Black Myth: Wukong, Two Years On – A New Game Plus Retrospective

NG+ Feels Like a Different Game — In a Good Way

It's been a while since Black Myth: Wukong launched back in August 2024. The hype has faded. The endless YouTube reactions have quieted down. The discourse has moved on to other things. But I found myself going back to it recently — not for a quick look, but for a proper New Game Plus run.

One hundred and seventy hours. One full playthrough with the true ending. All meditation spots found. The journal fully filled out. Ninety percent of achievements unlocked. And now, finally, I've stepped into New Game Plus.

The first thing you notice when you start NG+ is how much stuff you've accumulated. You keep everything — levels, spells, armour, weapons, vessels, spirits, gourds, curios, consumables. You walk into Chapter 1 as a fully armed demigod, and the game knows it. Most bosses go down on the first attempt.

There's a strange kind of pleasure in that. The first playthrough was defined by struggle — the die-and-retry loop that made every boss victory feel earned. NG+ offers something different: a power fantasy that the first run never allowed. You're no longer the struggling pilgrim. You're the Great Sage himself, cutting through enemies that once gave you nightmares.

But not every boss is a pushover. Some enemies still demand respect. NG+ retains some of the challenge through new attack patterns and higher difficulty thresholds. Erlang and the final boss remain punishing. It's a selective reminder that this game still has teeth.

The Relic System Unlocks the Real Build Crafting

One of the best reasons to push into NG+ is the relic system. In the first playthrough, you collect the six senses — each corresponding to one of the six thieves from the original Journey to the West. But the real payoff comes later.

When you recollect a relic in New Game Plus, a second node unlocks. In New Game++, a third node unlocks. Stack these with the right armour sets — especially the Old Monkey King's set, which boosts defence significantly with all nodes active — and you start building genuinely overpowered loadouts.

This is where the game's depth really shows itself. The first playthrough is about survival. NG+ is about optimisation. You experiment with different stances, different spirit combinations, different curios that you ignored the first time. Builds that were theoretical in the first run become practical. Some players have even developed "one-shot builds" that obliterate bosses with strategic relic and spell combinations.

The Hidden Ending Is Why Most Players Start NG+

The real reason most people start NG+ isn't for the power fantasy or the builds. It's for the story. The game has two endings. The standard ending has the Destined One putting on the golden band, becoming the new Victorious Fighting Buddha, and falling into the cycle of reincarnation. The true ending requires NG+.

To unlock it, you need to return to the mural room in the Pagoda Realm during your second playthrough, enter the Meishan map, defeat Erlang, and claim the sixth sense — the root of consciousness. Only then can you refuse the golden band and break free from the cycle.

That's a design choice that still divides the community. On one hand, it rewards dedication and exploration. On the other, it locks the most emotionally resonant conclusion behind a significant time commitment.

What's Changed Since Launch

One of the most remarkable things about returning to Wukong in 2026 is how much better the game runs. Performance, once a major pain point, has been smoothed out significantly. On the Steam Deck, players can now achieve a stable 40 frames per second, with only minor dips in a few specific scenes.

The map system — one of the biggest complaints at launch — received a larger map view in later updates, though it still doesn't match the intuitive navigation of games like Elden Ring. The modding scene has also matured, with community-created mods now addressing everything from combat balance to quality-of-life improvements.

The DLC That Never Came

At Gamescom 2025, Game Science announced Black Myth: Zhong Kui — a sequel — and simultaneously confirmed that DLC development for Wukong had been paused. The reaction was swift and brutal. Within three days, Steam saw over 200 negative reviews, dropping the game's rating from 95% to 93%.

Players felt abandoned. They had invested in a world that seemed incomplete, waiting for expansions that would fill the gaps. Instead, they got a sequel announcement and radio silence on DLC. As of mid-2026, DLC remains unconfirmed.

Is NG+ Worth It?

If you want the true ending and a deeper understanding of the story, yes — absolutely. If you want to experiment with builds and experience the combat system at its deepest level, yes. But if you're looking for a fundamentally new experience — new levels, new bosses, new mechanics — you'll be disappointed. NG+ is the same game, just harder and with more toys to play with.

The most honest assessment I've seen came from a player who clocked 98 hours across two playthroughs: "I stopped at the beginning of Chapter 6 in NG+. The updated challenges? I didn't even bother." The burnout is real.

The Legacy

Black Myth: Wukong is not a perfect game. Its map design is frustrating. Its performance, while improved, still has rough edges. Its later chapters feel rushed. But it's also a game that sold over 30 million copies, with more than half of those sales coming from outside China. It proved that a Chinese studio could compete at the highest level of AAA game development. It made players around the world care about the Journey to the West.

New Game Plus doesn't fix the game's problems. But it does something perhaps more valuable: it gives you a reason to see the game differently. To appreciate what worked. To understand what didn't. And to walk away, finally, with a sense of closure. The Destined One's journey may never truly end. But mine, after 170 hours and two playthroughs, finally has.