Collecting and, later, upgrading Spirits in Black Myth: Wukong lets you transform into super-strong yaoguai creatures for just a few seconds, allowing you to deal a huge amount of damage to enemies in the vicinity.
You will come across Spirits that can be collected on your travels, but it is always handy to try to garner as many as possible for tougher fights
There are lots of spirit variations too, but certainly not all enemies have Spirits. If you see a normal enemy that appears to have a blue glow around them, they are definitely worth investigating as killing them will yield a Spirit drop.
Bosses have no such indicator, and while there is anecdotal evidence that bosses with a cut-scene before the fight do not tend to drop, nobody really has enough time in game as yet to confirm this or not.
How to unlock Spirits
Before you will get to play with the power of the Spirits you will need to progress the main storyline. As the story continues you will come across more and more Spirits that can be added to your arsenal.
Spirits can drop from normal enemies and bosses and you will see it appear when you have defeated one, hovering over the slain bad guy. Use your Gourd and interact with it and you will add it to your inventory.
How to upgrade Spirits
Spirits can be upgraded when you visit a Shrine. It is important to upgrade them when you can as if you do not, they will become less and less effective as the main story progresses.
Once at a Shrine, choose Self-Advance, followed by Cultivate Spirits and the Spirit will upgrade. This costs you Will – how much depends on how much the Spirit has previously been upgraded. If you have already messed with it a few times, the higher tiers can get pretty expensive.
While the first upgrade is ‘free’ in terms of needed resources, after this you will need to collect materials from defeated enemies or just locating them as you mooch about, Each Spirit upgrade will require different resources, so make sure you stock up.
You can purchase Black Myth: Wukong on Steam now.