Black Myth: Wukong devs don’t want to “frustrate” you despite Souls influence

Black Myth: Wukong is heavily inspired by Dark Souls, Elden Ring, and other Souls-like titles, but the devs have reassured players that the difficulty won’t be as crushing as its peers.

Game Science’s upcoming action RPG has many of the hallmarks of the Souls-like genre. Shrines act as checkpoints to restore health but respawn enemies, you can go back and collect your lost resources after death, and, of course, there’s a wide range of boss fights.

But if you’re a player who’s often put off by the intense challenge of these types of games, like I was before an almost two-hour hands-on demo, you might be wondering how Black Myth: Wukong approaches difficulty.

When asked how their game compares to the likes of Dark Souls and the other titles mentioned, a Game Science spokesperson looked to reassure those who might be worried about the ‘Souls-like’ label.

“I think for the average player, this game is easy to start with,” he explained to CharlieIntel at a preview event. “There are so many different kinds of spells and transformations, and the main character is very strong in action. What we don’t want to do is frustrate the players.”

They went on to mention that they wanted to strike a nice balance where combat is engaging and thoughtful, but without being as brutal as others in the genre, especially when it comes to the many boss fights:

“[When compared] to the games you mentioned, we hope to create gameplay that is very competitive and we want players to enjoy the battles – not be frustrated by them.”

This certainly lines up with what I experienced during the short demo. Although we were clearly dropped into a pretty early portion of the story, the boss fights felt tough but not as brutal as some of the heavy hitters in similar games.

Each fight required you to learn your opponent’s patterns and pick your window to attack carefully, but the spells and transformations give you more to fall back on than reflexes alone.

While we’ll have to wait for the August 20 release date to see just how challenging the battles get, it’s clear that Game Science are leaning into the action RPG side of things just as much as the Souls-like influences.

Black Myth: Wukong is already shaping up to be one of the biggest games of 2024, so make sure you’ve secured a copy and that your PC meets the requirements to get the most out of it.