Ever experience one of those moments in life when you're thankful to have lived long enough to witness an event? Honestly, I am blown away by the quality of Black Myth Wukong, and after completing chapter 1 in full, I can wholeheartedly say it is one of the most polished games in recent years to carry on the torch toward another golden age of gaming; an era in which we can say NO to delusional propaganda led by the woke crowd and truly immerse ourselves in masterful storytelling and peak gameplay.

Enriched Storytelling
A unique take on an existing mythological tale. Great storytelling in post-2020 media is a rare breed and Black Myth Wukong brings back a practice that many have forgotten in the past decade: the ancient art of "show, don't tell." As a result, a player with more than half a brain cell becomes intrigued, piqued with curiosity as to where the journey will take us next. That very simple step that produces the foundation of a great game, in and of itself, is something many fail to do in this generation. Hence, a praiseworthy achievement.

A Realm To Visit More Than Once
From the first cutscene to being dropped into the world as an unknown adventure taking on the mantle of the hero Wukong, the environment takes your breath away. There is an ever-so-subtle ambience that is neither noisy nor silent, overwhelming nor underwhelming... neither raging nor soothing to the senses. It is the perfect balance of making you feel like you want to stay there forever yet progress to see what comes next. The mob enemies you come across are not as threatening as you may think, but provide a challenge once you approach. Bosses have a variety of moves and behaviors that allows you to enjoy the interaction throughout the grueling battles, and they're not mindbogglingly difficult enough to make you throw your controller out the window. The level of detail and quality placed into each animation of both the character and enemies, down to the simple action of opening a chest to find new gear/items shows the amount of love and passion that went into this project.

Depth & Progression
As with storytelling, the character progression in the game is less so about "wanting to become stronger", but rather a sense of wanting to see what comes next in your journey. The other myriad of games I've played over the past few years have molded me into an elitist player, one who always min/maxes when he can to reach the endgame as quickly as possible before anyone else to play god. Every now and then, however, I come across a game that I go into with a different mindset; a mindset that allows me to slow down, take a breath, and enjoy the journey rather than seek the end result in a heartbeat. Two heartbeats rather than one: the difference is astounding when it comes to the human mind.

Absence of Woke Propaganda & Nonsense
Whenever I browse the internet in any form, I grieve at the thought of how the woke propaganda is contaminating our minds day by day, trying to brainwash the normal human mentality with ideas of delusion to make the abnormal a norm by forcefeeding outrageous ideas down our throats. Black Myth Wukong, in all of its so-called "controversies", takes a step closer to our roots. Not toxic masculinity. Not sexism. Not lack of diversity. Just a pure journey that rids our bodies and minds of any sense of superiority, inferiority, representation, diversity, abnormalities, delusion, or any of that other nonsense. This is a game, in all of its glory, that takes us back to the roots of a character that embarks on a journey. That's it. Nothing more. Nothing less. And I'm all for more of it in the years/decades to come.

Invisible Wall Implementation
So... this one's a bit of a divisive issue. Most open world games implement an invisible wall feature to block off players from areas that are "in the world" but inaccessible in-game, primarily to help with immersion. Black Myth Wukong does this flawlessly to make it so the world is there in its entirety with no questionable areas whatsoever, enough so that it's impossible to tell which parts of the world are accessible and which are not. This is one of those rare situations wherein if the player would really benefit from a map that at least displays the general area. But add to the fact that there is no map to refer to, it can get annoying when exploring for chests and/or spirits.

The reason this might be an arguable pro/con is that most game companies have been getting flack during the past few years for spoonfeeding players to go here and there with an overly complicated and detailed map/UI (I'm looking at you Ubisoft). Games like Elden Ring had a natural flow to exploration with the use of a map so players can just have a general idea of where they are. Black Myth Wukong took exploration to even higher levels of letting the player have the freedom to do what he wants, yet some may argue that in this case the use of clear invisible walls might have helped (ironically).

Final Verdict: A+
Nowadays, a game doesn't have to be perfect or even called "superb" to be worthy of praise. So many games drop the ball fast and hard, trying to stick political agenda into video games or going for greedy live-service routes that don't last more than a few months. Gamers may need to touch grass sometimes, but we're not always stupid or braindead either. Above all, we're a customer base looking to buy a product that provides enjoyment.

The return of the singleplayer game with a strong foundation of lore and gameplay is what I believe put the gaming industry on the map in the first place. And now that the industry has tried its hand in so many possible paths to try to find the "perfect route" to a stable era of gaming, titles like Elden Ring, Nioh, Ghost of Tsushima, and now Black Myth Wukong have proven time and time again that the single player action-RPG has once again laid a solid foundation to the path that truly satisfies the core audience.

Feels like the most complete early-access game I've played in the past year or two. Still getting my bearings in the world of Soulmask, but so far it feels like a solid survival crafting game that has improved upon almost every aspect of its predecessors, including Conan Exiles and ARK Survival Evolved. It's hard to tell how much of the game is complete from the developer standpoint, but I see myself playing this gem in the long-term as long as the updates are as solid as its launch.

In 2024, survival crafting games are a dime a dozen, but Soulmask at a glance is a title that reaches far and beyond to stand out as a needle in a haystack, and it feels like it hit the mark and then some.

Current Verdict: A+
Other than the bland character models at creation, I'm impressed with the depth and ambition Soulmask is trying to achieve, especially since it literally came out of nowhere without the levels of marketing we're used to.

Oh, and whoever came up with the god-tier storage system with the auto filters (whether it was this game or another game in the past that started it), you deserve a raise.