Zenless Zone Zero (ZZZ) is HoYoverse’s third recreation launch in 4 years. You’d suppose that HoYo’s formulation would get stale with one more free-to-play gacha RPG dropping simply 15 months after the discharge of Honkai: Star Rail, however that could not be farther from the reality. The developer has managed to create one other acquainted however distinct gameplay expertise by as soon as once more studying from previous missteps to ship a recreation that’s each iterative and modern on the similar time. The draw back right here, nevertheless, is that ZZZ places a number of new and fascinating components collectively however forces you to spend probably the most time with the least fascinating of the bunch.
Zenless Zone Zero has extra type and aesthetic excellence than each Genshin Affect and Honkai: Star Rail, all in a a lot smaller bundle when it comes to world dimension and scale of areas. At this level, Genshin Affect’s open-world has turn into virtually too massive and sprawling to facilitate a cushty or compact cellular gaming expertise, which means it is best skilled on PC or console. In the meantime, Star Rail is the precise reverse as a result of its turn-based fight and auto-battle options are an ideal match for cellular units. Zenless Zone Zero sits squarely in the course of these two experiences by combining roguelike puzzle dungeons, fast-paced motion fight, and chill life-sim actions into one diversified gameplay loop.
The story additionally deviates from what we have come to anticipate from HoYoverse. The world-building continues to be sturdy, but it surely’s scaled again significantly. As an alternative of high-stakes conflicts with gods and better powers, up to now, Zenless Zone Zero has you comply with the every day lives of two tech-genius siblings–Clever and Belle–as they discover methods to make cash legally and illegally. You get to select which sibling you play as, however regardless of who you go along with, each stay within the story as characters who get common dialogue. The principle distinction is that you simply select what your protagonist says and management them whereas exploring the town of New Eridu.
Clever and Belle work as Proxies–individuals who can share their consciousness and sync with small digital creatures named Bangboos. Syncing with a Bangboo permits the duo to make use of the Hole Deep Dive (HDD) system to information scavengers often called Hole Raiders as they discover and navigate harmful, shifting dimensions known as Hollows. A number of these phrases get thrown at you from the bounce, however they will turn into comparatively simple to piece collectively and bear in mind by the tip of the prologue chapter. The siblings use and share the alias Phaethon when working as Proxies since scavenging Hollows for treasure and loot is an unlawful line of labor. They’re probably the most well-known Proxies in New Eridu although, so Hole Raiders usually pay them high greenback for his or her providers. And out of doors of their Phaethon persona, they handle an old-school video rental retailer, Random Play, to earn cash on the suitable aspect of the legislation as a canopy for his or her shadier ventures.
Though the stakes are low as of Model 1.0, Zenless Zone Zero does a tremendous job of addressing frequent pacing issues which have plagued previous HoYo video games by telling its story with stellar presentation. Comedian-book paneling and character portraits maintain almost all main dialogue from turning into stale. The comics maintain you engaged as they slide from scene to scene with the choice to return to earlier panels in the event you miss any info. In the meantime, character portrait conversations are totally animated to convey lifelike feelings by way of mannerisms that enable you to perceive the demeanor of the characters who’re talking. And each the comics and portraits are totally voice-acted–including all dialogue from Clever and Belle.
Anby, Billy, and Nicole are the primary Hole Raiders you meet, and so they’re the right trio to display how dynamic these conversations will be. Anby’s monotone voice and calm demeanor subsequent to Billy’s over-the-top expressions are felt even by way of the comic-panel stills because of some nice voice performing. The truth is, most of the vocal performances and character personalities make even the longer chats really feel like they’re price listening to.
The most important a part of the gameplay loop has you accepting commissions for the residents of New Eridu by exploring Hollows whereas finishing totally different targets. You management a Bangboo because it strikes by way of TV units like a tiled board, and just like a board recreation, sure TVs set off particular occasions that result in fight, further dialogue, rewards, and extra. These Hole board sections are intriguing initially, but it surely quickly feels such as you spend far an excessive amount of time inside TVs when these gameplay hours must be unfold extra evenly with fight.
There are three primary varieties of commissions: Story, Fight, and Exploration. Story commissions are normally probably the most fascinating, as they relate to the principle plot and use extra of the storytelling components talked about above, combined with the TV boards and fight sections. These commissions turn into obtainable as you progress however are typically gated by stage necessities that drive you to do different fee varieties and full aspect actions within the metropolis. That is par for the course in loads of gacha video games, however it may be irritating to grind by way of much less participating content material to get again to the good things. That mentioned, the early stage grind in Zenless Zone Zero not less than feels a lot faster than in earlier HoYo video games due to how little time it takes to complete commissions.
Fight commissions are strictly about combating totally different enemy varieties discovered inside Hollows, supplying you with an opportunity to take management of your favourite Brokers (characters you possibly can pull for with the gacha options). Exploration commissions are the weakest of the bunch, as they largely contain fixing very simple puzzles on the Hole TV boards with little to no fight alternatives in any respect. Exploration commissions would not really feel as tedious if the puzzles supplied extra of a problem, however because it stands, they really feel like a chore. They arrive in stark distinction with Fight commissions, which will be accomplished on a couple of issue with timed targets to check your abilities and squad constructing.
However that is to not say fight is not additionally comparatively easy–because it’s. It is simply that fight is, by far, probably the most participating side of Zenless Zone Zero gameplay-wise because of HoYoverse making it look as lovely as doable. The graceful actions and flashy results had me hooked immediately.
There are two primary offense buttons: one for primary assaults and the opposite for particular assaults. A meter fills as you carry out primary assaults, and as soon as it is full, you should use particular assaults and EX particular assaults for extra damaging combo chains. There’s additionally a dodge that you should use to evade enemy strikes on the final second when an indicator flashes. Good evades decelerate time to create extra offensive openings, and as you assault, enemies’ Daze meters will improve, ultimately beautiful them.
The true star characteristic in fight, nevertheless, is the Help mechanic, which lets you immediately swap between your three get together members. Swapping characters proper earlier than an enemy assaults results in Good Help parries, evades, and particular interrupt strikes that set off among the most visually thrilling moments within the recreation. Good Assists eat Help Factors, and it’s worthwhile to stun enemies and carry out chain assaults together with your get together to regain these factors. In any other case, you possibly can solely use common evades to dodge enemy assaults. You are rewarded in your response time whether or not you will have Help Factors to make use of or not although. The Help switches, together with the attractive animations and presentation, are what make the fight so participating.
However as famous earlier, the fight is just too simple, particularly early on earlier than onerous mode and the endgame are unlocked. You may button-mash all you need so long as you get your defensive timing down. Defensive timing issues as a result of there aren’t any healers on the roster. As an alternative, you possibly can decide up and use therapeutic objects whereas shifting by way of the TVs in Hollows. There are Brokers who create shields and concentrate on tanking or assist as alternate options, however realistically, you need to be avoiding most injury with well-timed evades.
Your selection of assaults hardly ever feels prefer it issues, although, so long as you possibly can sustain a combo to realize Decibels–the power that fuels Final assaults. There are such a lot of well-crafted animations and superior skills, but they do not matter as a lot as they need to. For instance, Lucy performs baseball together with her Guard Boars to assault, whereas Nicole shoots bullets and bombs out of a small briefcase. However I need not fear about every character’s distinctive transfer set as a result of enemy encounters constantly really feel trivial. Except you are going up towards a boss–which are sometimes enjoyable, cool battles–mobs simply stand round, ready to be killed whereas throwing out assaults that will barely harm even when they did land. Possibly this may change as we transfer ahead from Model 1.0, however as of proper now, even the higher-difficulty fights may stand to be more durable. On the flip aspect, this lets you construct whichever characters you want most with out worrying about any type of meta, for probably the most half.
Your selection of get together members is sort of extra vital than what you truly do with them in fight, as having a mix of weapon ranges and elemental skills to focus on enemy weaknesses makes fights simpler. So, you need to construct not less than a few characters for every component, but it surely doesn’t really feel like their position (Attacker, Help, or Stun) makes a noticeable distinction as you breeze by way of the principle storyline. Brokers with the identical faction or elemental attribute additionally achieve further fight skills. It is a good contact that characters who know one another and work collectively within the story have added significant synergy in fight.
The ZZZ endgame dungeon crawler mode, Hole Zero, is likely one of the solely components of the sport the place you see a problem in fight, however it might be good if the sport taught you higher habits or methods with more durable enemies earlier than reaching that time.
Whenever you’re not exploring Hollows, your completely authorized day job includes managing the Random Play video rental retailer. Your managerial duties embrace retrieving overdue video tapes from neighbors in New Eridu, selecting which tapes to show within the retailer, and answering prospects’ questions on film suggestions. Random Play is an oddly nostalgic and charming retailer that brings me again to the times earlier than Netflix and different digital streaming providers pushed bodily rental spots out.
This old-school vibe extends to sure menus and options as nicely. The video archive for rewatching previous cutscenes is laid out like a shelf of previous VCR tapes, every with distinctive cowl artwork. The archive makes it doable to replay chapters in case you missed something or wish to see earlier scenes once more, in contrast to in Genshin Affect and Honkai: Star Rail. Zenless Zone Zero goes a step additional, supplying you with the liberty to expertise total story missions as many instances as you need.
The Random Play retailer is positioned within the first primary hub, Sixth Road. And in addition to your managerial duties, you may also go purchase and eat meals for short-term fight buffs, and play mini-games on the native arcade, amongst different actions. These actions are nothing particular, however they introduce you to a number of different shops and NPCs within the neighborhood that make the world really feel lived in. You will discover a stunning variety of unique-looking NPCs to work together with for aspect commissions in the event you take the time to stroll round Sixth Road and the opposite small hubs, and you may even chat with Brokers throughout the town who’re simply residing their common lives.
The character designs are enjoyable and becoming for the world. There are a number of factions that every home two or extra distinctive Brokers. You may inform which Brokers belong to the identical faction virtually instantly because of their clothes or uniform, however the characters usually nonetheless really feel distinct in each type and persona. This 17-character launch roster incorporates a wolfman butler, a blue oni, an android, and even an enormous speaking bear carrying a gold chain (we love Ben Larger on this home), simply to listing a couple of standout Brokers. There’s additionally a day/night time cycle and Persona-style Social Hyperlink system that lets you spend time with particular person Brokers and full character-specific aspect quests to boost their Belief Degree for rewards as time passes. It is good to have one other significant solution to work together together with your favourite characters outdoors of Story commissions, however the day/night time cycle provides virtually nothing to the expertise apart from a synthetic timer that encourages you to open the Random Play retailer each morning and forces you to relaxation on the finish of every day.
On the character constructing aspect of issues, you possibly can grind for almost all foreign money and stage up supplies in two locations: the Hole Investigative Affiliation (HIA) and Hole Zero. These supplies are used to boost ranges, stage caps, ability energy, and improve W-Engines and Disc Drives. W-Engines and Disc Drives are the principle tools in ZZZ. Each present further stat boosts, however the former additionally supplies a single primary buff impact, whereas the latter has two-piece and four-piece set buffs relying on what number of you will have outfitted.
The VR challenges within the HIA mean you can customise every state of affairs as you grind, supplying you with the choice to select enemy varieties, issue, and primary rewards. This successfully limits the quantity of RNG it’s important to cope with when seeking to improve particular Brokers in your roster.
Ultimately, you additionally achieve entry to Hole Zero, the repeatable roguelike mode. Hole Zero is just like Star Rail’s Simulated Universe, besides as a substitute of normal motion outdoors fight, you are caught in TVs once more. You acquire buffs, strengthen your workforce, and make your solution to the tip of the Hole to finish it. That is additionally the place fight lastly will get a bit more difficult as a result of you possibly can battle stronger bosses and customise your expertise, similar to within the HIA. And after Hole Zero comes Shiyu Protection–a totally combat-focused mode with timed encounters that improve in issue like Genshin Affect’s Spiral Abyss. That is all the things you’d need from the fight, but it surely does take some time to achieve this level.
For gacha video games that are not primarily based on established properties, I normally discover one or two options or moments early on that basically suck me in, whether or not it is interesting gameplay, superb character designs, a forgiving pity system, or one thing else totally. Genshin Affect has its huge open world complemented by deep lore, and Star Rail has its easy but difficult turn-based fight combined with sci-fi fantasy. Zenless Zone Zero’s aesthetic is what grabs me, however I do not know if I’ve discovered the factor that persuades me to turn into a every day participant who might even spend a bit of cash. It feels prefer it ought to be the fight system, however the enemy encounters really feel too primary and few in quantity as you progress naturally by way of the principle storyline earlier than unlocking Hole Zero and Shiyu Protection. For almost all of the expertise, I simply loved the retro-futuristic vibe whereas seeing the numbers get larger, as with every RPG.
Regardless of that gripe, Zenless Zone Zero is one more strong entry within the HoYoverse portfolio as of Model 1.0, and it is simple to see the potential as new Brokers get added alongside Story commissions. It is a disgrace that the intense spots are dimmed by a whole lack of significant challenges in the case of almost all commissions–for each puzzles and combat–in the early chapters of the sport. However the present expertise nonetheless shines because of how enjoyable and vibrant the route is in all aspects of the sport.