solely will get higher as the sport goes on, because of a slew of unlockable perks, abilities, and magical feats that every one dovetail fairly spectacularly within the title’s extra demanding moments. Wukong will get brilliantly artistic with the skills that you just’re finally afforded, as our simian hero is able to reworking 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 absolutely appreciating the fight system as a complete.
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 allows you to bypass the cautious model 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 inside monkey, taking your opponents for a journey with more and more devious techniques.
It takes some time to actually click on, however this is a superb motion recreation at its core — and that makes its lack of PS5 optimisation tougher 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 seems like 60.
Enter lag is a really unlucky byproduct of this method, and it might probably 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 commonplace 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 realizing whether or not your demise was right down to a scarcity of ability, or the sport’s technical ineptitude, could be deeply irritating. We are able to solely hope that developer Recreation Science cleans issues up post-launch.
We would not thoughts a lift in decision, both, if solely in order that we will higher respect the sport’s frankly unbelievable artwork path. Visuals clearly aren’t the whole lot, however Wukong’s eye-popping presentation is a purpose to maintain taking part in, pure and easy. Each new enemy, each new boss, is a pleasure to find, and so they’re all beautifully animated. The artistry on show throughout all the journey is excellent, even on the meagre 1080p decision of efficiency mode.
Conclusion
It takes time for Black Delusion: Wukong’s fight to actually click on, however when it does, this is among the most artistic 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 unbelievable artistry. As a complete, nevertheless, the expertise is held again by restricted degree design and irritating technical points on PS5 — a rattling disgrace, since Wukong is pure monkey magic at its peak.
