Long before Hellblade, Ninja Theory tried to connect the Monkey King Wukong with Uncharted, and the result was quite entertaining…
Looking back at the number of games that have been released year after year on the PS3 and Xbox 360, it’s mind-boggling. Nowadays, when mid-range (“double-A”) games are starting to disappear, it’s hard to imagine the dumping that we experienced ten or so years ago. Of course, many games that deserved a better fate ended up in the well of oblivion precisely because of the disorder of abundance. Some of them hurt more than others, and the case of Enslaved: Odyssey to the West – featuring the character of Sun Wukong – is one of the most glaring.
What Ninja Theory achieved – years before the release and overwhelming success of Hellblade – is a perfect example of a developer understanding the medium like few others. They are aware of current trends and that their unique vision, which brings the world of cinema closer to video games, can be masterfully realized.
The Wukong that wanted to be an Uncharted
Although it is already showing its age, it is still impressive from today’s point of view that the quality of the game, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, which was once made in record time, is not only enviable by some modern standards, but also proves that it has stood the test of time very well.
The game of the team behind the Hellblade saga has been put back in the spotlight thanks to the GOTY nominations of Black Myth: Wukong.
With its unique vision, it offers us an adventure about the monkey king Sun Wukong that knows how to bring an attention-grabbing “popcorn cinema” Uncharted clone under its roof. Today, we can see that the game anticipated the relationship dynamics between the characters, which were fully realized years later in The Last of Us.
Originally released in 2010 (for PC in 2013), the story is one of the game’s strengths. This is not surprising when we know that the script was written by writer-director Alex Garland, who is also known for Ex Machina and Civil War. Is it worth picking it up after all these years? If you are interested in the Monkey King myth and like exciting, story-driven adventure games, it is definitely worth a try…
Source: YouTube
