Black Myth: Wukong is Coming to Handheld PCs, But Can They Handle It?
Black Myth: Wukong is an action RPG based on the famous 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West. With Unreal Engine 5 under the hood, I was curious to see how it would perform on my Steam Deck, as well as the more powerful Rog Ally Z1 and Legion Go.
Fortunately, the developer Game Science released a standalone benchmark tool this week, so let’s get straight to answering those questions.
First, the good news: Black Myth: Wukong utilizes FSR 3.1, which means AMD’s Frame Generation tech is along for the ride. Surprisingly, even without Frame Generation enabled, all three of the handhelds are capable of running the game at playable framerates under their native resolutions.
Here are some results from the benchmark:
Steam Deck OLED
Despite unfortunately using Denuvo DRM, no tinkering was required to get the benchmark up and running on the Linux-based Steam Deck. With the base resolution of 1200x800, with the quality preset on Low, my Steam Deck OLED kicked out an average of 54 FPS with a minimum of 38 FPS. Definitely playable! And the story improves when Frame Generation gets flipped on.
Low | Frame Generation ON: Avg 79 FPS, Min 61 FPS Medium | Frame Generation OFF: Avg 33 FPS, Min 20 FPS Medium | Frame Generation ON: Avg 53 FPS, Min 20 FPS
ASUS ROG Ally Z1
In this test I’m using the ROG Ally Z1 version, powered by the AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme SoC. At the Ally’s base resolution of 1920x1080, here are the results with various quality presets and Frame Generation on/off:
Low | Frame Generation OFF: Avg 60 FPS, Min 38 FPS Low | Frame Generation ON: Avg 86 FPS, Min 59 FPS Medium | Frame Generation OFF: Avg 42 FPS, Min 15 FPS Medium | Frame Generation ON: Avg 65 FPS, Min 50 FPS
Lenovo Legion GO
The Legion GO also incorporates the AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme SoC, but boasts a higher resolution of 2560x1600. I had serious doubts the Legion GO could kick out playable framerates at its native resolution, but those doubts were smashed. Here are my results, with lower resolutions thrown into the mix:
2560x1600 | Low | Frame Generation OFF: Avg 52 FPS, Min 30 FPS 2560x1600 | Low | Frame Generation ON: Avg 66 FPS, Min 56 FPS 2560x1600 | Medium | Frame Generation OFF: Avg 39 FPS, Min 26 FPS 2560x1600 | Medium | Frame Generation ON: Avg 54 FPS, Min 45 FPS 1920x1200 | Low | Frame Generation OFF: Avg 61 FPS, Min 36 FPS 1920x1200 | Low | Frame Generation ON: Avg 78 FPS, Min 66 FPS 1920x1200 | Medium | Frame Generation OFF: Avg 45 FPS, Min 28 FPS 1920x1200 | Medium | Frame Generation ON: Avg 63 FPS, Min 47 FPS
Black Myth Wukong on Steam Deck
The benchmark was tested with all devices plugged in, running on built-in display, with power profiles set to high/turbo. Ray tracing was turned off during all runs.
Suffice to say, our awesome handhelds have a lot left to give us. But when Black Myth: Wukong releases next week, we’ll see how these devices perform under actual gaming conditions rather than a canned benchmark.
Here’s a video showing the actual benchmark run. This was captured on my gaming laptop for demonstration purposes only:
[Insert video]
Conclusion
Black Myth: Wukong is coming to handheld PCs, and it looks like they can handle it. With FSR 3.1 and AMD’s Frame Generation tech, these devices are capable of running the game at playable framerates under their native resolutions.
But we’ll have to wait and see how they perform under actual gaming conditions. Will they be able to handle the demands of this action-packed RPG? Only time will tell.
In the meantime, I’m excited to see how Black Myth: Wukong performs on my Steam Deck and other handheld PCs. With its engaging gameplay and stunning visuals, it’s sure to be a hit among gamers.
About the Author
I’m a journalist and gamer who’s passionate about exploring the world of handheld gaming. Follow me on Twitter for more updates on the latest gaming news and reviews.
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