Game Science has lifted the last embargo for Black Myth: Wukong, and we can finally share our tech impressions. In this article, we’re going to share our impressions, comparison screenshots and benchmarks for its Ray Tracing effects and NVIDIA’s DLSS 3.

Black Myth: Wukong supports AMD FSR 3.0, Intel XeSS and TSR alongside NVIDIA DLSS 3. However, it appears that FSR Super Resolution was not working ideally. As Game Science specifically told us, “FSR Super Resolution is still being optimized and its current performance may not reflect the final result.” So, this is why we’re only focusing on DLSS 3 (which already works wonderfully).

For our benchmarks, we used an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D, 32GB of DDR5 at 6000Mhz, and NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 4090. I also used Windows 10 64-bit, and the GeForce 560.87 WHQL driver. Moreover, I’ve disabled the second CCD on our 7950X3D.

For those wondering, yes. The benchmark tool that Game Science has released is representative of the in-game performance. So, if you can run it, you won’t encounter any performance issues in the game.

I should also note that the slider for DLSS is not a “real resolution scale slider.” The slider will not accurately adjust the resolution scale. Instead, it will only switch between the available presets (once you pass a certain percentage). Here are two examples. The first image is with a 40% DLSS Resolution Scale (this it listed as DLSS Performance in the game’s information tab) and with 50%. As you can see, performance is exactly the same. If the slider was working correctly, the image with the 40% resolution scale should have been faster (also look at the GPU usage, in both we have 99% utilization so it’s not a CPU bottleneck).

Black Myth: Wukong takes advantage of Full Ray Tracing. This means that pretty much everything will be handled by RT. By enabling it on its highest setting, you’ll get ray-traced global illumination, ambient occlusion, reflections and shadows.

NVIDIA has also shared some additional details about the different settings of RT. On Low, you’ll get ReSTIR GI (at half the resolution) with RT Shadows. On Medium, you’ll also get RT Reflections (at half the resolution). Then, on Very High, you’ll get all those effects at full resolution, plus RT Caustics.

In Black Myth: Wukong, there are places in which you can easily see the benefits of Ray Tracing. Here are some examples. On the left you have the screenshots without RT, and on the right the ones with RT.

The RT screenshots look objectively better. There is no question here. With RT, you get better lighting, better ambient occlusion, and most importantly better shadows.

For some strange reason, the shadows in Black Myth: Wukong (without RT) look horrible. Distant shadows are really low-res, and there are major pop-in issues. Thankfully, RT Shadows completely resolved this issue. On the other hand, though, RTGI can introduce lighting pop-ins that are not present in the non-RT version. Still, I believe the shadows pop-ins are worse than the GI pop-ins.

What’s also important to note is that there are scenes in which RT does not bring any noticeable visual improvement. Here are some examples, in which the non-RT and RT scenes look too similar.

In short, the full Ray Tracing in Black Myth: Wukong can sometimes look a bit disappointing. This is mainly due to the carefully crafted lighting of the non-RT version. However, there are numerous scenes in which the RT can greatly enhance the game’s visuals. So, what I’m saying is that you can easily find areas that suit your narrative. RT lovers can find spots and say “See, here is why RT looks awesome“. Then, RT haters can find other spots and say “See, there is no difference at all. It’s a total waste of resources.”

With this out of the way, let’s take a look at the game’s performance on the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 at 4K. At Native 4K without RT, Black Myth: Wukong runs with an average of 41fps. Yep, the game is really heavy even without any RT effects. With RT at Very High, the average framerate drops to 21fps. So, basically, Path Tracing will half your performance.

I also found the lower RT settings a bit disappointing in terms of performance. RT Low ran EXACTLY the same as RT Medium. I’ve run the benchmark multiple times, and the results remained the same. So, I don’t know if this is a bug or not. What I know is that there are no performance benefits at all when lowering the RT setting to Low.

To get a smooth gaming experience, you’ll need to use both DLSS 3 Super Resolution and DLSS 3 Frame Generation. At 4K with DLSS 3 SR Quality and Frame Generation, we were able to get a constant 60fps. In my opinion, though, that’s not the optimal way to play it. Instead, I recommend using the Balanced Mode (which can get you to the 70-80fps territory).

I’ve also tried to run the game at native 1440p with DLSS 3 Frame Generation and DLAA. With this combo, the game was always above 70fps (with all its bells and whistles enabled). However, if you use a 1440p monitor, I highly recommend using 4K DLDSR. At 4K, DLSS 3 Performance Mode has less aliasing than native 1440p with DLAA. Not only that but the 1440p+DLAA image looked too sharp on my LG 32GK850G-B. This, combined with the extra aliasing, made the overall image worse than 4K DLSDSR.

What I also found a bit weird was the game’s motion fluidity. Without VRR, Black Myth: Wukong did not feel buttery smooth at 60-70fps. To get ideal fluid motion, I had to run the game at framerates higher than 90fps. With VRR, though, even 60-70fps felt smooth. Again, I’m talking about motion fluidity, not about frametimes. So, in a way, Black Myth: Wukong also shows the benefits of a VRR/G-Sync monitor.

In short, Black Myth: Wukong requires a high-end GPU for its Full Ray Tracing effects. Since we’re talking about Path Tracing, this shouldn’t come as a surprise. What’s a bit disappointing though is the performance on the lower RT settings. Here is hoping that Game Science will address this via a post-launch update. As to whether the game’s Path Tracing justifies its performance hit… well… that’s up to you to decide!