Listen I don't do weird embargos or odd crap. And we don't do sponsored reviews, if you like that maybe stop by the patreon www.patreon.com/AngryCentaurGaming But be aware it is insanely heavy on the CPU and gpu
Just checked the metrics for how many people are on this game. Damn, I knew it was highly anticipated, but over 1million people in game on launch night for a single player action game is crazy.
journey to the west mythology is huge in cultural zeitgeist of east asia and chinese/east asian diaspora communities around the world, it's equivalent to the shakespeare, the tolkien for the anglosphere or the star wars for the american... wouldn't be surprised if for the first time in AAA game history this one will have non american/western sales dominate the total number of sales. Then there's the Latin America market factor as well, they worship dragon ball there, so they have no choice not to be at the very least intrigued by the original mythology that inspired Son Goku.
It’s based on Chinese literature Journey to the West, and there’s a TV show about it. The show was so iconic that almost every single Chinese born person watched that show, and WuKong’s voice sounded like that in the show. I think the designers of this game watched that show too, and WuKong’s voice became a “common sense” in Chinese people’s minds.
@@ludovic2003 have you watched the show or read the book? you havent, I have and I can tell you that the show follows the book quite closely. so maybe do abit of research before you decide to type.
To add to the audio discussion. A lot of the music actually calls back to the 1986 Chinese TV series based on Journey to the West. The Chinese voice actor for Wukong is also the actor who played him in the 1986 live adaptation, hence the high pitched voiced is based off of the actor and his original portrayal of Wukong. All this probably means little to a Western audience but that live action adaptation was a huge part of the childhood memories of a lot of people all over Asia and it triggers the nostalgia HARD.
i was never hit so hard by the nostalgia train in my life. when i recognised the theme music was an adaptation of the original TV series, i had goosebumps all over me and i actually had tears in my eyes. I feel like that music and the voice is engraved onto my DNA now. It can just demand emotion and my body will respond, i have no say in that matter whatsoever.
You're one of the few reviewers I trust that can be completely honest and do this game justice while giving an unbiased in depth review. Glad you enjoyed the game and I can't wait to get my hands on it.
I remember his review about Fate Extella. Really helped me take the plunge for that even though I'm already a Fate series fan. So I agree ACG makes great reviews with focus on all aspects, including sound.
Agreed. He's one of the few reviewers that I honestly trust an honest opinion from. May not agree on every little thing, but when it comes to technical stuff there's no doubting him. Does a great job.
“Game AI has been going to school for 30 years and still hasn’t passed the freshman courses” I couldn’t have said it better myself. Amazing review as always.
The only reviewer I trust. Thanks for keeping it real ACG. As someone who's grown up watching Sunday Chinese dramas as a kid, I can't wait to point out all the references and geek out.
Became a dad, stepped away from games a year ago... came back to ACG to see what is going on... 1.2 Subs! Amazing man! Been listening to you forever, same goodness and same smooth reviews. TY sir!
Can't believe this game is actually out now. It took so long there were times were I thought it was just Vaporware but now finally we can return to Monke
Its a good game but not perfect, some of the issues are with the bosses, they need to learn to let the player actually have a chance to hit them. Rookie mistake on the developers part.
From everything I’ve seen it clearly has its problems, but this seems like a damn impressive first AAA release from a studio that had previously done mobile games.
Yep, glad to see someone not deny the issues people are having but also seeing the potential of the product. It's always either “no it's perfect” or “worst I've played”. People are a little insane, haha. Really enjoying the game right now although I do get some weird stutters and occasionally the shrines go full invisible which is a little odd.
@@Trocify225 ppl like you two that speaks in absolutes to disguise their low intellect anecdotal and emotional arguments are the last ppl in line when it comes to self thinking. Any man who must say, "I am the King", is no true king.
The problems are pretty small for most part. The invisible walls thing making it impossible to predict where you can and cannot go is probably the biggest actual gameplay issue since you'll be constantly running into invisible walls just to see if you can... at least if you're the exploring type. I suppose difficulty also doesn't seem to be all that consistent. About halfway through chapter 1 bosses started to get pretty damn hard leading up to the end of chapter 2. But the bosses I've done in chapter 3 so far have been a joke in comparison (they were still fun battles though with excellent designs). There's also various graphical glitches, but I'm sure most of them will get fixed up in an early patch. That said, the visuals truly are fantastic. I'm playing with a Ryzen 3600 and 3080 Ti with DLSS set at 60 in 4K, mix of very high and cinematic graphics. Honestly any form for ray-tracing for these game sadly seems to tank the performance to well below 60 fps (which I play at), but even without ray-tracing it looks fantastic and among the best out there. And even without HDR the contrast is so great that it almost looks like I actually am playing with HDR, even though I'm not.
1:49 Enemies discussing their fear/respect of the protagonist will always make me happy. I loved it in the secret ending to cyberpunk, where the guards would be amazed at "just one merc" solo'ing the entire end game building.
Deus Ex Human Revolution DLC has a moment an enemy squad leader tells his men that the low bodycount if you are playing non lethal only means you are just SO good you don't even need to kill those in your way. Amusingly you can hear it as you bypass the group without any of them getting wise to it.
@@korn2040 Yeah and its not a joke right? Cus it would be logical to buy a videogame for a kid but well the dad wants all the fun to himself it seems 😂 My dad also never bought me videogames which is sad.
The only review I ever need is an ACG review! Was on the fence on whether I was going for a Buy or Wait/Sale on this one based on its PC performance and your thoughts and insight on this new IP are much appreciated as always.
Journey to the West is insanely popular not only in China but also in many other Asian countries. Here in Vietnam, summer reruns of the 1986 show have become an annual tradition for many TV channels since the 1990s. Entire generations have grown up watching the show every summer break. I, a '90s kid, and my nieces/nephews, who were born in the 2010s, have drastically different childhoods, but we share the same love for the mischievous monkey man. I think, at least in Asia, the nostalgia for the show and other adaptations contributes a lot to the hype for this game.
It’s even more cringe seeing people feel the need to bring it up to other reviewers. There's one 'woke' review, and people act like all reviewers are out to get them
The sad thing about it is: just as with movies and shows, the industry will learn nothing from this. Instead of creating more quality games, they will continue the Ubisoft way
One surprising thing that I like was how each enemy type had a whole lore page that told an interesting story about how or when they came to be in myth. Actually made me want to read about some of them, like the crow guai it’s a nice touch
Glad to hear both English and Chinese VA is good. I don’t mind subtitles if I’m watching a tv show or movie, but while playing? I’ll never understand how people can read and battle at the same time. Props to you lol.
The novel Journey in the West was written in half classical and half venacular Chinese. I heard in Black Myth Wukong, the dialogues are in classical Chinese. So this is equivalent to like, a Shakesperan video game adaptation where the dialogues are in Shakesperean English. And I dont think it is possible to translate the nuances and the elegance of the classical Chinese dialogue into English. (just like it is almost impossible to fully translate and convey the beauty of Shakespearan English into Chinese). Something just gets lost in translation.
@@walking_luggage8105 Its still half half here. Wukong speaks casually and in the first cutscene basically calls Erlang Shen a motherfr. The minions also speak casually as well, but the Taoist calligrapher who upgrades your gourd speaks with a lot more like classical prose.
Thanks for clueing us in on Wukong, Karak. Been a fan of your reviews for many a year and you never fail to provide well written , BS-free reviews. Can’t wait to play this when it’s goes on sale or I learn to save some mullah myself!
The sfx of hitting an enemy is a valid complaint. Even games like Elden Ring aren't great at it, with that way-too-wet flesh tearing sound when you get a hit
Probably the only comment section that's not dog piling on people for pointing out bad hit boxes, input lag, and a gaggle of other technical issues. The game is "okay." This isn't GOTY. Not by a long shot. But it will probably get some award simply because the entire population of China is absolutely flipping out out over it.
I think there are a lot of immature kids and nerds out there that get super into the souls like community and over hype the crap out of anything in that genre. I am close to beating this game and I would def say the game is good but not great. The boss fights are often either way too easy or hard only due to a combination of "cheap" attacks that require you to be VERY far away to avoid. The stutter from unreal engine is also really awful at times and I'm playing on a 4090 lol. The level design is cool but nothing inspired really. The first couple hours is really fun but then you start to see several bosses that use the same basic formula for moves and attacks and that really killed the fun for me. I'm in the last third of the game and I would be lying if I didn't say it is getting a little dull. I see it compared to God of War and it is FAR from being nearly as good as that game. Not even close!
The look of the gameplay reminds me of Ghosts of Tsushima, but better since it's on the next generation. Story and concept I can see where Dragon Ball got its inspiration.
As always great review. Best reviewer on CZcams. Pretty much the only guy I watch unless you don't review something. I appreciate everything you do and I'm glad to have a guy that thinks about games the way I do and isn't slinging BS.
I do appreciate when you want to talk about more than the review period will allow waiting until it’s over to give your full unbiased opinion, rarely happens these days as everyone rushes to be first
Thank you so much for another banger review, ACG. You're the only reviewer I enjoy watching, and I always appreciate your honest takes. I'm gonna give this a shot, it looks like a ton of fun.
This game is absolutely gorgeous, and it finally feels like we’re getting entries that are tapping into the next generation of visual fidelity in gaming beyond just art design. Looking to how Stellar Blade handled its native balanced mode versus performance and graphical modes, I hope more devs tap into that approach. Granted Stellar Blade isn’t on PC yet so that’s still to be seen but purely by console experience the way that renders everything nigh actively and perfectly while keeping a near perfect framerate the entire time, it’s my new Gold standard. I’m hoping the patch for Wukong takes a similar path to giving players options, as well as future games. PC will always allow for fine tuning but as a mostly console player I’m sad to see console versions getting these well curated experiences while PC isn’t optimized as well. It feels somewhat backwards.
Man I wish my PC was capable of running THIS!! I am a 3D artist myself and ofcourse this is UE5, I just can't fathom how do you even come close t this level of visual fidelity and not start multiple fires in the studio lol
ACG is the only place i come to when i want a true idea and actually ideas of if i want to buy or play a game no matter what and no one does it BETTER IMO, thanks for all of ur time and effort you put in to make these reviews and keep doin everything you always do my brotha!!! I will prolly try to pick this one up at some time for sure cause its exactly the type game I'm into atm single player no worries of FOMO or havin to rush to play thru etc but gotta wait a lil while and not spend as much as have been lately on games lol
It was a breath of fresh air hearing you talk about nda's and other things pertaining to how you implement your reviews and run your channel. I abruptly terminated a vast sea of video reviews for this very reason. Anyway, youre video was concise and descriptive, fun to watch, and you did it all without damaging or spoiling how the game would be to us who have not played yet. Great job and it was definitely worth a subscription from me!
Alot of the lore and story can be found in the journal aswell. Alot of it is quite cryptic in the way of stories or poems but it helps put bits of the puzzle together. I also recommend watching a couple of videos about the story of journey to the west and it will provide quite a bit of context
Did anyone else grow up watching Monkey Magic? I’m so excited to actually play this. My 3080 12GB and 7600x is going to be bought to its knees at 4K though. Looks like I’ll have to use DLSS and medium settings. Thanks for the review ACG. Always come here first
The game unlocked on PS5 at 10pm est for me. Absolutely loving it so far. The voice acting is great and I love the Bruce Lee noises the monkey makes. Haven't had any tech issues thus far but I'm only an hour in.
Props to the devs for providing an external free Benchmarking Tool on Steam BEFORE release, so people can check if their system can run it, without having to buy it and refund it. *This should be normalized in PC gaming!*
Played the first 45 mins on PS5 with a 2k Monitor. The quality mode stutters, I am not sure but it seems to be capped at 24 FPS. Balanced mode looks like it gets it to 30 FPS but I feel disappointed with the graphics. The picture looks grainy and the environment doesn't feel up to the mark. Performance makes it butter smooth but obviously the graphics quality takes a dive. Boss fights are clean but you can really see the difference in quality. I usually don't mind the dip in graphics but ever since the first gameplay was showcased I was mesmerised with the characters and world building, so I'm left a little disappointed. Until now the game ran without any bugs. Maybe there's a patch slated for later in the day.
After ff7 rebirth I stopped buying games for ps5, that blurry mess is really disaapointing and I am forced to play on 30 fps mode just to get decent picture quality
Just to clarify, the dude who shows up is not actually his mentor/master. the dude is more akin to the earth deity for that area which is something from Chinese mythology. His master who taught him his 72 transformation and other skills is clean kept, tall and a Taoist master.
Pretty sure he is one of the very few reviewers who actually played the game at least a good way into the game. Everyone else shows they haven’t played past chapter 1 or 2. Thank you.
Very good job my man It's the first time i see your channel and i watch reviews for games that I'm really interested in it and you're review is the best review of game I saw ever you went over all the game machines and did really good job in it
Fantastic looking game! Back before my back injury and I practiced kung fu, a bunch of us watched A Journey to the West. I'm looking forward to seeing what's in the game that i might catch. I'll definitely be playing in Chinese with subs when i can afford to get it.
Man it straight up destroyed games like Elden ring and Baldurs gate 3 in the steam charts, topping out at 1.45million concurrent players as of right now
@@Mohgenstein I haven't played it yet, but that is an extreme claim that I don't quite believe yet. It would have to be an absolutely flawless masterpiece in every conceivable way to be better than those 2 games.
People still don't understand that the physical disk is just a key to download the game from the internet. The game is not on the disk and probably wouldn't even without downloading the patches online first
@@SK_Falchion People, however, do understand that waiting for a disc version means you're not forced to pay the price dictated by the PlayStation store, thus you'll pay at least 10 bucks less on release for the large majority of physical editions of games.
@ACG Reviews thanks for being the first to post actual gameplay footage. I could be wrong but the gameplay seems very easy and not very challenging besides the boss fights. It now looks like simply walking through gorgeous landscapes from boss fight to boss fight.
Playing it as we speak, who knew when you actually put effort into a game it comes out good. Love it already, plus space marine 2. I’ve bought more games this year than I’ve bought in the last 7 6
One of the most thorough reviews of the game so far. As a PS5 user, I would've appreciated timestamps to jump over the section discussing the game's technical issues on PC.
I remember reading Journey to The West as one of the few books I ever read willingly in Middle School, so it's really cool to see a game version, even if it's loosely based and especially one that looks this good. Great review, dude!
You have always been the solid sound journalistic center of contemporary video game reviews. Everyone else is biased personalized over opinionated and dried out.
the amount of content for this game being released right on release is mind boggling, so many of the channels i follow were sitting on that publish to youtube button
Looks like it'll scratch the itch God of War left, and I'd love to dive into Chinese mythology. I'll wait for a pricedrop, but that's a financial decision, not a lack of hype. The exploration part sounds traditional jrpg, whilst the combat feels western. That's a mix I really like. Great review, as always. Looking forward to the next.
Looks fantastic! Fortunately I’m less concerned with graphics than others and so long as it doesn’t impact gameplay I likely won’t notice it once I become accustomed to it.
I'm at a stage of my life where i immediately hit the like button whenever i see a new ACG review and before even seeing it ! Karak you're a legend ! you're reviews never disappoint man thank you so very much !
Listen I don't do weird embargos or odd crap. And we don't do sponsored reviews, if you like that maybe stop by the patreon www.patreon.com/AngryCentaurGaming
But be aware it is insanely heavy on the CPU and gpu
Thanks for getting this review out so quickly. The game looks fantastic! I will try to make the podcast Friday.
Wait, is THAT what ACG stands for???
@@RezaQin ANGRY CENTAUR GAMING
@@ACGreviews One of the only reviewers left with big cojones. Don't let the CCP tell you how to do your job. I respect you bro.
Wow the new "can you run "cr..." I meant "Wukong?"... Also from the Chinese Voice over, it's top notch.
Just checked the metrics for how many people are on this game. Damn, I knew it was highly anticipated, but over 1million people in game on launch night for a single player action game is crazy.
And it looks like it's still increasing. Crazy
sure but for how long the game is like 10 hours and the hardcore games always buy it first day
Currently at 1,374,662 players on Steam as of 8/19 11:46 PM CST.
journey to the west mythology is huge in cultural zeitgeist of east asia and chinese/east asian diaspora communities around the world, it's equivalent to the shakespeare, the tolkien for the anglosphere or the star wars for the american... wouldn't be surprised if for the first time in AAA game history this one will have non american/western sales dominate the total number of sales.
Then there's the Latin America market factor as well, they worship dragon ball there, so they have no choice not to be at the very least intrigued by the original mythology that inspired Son Goku.
@@johansvensson833 game is 40-50 hours not sure where you heard 10
It’s based on Chinese literature Journey to the West, and there’s a TV show about it. The show was so iconic that almost every single Chinese born person watched that show, and WuKong’s voice sounded like that in the show. I think the designers of this game watched that show too, and WuKong’s voice became a “common sense” in Chinese people’s minds.
Sounds like Vegeta English voice. Which is quite ironic, given that Vegeta is Goku's nemesis
So sad people do not read books but take video shows as source of truth. 😢
@@ludovic2003 unfortunately I don't think the books have a voice source
@@ludovic2003 have you watched the show or read the book? you havent, I have and I can tell you that the show follows the book quite closely. so maybe do abit of research before you decide to type.
I enjoyed the 1970's series. The Monk Tripitaka struggling to bring the ignorant Monkey god enlightment.
To add to the audio discussion. A lot of the music actually calls back to the 1986 Chinese TV series based on Journey to the West. The Chinese voice actor for Wukong is also the actor who played him in the 1986 live adaptation, hence the high pitched voiced is based off of the actor and his original portrayal of Wukong. All this probably means little to a Western audience but that live action adaptation was a huge part of the childhood memories of a lot of people all over Asia and it triggers the nostalgia HARD.
Yes, it brings nostalgic vibes for me when the first trailer came out with the mentioned attributes.
would you recommend playing it with chinese VA?
@@whisperingnebula44 absofuckingllutely
i was never hit so hard by the nostalgia train in my life. when i recognised the theme music was an adaptation of the original TV series, i had goosebumps all over me and i actually had tears in my eyes. I feel like that music and the voice is engraved onto my DNA now. It can just demand emotion and my body will respond, i have no say in that matter whatsoever.
All over Chinese Asians in Asia you mean.
You're one of the few reviewers I trust that can be completely honest and do this game justice while giving an unbiased in depth review. Glad you enjoyed the game and I can't wait to get my hands on it.
Glad you enjoy it!
@@ACGreviews Great review as always!
I remember his review about Fate Extella. Really helped me take the plunge for that even though I'm already a Fate series fan. So I agree ACG makes great reviews with focus on all aspects, including sound.
Agreed. He's one of the few reviewers that I honestly trust an honest opinion from. May not agree on every little thing, but when it comes to technical stuff there's no doubting him. Does a great job.
Grow up.
Completely trusting one person is stupid.
Thinking that anything is unbiased is stupid.
You've got the mind of an average trump supporter.
“Game AI has been going to school for 30 years and still hasn’t passed the freshman courses” I couldn’t have said it better myself. Amazing review as always.
The only reviewer I trust. Thanks for keeping it real ACG. As someone who's grown up watching Sunday Chinese dramas as a kid, I can't wait to point out all the references and geek out.
Ah man sundays were great with that!
I remember watching Monkey Magic in the 70s-80s It's on Amazon prime now.
@@tgk3624 Same, i loved Monkey Magic when i was a kid. I have the series on dvd now.
@@GlazeonthewickeR yup you too..if that opinion help you sleep well good on you..
@@GlazeonthewickeRbait 😂 pathetic
Became a dad, stepped away from games a year ago... came back to ACG to see what is going on... 1.2 Subs! Amazing man! Been listening to you forever, same goodness and same smooth reviews. TY sir!
Can't believe this game is actually out now.
It took so long there were times were I thought it was just Vaporware but now finally we can return to Monke
Exactly!! This is one of those games I didn’t believe would actually release until… like today 😂
Reason could be that the dev. wanted to release a polished game. And one that is not with a repetitive boss fight.
Its a good game but not perfect, some of the issues are with the bosses, they need to learn to let the player actually have a chance to hit them. Rookie mistake on the developers part.
From everything I’ve seen it clearly has its problems, but this seems like a damn impressive first AAA release from a studio that had previously done mobile games.
Yep, glad to see someone not deny the issues people are having but also seeing the potential of the product. It's always either “no it's perfect” or “worst I've played”. People are a little insane, haha. Really enjoying the game right now although I do get some weird stutters and occasionally the shrines go full invisible which is a little odd.
@@James-u1ythat’s the world now either love something or hate it groups pretty sad. No actual self thinking
@@Trocify225 ppl like you two that speaks in absolutes to disguise their low intellect anecdotal and emotional arguments are the last ppl in line when it comes to self thinking.
Any man who must say, "I am the King", is no true king.
The problems are pretty small for most part. The invisible walls thing making it impossible to predict where you can and cannot go is probably the biggest actual gameplay issue since you'll be constantly running into invisible walls just to see if you can... at least if you're the exploring type. I suppose difficulty also doesn't seem to be all that consistent. About halfway through chapter 1 bosses started to get pretty damn hard leading up to the end of chapter 2. But the bosses I've done in chapter 3 so far have been a joke in comparison (they were still fun battles though with excellent designs). There's also various graphical glitches, but I'm sure most of them will get fixed up in an early patch.
That said, the visuals truly are fantastic. I'm playing with a Ryzen 3600 and 3080 Ti with DLSS set at 60 in 4K, mix of very high and cinematic graphics. Honestly any form for ray-tracing for these game sadly seems to tank the performance to well below 60 fps (which I play at), but even without ray-tracing it looks fantastic and among the best out there. And even without HDR the contrast is so great that it almost looks like I actually am playing with HDR, even though I'm not.
It's unreal engine 5....you'll see alot of first time developers making good games now.
You'll always be the most reliable reviewer for me - every game you said was "worth checking out" was worth checking out haha
@@SparkVulpa did I miss the part where he said if it was a buy or wait for sale?
"Awesome and a Bit Troubled"
Sounds like my ex
If shes your ex, “ a bit troubled is an overstatement”
1:46 dont worry folks, its just a tail
Thanks. I cannot unsee it.
a little too big for anything else😂
@@deworldzlastpunk666 Hold my beer.
@@WH250398 what the…
@@toab omg can't unsee
"that's a lot of rewarding" 10:56 😂
7:20 that sound has gotta be the gaming equivalent to the wilhelm scream
CinemaSins
@@LocSec thats what it reminded me of too lmao
Ya haha, I was actually surprised to hear it
@@LocSec Is that where I'm remembering it from? Wasn't it also the parry sound in Bloodborne or something?
Dynasty warriors start screen iirc
1:49 Enemies discussing their fear/respect of the protagonist will always make me happy. I loved it in the secret ending to cyberpunk, where the guards would be amazed at "just one merc" solo'ing the entire end game building.
Deus Ex Human Revolution DLC has a moment an enemy squad leader tells his men that the low bodycount if you are playing non lethal only means you are just SO good you don't even need to kill those in your way. Amusingly you can hear it as you bypass the group without any of them getting wise to it.
I remember that was in the Arkham games
Far Cry 2 did it really well
Can’t wait to get this game. Had to put my son’s birthday first, gotta make little man happy.
Get him a copy 😂😂
Good dad
awesome man, the game will be waiting.
Better to wait anyway, it’ll definitely need some patches and the price may even come down a bit by then
@@korn2040 Yeah and its not a joke right? Cus it would be logical to buy a videogame for a kid but well the dad wants all the fun to himself it seems 😂
My dad also never bought me videogames which is sad.
7:52 "decked out in a kimono" FYI it is Hanfu, not Kimono. Kimono is for Japanese traditional clothes. Hanfu is for Chinese traditional clothes.
The only review I ever need is an ACG review! Was on the fence on whether I was going for a Buy or Wait/Sale on this one based on its PC performance and your thoughts and insight on this new IP are much appreciated as always.
Journey to the West is insanely popular not only in China but also in many other Asian countries. Here in Vietnam, summer reruns of the 1986 show have become an annual tradition for many TV channels since the 1990s. Entire generations have grown up watching the show every summer break. I, a '90s kid, and my nieces/nephews, who were born in the 2010s, have drastically different childhoods, but we share the same love for the mischievous monkey man. I think, at least in Asia, the nostalgia for the show and other adaptations contributes a lot to the hype for this game.
Ah, Finally a no BS review.
Bull semen? That’s gross
@@johnwrath3612 I love it
@@rbatesmotel No sweet baby review?
Other reviews of this game were fine, though.
It’s even more cringe seeing people feel the need to bring it up to other reviewers. There's one 'woke' review, and people act like all reviewers are out to get them
The sad thing about it is: just as with movies and shows, the industry will learn nothing from this. Instead of creating more quality games, they will continue the Ubisoft way
Thank you for keeping this real. It's so hard to find reviews now that aren't sponsored by the studio.
Always!
One surprising thing that I like was how each enemy type had a whole lore page that told an interesting story about how or when they came to be in myth. Actually made me want to read about some of them, like the crow guai it’s a nice touch
Gameplay looks good but I'm still waiting to see how the PS5 version runs before pulling the trigger.
Me too. I get Cyberpunk vibes from this...
PS5 version will run like a monkeys uncle 😂
@@Killbomb just tried ps5 version. 60 fps version is awful. Quality mode so far seems fine
@@Killbomb same
@@kmh4263how bad?
Glad to hear both English and Chinese VA is good. I don’t mind subtitles if I’m watching a tv show or movie, but while playing? I’ll never understand how people can read and battle at the same time. Props to you lol.
The novel Journey in the West was written in half classical and half venacular Chinese. I heard in Black Myth Wukong, the dialogues are in classical Chinese. So this is equivalent to like, a Shakesperan video game adaptation where the dialogues are in Shakesperean English. And I dont think it is possible to translate the nuances and the elegance of the classical Chinese dialogue into English. (just like it is almost impossible to fully translate and convey the beauty of Shakespearan English into Chinese). Something just gets lost in translation.
@@walking_luggage8105 Its still half half here. Wukong speaks casually and in the first cutscene basically calls Erlang Shen a motherfr. The minions also speak casually as well, but the Taoist calligrapher who upgrades your gourd speaks with a lot more like classical prose.
It's rare that a game system requirement is backed up by its visual fidelity.
Was NOT expecting a Sons of Anarchy reference in a Black Myth Wukong game review 😂 thanks for the review Karak🫡
I had to drop one every once in awhile lol
Thanks for clueing us in on Wukong, Karak. Been a fan of your reviews for many a year and you never fail to provide well written , BS-free reviews.
Can’t wait to play this when it’s goes on sale or I learn to save some mullah myself!
The sfx of hitting an enemy is a valid complaint. Even games like Elden Ring aren't great at it, with that way-too-wet flesh tearing sound when you get a hit
Agreed
I completely agree, like those souls games needs to add more weight to their attacks,
Avowed has been showing some interesting SFX and hit-connect feeling, will have to see when it releases
Shitake
Yeah there is a certain satisfaction to great sounding weapon impacts a la GoW.
Probably the only comment section that's not dog piling on people for pointing out bad hit boxes, input lag, and a gaggle of other technical issues. The game is "okay."
This isn't GOTY. Not by a long shot. But it will probably get some award simply because the entire population of China is absolutely flipping out out over it.
GOTY
I think there are a lot of immature kids and nerds out there that get super into the souls like community and over hype the crap out of anything in that genre. I am close to beating this game and I would def say the game is good but not great. The boss fights are often either way too easy or hard only due to a combination of "cheap" attacks that require you to be VERY far away to avoid. The stutter from unreal engine is also really awful at times and I'm playing on a 4090 lol.
The level design is cool but nothing inspired really. The first couple hours is really fun but then you start to see several bosses that use the same basic formula for moves and attacks and that really killed the fun for me. I'm in the last third of the game and I would be lying if I didn't say it is getting a little dull. I see it compared to God of War and it is FAR from being nearly as good as that game. Not even close!
I completely agree, I cannot for the life of me understand why this game gets glazed this much.
I was waiting for your review, Karak. Excited!
The look of the gameplay reminds me of Ghosts of Tsushima, but better since it's on the next generation. Story and concept I can see where Dragon Ball got its inspiration.
In ACG we trust super appreciate all the work you put into bringing us these top notch reviews.
Thanks!
@@ACGreviews Welcome
I saw people say its not soulslike. They were wrong. It is definitely soulslike, brutal difficulty. Great great game tho
Watching this while unpacking the preload.
Slowest unpack ever!
Yea I just uninstalled it and reinstalled... Unpacking would take a week apparently and that's on a M.2
@@winston7762 it took mine a hour almost hahaha
As always great review. Best reviewer on CZcams. Pretty much the only guy I watch unless you don't review something. I appreciate everything you do and I'm glad to have a guy that thinks about games the way I do and isn't slinging BS.
Alliteration: The Review.
A staple of the ACG channel.
Gotta love Alliterations
Wow, fast paced, no bs, detailed and honest review in 2024? That's a subscribe if I ever saw one. Cheers.
I do appreciate when you want to talk about more than the review period will allow waiting until it’s over to give your full unbiased opinion, rarely happens these days as everyone rushes to be first
Thank you so much for another banger review, ACG. You're the only reviewer I enjoy watching, and I always appreciate your honest takes. I'm gonna give this a shot, it looks like a ton of fun.
Your reviews are always spot on, thanks
Thank you 🙏🏽 I can always count on your reviews when so many others fail me.
This game is absolutely gorgeous, and it finally feels like we’re getting entries that are tapping into the next generation of visual fidelity in gaming beyond just art design.
Looking to how Stellar Blade handled its native balanced mode versus performance and graphical modes, I hope more devs tap into that approach. Granted Stellar Blade isn’t on PC yet so that’s still to be seen but purely by console experience the way that renders everything nigh actively and perfectly while keeping a near perfect framerate the entire time, it’s my new Gold standard. I’m hoping the patch for Wukong takes a similar path to giving players options, as well as future games. PC will always allow for fine tuning but as a mostly console player I’m sad to see console versions getting these well curated experiences while PC isn’t optimized as well. It feels somewhat backwards.
Too bad ai hasn’t been close to the old solid gear snake days for many decades 🤷♂️
Thanks Karak, genuinely the ONLY reviews worth watching. Peace and love brother.
Man I wish my PC was capable of running THIS!! I am a 3D artist myself and ofcourse this is UE5, I just can't fathom how do you even come close t this level of visual fidelity and not start multiple fires in the studio lol
ACG is the only place i come to when i want a true idea and actually ideas of if i want to buy or play a game no matter what and no one does it BETTER IMO, thanks for all of ur time and effort you put in to make these reviews and keep doin everything you always do my brotha!!! I will prolly try to pick this one up at some time for sure cause its exactly the type game I'm into atm single player no worries of FOMO or havin to rush to play thru etc but gotta wait a lil while and not spend as much as have been lately on games lol
Thanks pal!
I was on pins and needles waiting for your review!
lol
It was a breath of fresh air hearing you talk about nda's and other things pertaining to how you implement your reviews and run your channel. I abruptly terminated a vast sea of video reviews for this very reason. Anyway, youre video was concise and descriptive, fun to watch, and you did it all without damaging or spoiling how the game would be to us who have not played yet. Great job and it was definitely worth a subscription from me!
game really looks up my alley. couldnt get into souls like and elden due to the difficulty but this looks way more easy to get into awesome review
its personally better than those to me. its actually fun and fast paced and actually exciting to play
Alot of the lore and story can be found in the journal aswell. Alot of it is quite cryptic in the way of stories or poems but it helps put bits of the puzzle together. I also recommend watching a couple of videos about the story of journey to the west and it will provide quite a bit of context
6:35 bro skip leg day so long hahahahaha!
Truly amazing game! Cannot wait to get my hands on it once i’m home from my holidays!
Not really a game that looks interesting to me, but always appreciate your reviews just to hear your honest take. Keep up the great work!
Much appreciated
Thanks for your content. Can't wait to get this game
Crouching monkey, hidden monkey?
Looks tight
Thanks for another appropriately detailed review.
Looks like the queue is starting to swell up...
Did anyone else grow up watching Monkey Magic? I’m so excited to actually play this. My 3080 12GB and 7600x is going to be bought to its knees at 4K though. Looks like I’ll have to use DLSS and medium settings. Thanks for the review ACG. Always come here first
@@MarioGoatse yeah mate when was a kid in 80s after school UK
@@Bod8998 I’d watch it after school too, except Australia in the early 90s.
Yes, yes, yes. People need to watch Monkey Magic. It's great.
Pigsy
Yeah mate, used to watch Monkey after school about 1990 when I was 10 years old. That and Ninja Turtles 😄
You really do have consistently the best reviews online. Love how you focus on stuff most pass over, like sound quality. Great work, thanks
The game unlocked on PS5 at 10pm est for me. Absolutely loving it so far. The voice acting is great and I love the Bruce Lee noises the monkey makes. Haven't had any tech issues thus far but I'm only an hour in.
@@Avalanche8181 how does it look in performance mode?
@@TheAbvsyorkIt looks great. Performance still looks amazing
Hows the performance mode? 60 fps?
Thanks for posting
Maybe it’s me, but i do not like the fact that using light attacks drains stamina. Lol.
Props to the devs for providing an external free Benchmarking Tool on Steam BEFORE release, so people can check if their system can run it, without having to buy it and refund it.
*This should be normalized in PC gaming!*
Played the first 45 mins on PS5 with a 2k Monitor.
The quality mode stutters, I am not sure but it seems to be capped at 24 FPS.
Balanced mode looks like it gets it to 30 FPS but I feel disappointed with the graphics. The picture looks grainy and the environment doesn't feel up to the mark.
Performance makes it butter smooth but obviously the graphics quality takes a dive. Boss fights are clean but you can really see the difference in quality.
I usually don't mind the dip in graphics but ever since the first gameplay was showcased I was mesmerised with the characters and world building, so I'm left a little disappointed. Until now the game ran without any bugs. Maybe there's a patch slated for later in the day.
After ff7 rebirth I stopped buying games for ps5, that blurry mess is really disaapointing and I am forced to play on 30 fps mode just to get decent picture quality
Glad the game didn't disappoint. The first trailer for the game had me wishing i could time travel into the future. Well done Game Science
alomst 900k players on steam right now. And this game was just released.
Imagine the weekend numbers, insane
1.14M right now
@@nomisage yes. Incredible
@@Choteron3 almost 1.5M ... Crazy numbers. This isn't even including PS5 or China numbers
Because it was released in China and they don't allow many games to be released in their country unless the government approves it.
Turning on my ps5 now! So hyped!
Well how does it run and look?
It looks really good on my PS5
Just got it on PS5. Seems to be really solid so far.
@@keithlange576 me too
@@keithlange576 At 30 FPS?
i wait to hear what you say before i buy any games nowadays. thanks for always delivering in-depth and entertaining reviews!
Waited for your review to make any decision thank you!
Glad I could help!
The music and creatures are stunning. I cant wait to see what is next ...
Waiting for this review. Thanks for your content. Can't wait to get this game.
Your reviews are always the ones I come when a game release interests me, always trust your opinion!
I wanted to hold of on this game until your review is great content, brother.
Just to clarify, the dude who shows up is not actually his mentor/master. the dude is more akin to the earth deity for that area which is something from Chinese mythology. His master who taught him his 72 transformation and other skills is clean kept, tall and a Taoist master.
I would wait but I love the setting and can handle some peformance tweaking. Im going to give it a shot.
Pretty sure he is one of the very few reviewers who actually played the game at least a good way into the game. Everyone else shows they haven’t played past chapter 1 or 2. Thank you.
Very good job my man
It's the first time i see your channel and i watch reviews for games that I'm really interested in it and you're review is the best review of game I saw ever you went over all the game machines and did really good job in it
Glad you enjoy it!
Fantastic looking game! Back before my back injury and I practiced kung fu, a bunch of us watched A Journey to the West. I'm looking forward to seeing what's in the game that i might catch. I'll definitely be playing in Chinese with subs when i can afford to get it.
There's ACG and then there's every other reviewer. ACG is the GOAT of video game reviews that looks out for the consumer base.
@@ianseurattan2084 mortismal gaming is also excellent
@@glowinTHX mortismal is a forspoken apologist
@@TheUndiagnosable i.e. Morty gives his own opinion without worrying about what the online mob might think.
@@mechanicalmonk2020 Sure, which is admirable dont get me wrong. Just don't think I'm interested in his other opinions after that.
On PC 4K with FSR and all settings cinematic /no RT 70fps on a RTX 3080
Game looks and runs superb.
2 hours in,Game is good so far.
Man it straight up destroyed games like Elden ring and Baldurs gate 3 in the steam charts, topping out at 1.45million concurrent players as of right now
It’s better then those two games
@@Mohgenstein I haven't played it yet, but that is an extreme claim that I don't quite believe yet. It would have to be an absolutely flawless masterpiece in every conceivable way to be better than those 2 games.
@@Mohgenstein hilarious joke
I mean, it's a very popular story in China.. so yeah.
Because the entire population of China is playing it.
About an hour to go
Can't wait to check it out
big props for KARAK and others that plays the game in its intended language. its a small thing but a thoughtful gesture 👌
Your review convinced me to try this game out. Thanks!
Have fun!
Thanks for the review, and thanks for talking about the Chinese voice-over! I always put game audio in the original language.
Wish it would have had a physical release
It will within 12 months !
People still don't understand that the physical disk is just a key to download the game from the internet. The game is not on the disk and probably wouldn't even without downloading the patches online first
@@SK_Falchionye but I can sell the game after I am done with it.
@SK_Falchion ahh just like the old GC, PS1, and Xbox discs were keys to the internet too right?
@@SK_Falchion People, however, do understand that waiting for a disc version means you're not forced to pay the price dictated by the PlayStation store, thus you'll pay at least 10 bucks less on release for the large majority of physical editions of games.
@ACG Reviews thanks for being the first to post actual gameplay footage.
I could be wrong but the gameplay seems very easy and not very challenging besides the boss fights. It now looks like simply walking through gorgeous landscapes from boss fight to boss fight.
Western game developers moving from single player to Live Service and Chinese game developers going the other way.
This is the one single player game they made in a sea of gachas and F2P MMOs with predatory microtransactions and you're already sucking them off.
Playing it as we speak, who knew when you actually put effort into a game it comes out good. Love it already, plus space marine 2. I’ve bought more games this year than I’ve bought in the last 7 6
"listen I don't do weird embargos or odd crap. And we don't do sponsored reviews"
Unless it's Starfield, cuz ACG sold his ass out with that review.
One of the most thorough reviews of the game so far. As a PS5 user, I would've appreciated timestamps to jump over the section discussing the game's technical issues on PC.
Excited to try this tomorrow!
I like most was waiting for your specific review , thank you , one of the few you tubers on here which reviews I do trust .
I remember reading Journey to The West as one of the few books I ever read willingly in Middle School, so it's really cool to see a game version, even if it's loosely based and especially one that looks this good. Great review, dude!
Like the video! Let's push this to #1! Karak has been my favorite reviewer for years!
You have always been the solid sound journalistic center of contemporary video game reviews. Everyone else is biased personalized over opinionated and dried out.
This reviewer is absolutely first class, for some reason I always picture you looking like Bill Nye the science guy haha
Wow, thanks!
the amount of content for this game being released right on release is mind boggling, so many of the channels i follow were sitting on that publish to youtube button
This is true
That's where all the marketing budget went
So strange to me that this is the first time I’ve come across one of your reviews. They are awesome. Thanks for the great review.
Thanks for watching!
Looks like it'll scratch the itch God of War left, and I'd love to dive into Chinese mythology. I'll wait for a pricedrop, but that's a financial decision, not a lack of hype. The exploration part sounds traditional jrpg, whilst the combat feels western. That's a mix I really like.
Great review, as always. Looking forward to the next.
Thats true it could do that
Kratos vs a Monkey I'M down to see
Looks fantastic! Fortunately I’m less concerned with graphics than others and so long as it doesn’t impact gameplay I likely won’t notice it once I become accustomed to it.
Dang! My dude ACG 1000 on the dot!
I'm at a stage of my life where i immediately hit the like button whenever i see a new ACG review and before even seeing it !
Karak you're a legend ! you're reviews never disappoint man thank you so very much !