Wichita Lineman Was A Song I Once Heard

It’s not good for me, I know, but I’m in the midst of a soulsplayers binge – Elden Ring, Elden Ring DLC, Dark Souls 3 and now Black Myth Wukong have been played in succession. When I’m finished with the latter the prospect of another Sekiro playthrough (using one of those masochistic ultra-difficult mods) appeals to me the same way a hit of crack rocked up using the purest Colombian raw would to an addict.

I used the word masochistic in the previous paragraph. Playing a Hidetaka Miyazaki soulsplayer cannot be done casually – your focus is entirely gripped by dread as mistakes and inadequacies are punished emphatically and the cost of failure is often punitive. Repeated failure breeds the kind of obsessive vanity that often proves destructive, eventually morphing into self-flagellation. When the anticipation of relief is finally, tantalizingly near, that, at last, your ordeal trying to beat this sodding boss is nearly over, nerves become your greatest enemy. As you whittle the boss’s health bar down to the last sliver, your frown deepens, a grimace appears, teeth gnash, and the heart starts to palpitate and the glands sweat more than Terry Waite chained to a radiator. To surmise – a true soulsplayer makes you feel and play in a state of desperation, like a noob.

And yes, I realise a man in his forties shouldn’t be using the term “noob”. Said terminology belongs to the chronically online incels, 4chaners or snobbish wankers who spend most of their waking hours on Discord convincing themselves they’re better than incels.

Anyway, we return to the question, is Black Myth Wukong a true soulsplayer? Nope. Now that isn’t intended to be a disparaging quip, and this isn’t me claiming not to be a noob player. Game Science may have intended Black Myth Wukong to sit alongside Dark Souls 3, Elden Ring and Sekiro in the soulsplayers pantheon, but because they’ve made something so engrossing and enjoyable that it isn’t a true soulsplayer doesn’t matter.

To get to the substance, Black Myth Wukong is simply not hard enough to belong to the genre. For two reasons – first, there simply isn’t enough jeopardy. Take Dark Souls 3, a perpetual state of panic is always lingering when exploring, because peril is as relentless as your character is frail; that you might fall to your death, get overwhelmed, be subject to a sneak attack, confronted by yet another fucking mini-boss, etc. This is especially heightened when you’ve exhausted your healing capability to pass several enemies. The prospect of failing and having to do this bit of the level again is agonizing because you’ll lose your souls and level progress. Black Myth Wukong does not punish failure beyond sending you back to your previous shrine. No sparks or items are lost, and shrines are generally plentiful and often favourably located.

Second, while there are a few piss boiling bosses in Black Myth Wukong, the portentous chatter of Yellowbrow and Erland is purposely aggravating, overcoming the Yoaguai Kings does not feel insurmountable. There is no Darkeater Midir, Sister Friede, Promised Consort Radahn, Isshin the Sword Saint or Malenia Blade of Miquella in this game, where the path to defeating them feels torturous and demoralisingly distant, especially during your early attempts. Yellow Loong was the boss I had the most bother with in Black Myth Wukong. It took me roughly fifteen attempts to beat him. This was mostly down to not optimizing my build, correctly allocating skills and initially failing to adopt an effective fight strategy. This is of the kind of irrational dogmatism that only belongs to an aging brain, but also reflects that the game’s difficulty often did not necessitate a deliberation on approach.

Difficulty aside, every other element of this game is phenomenal. It’s the most beautiful game I’ve ever played, and that extends to both character design and landscapes. The Chinese politburo needn’t bother with tourism advertising. China’s immensely varied topography and biodiversity is fully and gloriously represented in Black Myth Wukong with jungle, desert, caves, lava scorched hills and snow-covered mountains. The lushness of these landscapes serves a purpose beyond surface; it encourages extensive exploration. This leads to a minor gripe – invisible walls galore. I found myself wanting to get lost by just wandering off towards a random point in the distance, only to be frustrated by the game’s necessary linear constraints.

The care taken crafting the game’s aesthetic is also extended to elements of The Journey to the West’s mythology. Each chapter epilogue is an animated sequence, mostly Manga inspired, serving as a summary of the chapter’s lore and or themes. These manage to be visually beguiling and simultaneously squalid, peculiar and macabre. Traditional Chinese portraiture of defeated foes, as well as end of chapter paintings, operate as a vector into Chinese Buddhist mythology, making it feel accessible to us uninitiated Westerner scum who are also unfamiliar with Alan Watts. The novella entries for all enemies you defeat are there for the more discerning (aka the few people who still read) preceded by a poetic passage for those who don’t want to read anything longer than a paragraph.

My favourite of these belongs to Tiger Vanguard:

Non-boss combat is moreish, at times strategic with the various staff stances, spells, spirits, relics, transformations, curios, armour and skill tree upgrades at your disposal. But to return to it again, their rapid accumulation proves too plentiful, and, even if used sub-optimally, combine to make your character too formidable. On my second playthrough I didn’t die until chapter three (of six), as you keep all your upgrades earned from the previous playthroughs. This does create a conceit in encouraging you to replay the game to experiment and master all staff attack combos, to max out the skill trees and collect every item.

Paradoxically, the challenge feature earned upon completion of your first playthrough is the game’s sternest test. You have to defeat several Yoaguai Kings or Chiefs in a row without dying, and your health or mana isn’t replenished between each fight. This feature has the feel of a late addendum, and, I’m probably projecting here, it’s as though the developers knew the base game’s difficulty wouldn’t satiate and appease soulsplayer fanatics.

Ultimately most games are truly memorable when they test the limits of your patience and endurance. Black Myth Wukong is the exception, it’s memorable without being a psychological blight. If Game Science are to make a follow up, as rumoured, give the noobs what they think they want but really need – make it tougher and more ruthless than the original. Gamers are all one and the same – there can be no feeling of achievement without a bit of suffering.