Monkey King – Most of us may or may not be aware of his origins, but we all have seen him in some form or the other. Remember Dragon Ball where the protagonist is suitably named Son Goku and transforms into an actual monkey under the full moon? For those who don’t know, Son Goku is literally the Japanese pronunciation of the Monkey King of Chinese mythology, Sun Wukong, the character on which the form is based on. It all comes from the 16th Century Chinese novel Journey to the West, and Dragon Ball isn’t the only form of media featuring the eponymous Monkey King. Just pick up any MOBA from the market, be it Dota, League of Legends, or even Vainglory, you’ll definitely find a character based on him or even himself in the flesh. Such is the Monkey King’s power, to exist across many games.
However, Ninja Theory’s Enslaved : Odyssey to the West has nothing to do with Sun Wukong or his back story.
Roll credits (badum tss!)
Just Kidding!
Enslaved : Odyssey to the West is only loosely based on Journey to the West, where robots called ‘mechs’ have replaced the demons and technology has replaced magic. The game draws its three primary characters off the novel’s big three – Monkey King, Tripitaka or Trip, and Pigsy – all remade and redesigned to suit the game’s post-apocalyptic world. In fact, the protagonist, simply called Monkey, isn’t even a simian. He’s just your more-than-average human being, has a cloth sash for a tail, and is far too dexterous at platforming which made him earn his nickname. Same for Pigsy. He’s as human as Monkey, only that he’s fat as f***, snorts while talking, and wears salvaged scrap metals on his body to look like a pig. As for Trip, well, she’s a hot damsel now, unlike the novel counterpart (in which Tripitaka is a male). And since it’s a Western game, obviously she’s adept at hacking anything and everything.
Enslaved is Horizon: Zero Dawn even before Horizon: Zero Dawn’s ideation took shape. Set in a post-apocalyptic American wasteland 150 wars after a global war, the game shows a bleak view of what it’s like when cities are invaded by foliage… and ruthless war mechs. Humanity now survives on the fringes, cooped up in their tightly-knit, well-guarded communities away from the mechs who still follow their programming – eradicate all hostiles (in this case, us). And even then, they are not safe from The Slavers who kidnap anyone unfortunate enough to venture out. The plot follows our hero Monkey who is ‘enslaved’ by Trip via a Slaver headband and forced to escort her home after their Uncharted-esque escape from a Slaver ship. The headband is synced to Trip’s beck and call and if she dies, Monkey dies with her.
To be frank, without spoiling the plot I would say that the narrative is pretty straightforward. But you might give it a pass because the cutscenes, the characters, the background score, and the world design, all combined together make Enslaved so damn immersive! The relationship between Monkey and Trip is something that will linger in your mind long after you complete the game. Trip’s character development goes from a scared master to an astute hacker and pathfinder, to an occasional damsel-in-distress, and finally to having a heart filled with repugnance for The Slavers. She’s perhaps the only one whom our stoic and grumpy Monkey spent the most time with and genuinely cared for anyone once in his life. His relationship with Trip is dynamic and organic as they struggle to survive the ordeals of a post-human America and grow to understand each other intimately. And it all shows in full bloom thanks to the extremely dope voice acting, motion capture, and writing.
You see, Ninja Theory originally pitched Enslaved as an Unreal Engine 3 powered CGI film, and its full-scale development began after the sequel to Heavenly Sword was halted. And therefore all the earlier guys who helped make Heavenly Sword a success, were called onboard. Do you want to know why Enslaved holds such a high rank in the immersion department? This is because Andy Serkis (King Kong, Lord of the Rings, Black Panther, etc.) was involved in its development right from start, providing Monkey’s motion capture. In fact, he is Monkey; the character’s face is modeled after his! Every damn expression of every character is captured so flawlessly that even in the quiet moments of the game, their body language and non-verbal emotes give off so much information. The awe of discovering something, the sadness of losing someone – Enslaved doesn’t need any dialogues to portray these emotions, it’s all apparent from their facial expressions.
The writing expertly avoids clichés, making the character relationships believable and even moving in most cases. You’ll find yourself chuckling to key narrative moments (like when Pigsy asks Monkey why is he called Monkey and the camera focuses on his face, his muscles, and his tail-like cloth sash, and when Monkey asks the same question, the camera focuses on Pigsy’s pig-like ears, his metal tail and Monkey’s facial expression on smelling his odor). Such level of detail is possible because Alex Garland (28 Days Later, Dredd, Ex Machina, etc.) served as the game’s writer and designer. And perhaps due to that the dialogues and voice acting synced so well that at times I felt like watching a Hollywood movie!
I would say 30 % of Enslaved is cutscenes, 40 % is platforming, and the rest 30 % is actual combat. But the combat, though quite basic, was a joyride! Just like Sun Wukong, Monkey’s got an expandable staff with which he can perform both normal and heavy attacks. Not only that, he can turn it into a projectile launcher and shoot plasma and stun charges. Combine the shooting with the melee attacks and he can take down any mech without breaking a sweat. Furthermore, he can use the staff to perform an aerial sweep to push back the enemies surrounding him and can charge up his staff to stun the mechs for a few seconds. The mechs are pretty aggressive and at times go into a momentary attacking frenzy but viola! his staff also comes with a forcefield shield that blocks almost all mech attacks. And did I mention his skin’s got regenerative shielding as well! Monkey’s the literal definition of pure badassery!
But perhaps the best aspect is how Monkey and Trip’s relationship bleeds smoothly from the cutscenes into the gameplay. Monkey helps her reach far-t0-reach places so that she can open doors and new pathways for him. In turn, Trip helps Monkey to navigate around turrets by distracting them with a temporary hologram. Many puzzles require both of them to work in tandem to progress ahead. True, sometimes she does act as a damsel in distress but that made in for some great chase sequences. You see, Monkey has a trick up his sleeve – his ‘cloud’ (just like the cloud of Sun Wukong). In areas of strong electromagnetic fields, he can use the cloud to literally surf across anything, be it land, water, or poisonous fuel residues. EM pulse surges boost up his cloud slingshotting him forward. These not only made for awesome chase scenes but for some impressive boss fights as well as you surf across the arena collecting health packs and orbs while attacking the robotic bosses from all angles.
For a game released in 2010, the visuals are damn good! The character designs are also quite well done especially that of Pigsy’s and the boss mechs. As I said, this was pre-Horizon: Zero Dawn, so expect many robotic animals as well. Now imagine the awe you would have felt had you played this game ten years ago. The soundtracks are on another league entirely. It’s so soothing, right from the menu theme, rightfully evokes the surreality of the game’s world. And as I already mentioned, the Hollywood budget voice-acting. Enslaved: Odyssey to the West is one of the most criminally underrated gems of the last decade and the love that the devs put in constructing believable characters is apparent right from the prologue. Remember this is the same studio that gave us DmC: Devil May Cry (which is actually quite good in terms of gameplay) and Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice. I would say, their craftsmanship rightfully echoes in their works and we get such games with beating hearts of gold.