You step into the shoes of the Destined One, who might be the reincarnation or descendant of the legendary Sun Wukong. It’s a role that comes with some serious mythic baggage, and if you’re ready to embrace the challenge, it’s also a great reason to buy Xbox games that let you step into other larger-than-life adventures while you wait to wield those divine relics yourself. Armed with the iconic staff of this deity, your mission is to roam Ancient China in search of six legendary relics to unlock a massive stone at the top of a mountain. The story is kept a bit mysterious at the publisher's request, but if you know the first part of Journey to the West, you’ll have a solid idea of what’s going down. The game gives you plenty of background on each character you meet, so you won’t feel totally lost.

Breathing Room Between Boss Fights

The same vibe carries over to the sections between those epic boss fights. Wukong starts off super linear, almost like a straight-up highway of enemies, but it gradually opens up after a few hours. If you’re someone who craves more exploration or wants games that evolve into expansive worlds, it’s worth considering to buy PS5 games that offer a mix of structured storytelling and open-ended freedom. You go from whacking wolves in a forest to sneaking past skeletal snake dudes. By the second chapter, all kinds of rats are sniping you from rooftops or lighting you on fire with gunpowder clouds. Wukong gently nudges you to explore side paths that lead to treasure or side quests to buff you up for what’s coming. In one desert area, I took out some shield-wielding hedgehogs and jumped down a bridge, only to find a dude turned to stone begging for help. When I brought him the item he asked for, he laughed at me for being gullible—classic 16th-century humor! Suddenly, I could lock onto him, so I smacked him around a bit, and he dropped a spell that let me parry attacks by turning to stone. Instead of throwing you into a meat grinder of tricky enemy setups between bosses like a lot of other Soulslikes, Wukong gives you breathing room in these open sections so you can really soak in the world before diving into the next big fight.

Switching Roles: Warrior to Magician

When the fights get tough—and trust me, some of them do—Wukong’s flexible skill tree and upgrade systems keep them from feeling impossible. At any shrine, which is like the bonfires in Dark Souls that respawn enemies, you can shuffle your skill points to unlock some dope magical abilities. Investing in Immobilize lets you freeze enemies right before they hit you, giving you a chance to heal or strike back. Maxing out a spell that turns you into a wolf with a flaming polearm feels like having a second life against multi-phase bosses. While I wouldn’t call them full-on builds, Wukong gives you enough options to handle the roughest parts of a fight. Some players might even choose to go without spells, like those Reddit purists who refuse to use the mimic tear in Elden Ring. But skipping spells means missing out on some of the most satisfying parts of Wukong’s combat. Aside from a few minor upgrades to your staff, you won’t have a bunch of weapons to choose from. Instead, you collect creatures from the levels. Special enemies drop their spirits, which you can equip for passive buffs and epic signature attacks, like turning your head into a giant hammer or becoming a swordsman for a killer slash. Combat is all about finding openings in enemy attack patterns with your spells and dodging until you can strike. Most fights feel like a wild dance of cartwheels, somersaults, and clouds of smoke as your monkey hero transforms into various beasts you collect like Pokémon. Once you find your groove, you switch from warrior to magician in no time! Beyond the awesome exploration, Wukong seriously rewards curiosity. There are hidden parts of the world that you can’t access right away until you grab the right items or chat with certain characters. These secret spots are called “Obsessions,” and they totally vibe with Buddhist ideas about attachment leading to suffering. The items you find represent that struggle: someone was so attached to them that their pain pulls you into a mystical space. It’s a dope way to show a world filled with magic and otherworldly spirits. Plus, it’s a bit cheeky; if you’re the type to go all-in, you’ll have to take down even more epic bosses to uncover these areas.

Celebrating Wukong as an Amazing Experience

Wukong has totally crushed it in the market. Journey to the West is a classic story, but no other game based on it has sold 10 million copies in just a few days. For some folks in the West, it’s a surprise that a game like this comes from a place known for mobile games and microtransactions. But for many in China, it feels like a long-awaited blockbuster that finally gets it right. It’s like all the weight of an entire country's cultural legacy is on a developer that hardly anyone knew about before this game dropped, and Game Science is definitely feeling that spotlight. But to judge Wukong just by market trends and audience preferences misses the main point: it’s simply an amazing game.