Black Myth: Wukong - PlayStation 5

Black Myth Wukong is set around Chinese Mythology, specifically the Journey to the West novel series, don’t expect a full game iteration of the story as it’s entirely different really only featuring characters and occasionally lore from the original. You play as “The Destined One” who sets out to find the 5 ancient relics of Sun Wukong (a very important central character of Journey to the West) to fulfill his destiny and ultimately become his successor, going through the 6 chapters of the game, fighting boss to boss until reaching the end where you claim the relic before moving onto the next. The game to me feels very similar to a soulslike, while also removing aspects and mechanics from the genre to differentiate itself from other titles, providing a unique experience to players. The gameplay is fast paced with a dodge and perfect dodge mechanic, 3 different attack stances (Smash, Pillar, and Thrust stance), along with a “focus point” system that has you using light attacks to charge these points to unleash more powerful heavy attacks or special abilities depending on which stance you find most fun to use, when you gain enough exp by killing enemies and bosses, you level up and gain a “Spark” which can be used to upgrade or unlock abilities in the massive skill tree to fit your playstyle. In terms of difficulty, it feels hard but fair, no boss felt unfair or unbeatable, but has you learning the attack patterns until you can eventually beat it, the gameplay loop is so satisfying and fun to go through being borderline addictive, there’s also a lot of replayability to be had if desired. All this paired along side beautiful visuals and graphics, a cinematic soundtrack featuring epic orchestral renditions of original music from the Journey to the West tv series, and the unique story and lore provide for an either nostalgic experience for fans of the original story, and a fantastic game that meets the expectations it had.