today on toptalks : Black Myth: Wukong has been captivating gamers since its reveal in 2020. Developer Game Science has maintained a level of transparency uncommon in the industry, fueling excitement with each press release. The game promises a hero-focused action experience, retelling the story of Journey to the West with stunning graphics powered by Unreal Engine 5. On PC, the game takes advantage of Nvidia’s UE5 branch to enable full ray tracing, raising expectations even higher. With the full game now available, it’s time to evaluate whether Game Science has delivered on its visual promises, how the ray tracing features perform on PC, and what optimized settings can help ensure a smooth experience across different hardware configurations. Let’s dive in.

A Visual Feast from the Start

From the moment the game boots up, it’s evident that Game Science has achieved a level of graphical fidelity that surpasses the initial trailer. The game’s intro is visually stunning, featuring colossal mythical beings and areas rich with unique volumetric rendering—a rare sight in modern games.

As the main character moves through the fog, every dash and staff swipe distorts the environment, showcasing real physicalized particles. Such effects are rare, seen in games like Housemarque’s Returnal and a few legacy PhysX titles. Game Science uses these GPU-intensive effects effectively, adding a mystical flourish to the game’s moments and character entrances. The particle effects throughout the game not only enhance combat but also provide visual cues for enemy attacks and rewards for defeating foes. Unlike in some games where particle effects feel out of place, here they are seamlessly integrated into the theme and environments.

Technical Mastery with Some Shortcomings

The game’s environments are another highlight, brought to life by several technical elements. One of the standout features is Nanite, an Unreal Engine 5 technology that allows for incredibly detailed surfaces and architecture. At a typical camera distance, you’d be hard-pressed to find any geometric edges, thanks to Nanite’s dynamic level of detail (LOD) system. This also eliminates most intrusive pop-in issues, resulting in a more stable visual experience compared to previous-generation titles.

However, Nanite isn’t applied to foliage, likely due to the game being developed on UE 5.0 rather than 5.1, which added this feature. As a result, bushes and leaves exhibit more traditional LOD changes, leading to noticeable shadow issues unless the full ray tracing option is enabled. Without full ray tracing, shadows can appear blobby or unstable, a limitation likely to affect the PS5 version as well. For those with ultra-high-end PCs, enabling full ray tracing can solve these issues but may impact performance.

Despite these minor drawbacks, Nanite allows the game’s assets to shine, forming the foundation of its dense environments. Ray tracing serves as the glue holding everything together. Without full ray tracing, the game uses the software Lumen for diffuse global illumination and specular reflections, while full ray tracing introduces ReSTIR-based path tracing for additional lighting detail.

The Impact of Ray Tracing on Visuals

A significant portion of the game occurs out of direct sunlight, and thanks to Lumen or path tracing, the lighting in shadowy corners and sunlit areas is superb. The full ray tracing setting further enhances this, improving diffuse lighting on rough surfaces. Unlike signed distance fields (SDFs), which can cause over-darkening in scenes with sparse elements like trees, full ray tracing offers more accurate lighting and less over-darkening. This difference, while subtle, is a testament to the effectiveness of the technology.

Reflections also see a marked improvement with full ray tracing. Rougher materials like stone are more accurately represented, with more surface detail visible in any given scene. The most noticeable difference is in water reflections. With the software Lumen, reflections often rely on screen space reflections (SSR), which can lead to missing characters or objects outside the screen space. Full ray tracing resolves these limitations, ensuring reflections are fully populated and accurate.

Another standout feature of the full ray tracing mode is real-time ray-guided caustics, which dramatically improve the appearance of water bodies. Light is dynamically redirected by the water’s surface, creating undulating patterns on riverbeds that react to the water’s movement. This effect adds a level of realism that elevates the game’s visual presentation, especially during boss fights.

Areas for Improvement

While Black Myth: Wukong is visually stunning, it’s not without its issues. Some textures, despite the use of Nanite, appear stretched or blurry, detracting from the overall experience. The game’s sharpening is also cranked up to the max, leading to a noticeable outline around objects against bright backgrounds. This, combined with extensive temporal dithering, can make hair and motion blur appear aliased, contributing to a less stable visual experience. An option to reduce dithering, even at the cost of performance, would be a welcome addition.

Performance is another area where the game struggles. Although a lengthy shader precompilation sequence helps mitigate shader compilation stutters, traversal stutters remain a significant issue. Every new area is marked by frame-time spikes, which can disrupt gameplay, especially during boss encounters. These stutters are exacerbated when full ray tracing is enabled, requiring a high-end CPU like the Ryzen 7 7800X3D to achieve a stable 60fps.

For most players, I recommend sticking to the lower-quality software Lumen solution, despite its compromises in fidelity. Additionally, avoid using the game’s cinematic quality preset, as it is intended for cutscenes and is not optimized for gameplay. Starting with the high preset should provide a more stable experience on high-end setups.

Toptalks Conclusion

Black Myth: Wukong is one of the most visually impressive games of the year, but it comes with its share of performance challenges. While Game Science has delivered on its graphical promises, the experience is marred by frame-time spikes that can detract from the enjoyment. I hope the developers continue to optimize the game and consider adding features like DLSS ray reconstruction. Despite these issues, Black Myth: Wukong remains a must-play for anyone with a high-end PC, and I’m eager to see how it performs on the PS5.