RECENTLY there have been plenty of soulslikes for fans to sink their teeth into, in particular a number from new studios that are trying their hand at the genre.
Lies of P and Stellar Blade are both new IPs from previously unknown Korean studios, and now it’s the turn of China’s GameScience to try to pull off the hat trick.
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Black Myth: Wukong is a boss rush soulslike based on the classic novel Journey to the West.
It features fast-paced gameplay with a number of soulslike elements like checkpoints that you activate manually, NPC side quests, respawning enemies, and difficult bosses.
However, it’s also more forgiving than your standard soulslike, as it lets you keep your experience points when you die, and you can even pause in battle.
This made any form of progress feel more significant. You’ll never butt your head against a boss for hours without some new skills, and stat points to show for it.
Sometimes these new skills will significantly change the flow of battle, meaning that future attempts will feel significantly easier after a few tries.
While there isn’t a traditional option to parry enemies, the combat still has a rhythm-like quality to it.
You can use the ability Rock Solid to turn to rock and parry attacks, but you’ll more likely rely on dodging.
A perfectly timed dodge will leave a mirage of yourself, making boss fights feel like dances and the correct rhythm is very satisfying to pull off.
There is a lot of variation to enemy types, which forces you to adapt your playstyle, with enough mechanical twists to keep you on your toes.
Graphically it is up there with the most expensive triple-A games, with fur swaying and reacting to every movement.
Environments look gorgeous, though they are a little uninspired with your classic forest, desert, mountain and cave areas.
This flows into the level design, where some areas open up with alternative routes, but it is mostly pretty linear.
It also feels arbitrary where you can and can’t explore with invisible walls closing off certain regions.
Despite some minor flaws, it is still one of the best non-FromSoft soulslike games, and is far more forgiving than other games in the genre.
Not only will fans of the genre love it, but those who have been curious but fear the difficulty of standard souls games will find this a great place to start.
If you want to read more gaming reviews, check out our Borderlands movie review.
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