Enslaved: Odyssey to the West takes inspiration from Journey to the West. I don't know anything about that story, but the Steam store page (and game's subtitle) shows they aren't hiding their major source of inspiration.
The game opens with a failing slave ship descending towards post-apocalyptic, futuristic New York. The main character, known as Monkey, is initially trapped in a cage, and sees a woman, Trip, escaping and using her technological skills to open doors. After an explosion frees Monkey, he follows her, but Trip seems intimidated by Monkey's size and aggression so doesn't stop to help. Monkey eventually uses an escape pod alongside Trip, and after Monkey wakes up, he finds he is enslaved once more, this time by Trip. She has placed a Slave Helmet on Monkey in order to force him to help her reach her old tribe. The helmet allows them to always communicate, have augmented vision, as well as killing Monkey if he attempts to run away. He also has to protect Trip; because if she dies, he dies.
Monkey is played by Andy Serkis, and also appears in human form in some hallucination sequences that Monkey sees.
There's really no story development which means the ending sequence seems very left-field, and seems very much influenced by another massively popular Sci-Fi film. There's no antagonist, twist, or even much foreshadowing. There's character development though, and you do see a bond form between Monkey and Trip, although you would think it would take more for Monkey to forgive Trip for what she has done. You do meet another companion in the final third of the game, although I wasn't sure what to make of him. He seems slightly jarring tonally, and comes across as a bit brash and seedy.
Monkey and Trip have different attributes which mean they need to work together to navigate the ruined New York environments. Monkey has pure strength so can fight, jump larger distances and is better at climbing. Sometimes you go alternate routes, like Trip crawls through a small crack; sometimes you have to platform up to push a ladder/object down for her to climb up; sometimes you have to throw her up/across; and sometimes you have to pick her up and jump/climb to the next area with her on your back.
Trip acquires a dragonfly which she uses to scout the area. This informs you how many enemies are nearby, and some of them have weaknesses (they may explode and stun nearby mechs when defeated, so it's beneficial to take them out first).
During the early game, you will move from cover to cover, to get up to the mechs to take them out. Mechs have ranged guns, whereas Monkey has a staff, although it does have a limited ranged attack which you will use more often as the game progresses.
Sometimes the mechs will have you pinned down, especially when there are turrets. Trip has a "Decoy" ability which will cause all mechs to target the decoy for a few seconds. This gives you a chance to move forward.
The combat is a little simplistic really. Monkey basically has a weak and strong attack, and pressing both buttons performs a wide attack for crowd management. He can dodge and block. The enemies at the start of the game are simplistic and can easily be defeated with simple button mashing. Later on, they attack in bigger groups and often have shields that you have to take out first. It definitely gets more difficult towards the end.
You need to use your ranged attacks more often as the game progresses. With a few upgrades, you can carry more ammunition and fire faster. There's an attack which takes down shields and stuns enemies, then a standard attack that does large damage.
Monkey has a small energy shield which takes the initial damage, then your health will deplete. The shield regenerates after a few seconds, and health is restored by pickups. After a few chapters, you are told Trip can now heal you but I never used that ability. Later upgrades give you regenerating health anyway but I think I mainly made do with the pickups.
Trip also has hacking skills so will bypass locked doors. Sometimes you will have to defend her as a few waves of enemies come in, which are often turret sections (which Monkey has hijacked).
The gameplay often alternates between platforming and combat, with a few puzzle sections here and there. The puzzles are basic and are usually an excuse for more platforming as Trip guides you through the steps.
Large parts of the level design are very linear. Areas often have small crevices/rooms/corners with extra orbs to collect which are spent on the combat upgrades.
Climbing sections in these games are usually slapped in there for a change of pace and a visual spectacle. It works well enough here, but I felt they should have included more inspiration from Prince of Persia. Near the end, you have to start timing your jumps because there will be hazards, but earlier you are just moving from one highlighted object to the next, and can just hold a direction and repeatedly press jump to go through many areas.
Sometimes it's a little fussy where you can drop down from a ledge. There's some crumbling buildings which are typical in modern action games. The camera can be fairly restrictive - a bit too zoomed in at times.
There's one section where there is a large body of water and Monkey reveals he has a hoverboard called Cloud. He does remark that he doesn't understand how it works, but only works in limited areas which is why he hadn't used it before this point. It might have helped get through the minefield otherwise! He does use it in some land areas, so it's not like it only works on water.
Overall, I did enjoy Enslaved, although it doesn’t excel in any area. It’s just a competent action game.