Zenless Zone Zero (ZZZ) is HoYoverse’s third sport launch in 4 years. You’d assume that HoYo’s system 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 sport that’s each iterative and revolutionary on the identical time. The draw back right here, nonetheless, is that ZZZ places a number of new and attention-grabbing parts collectively however forces you to spend probably the most time with the least attention-grabbing 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 measurement and scale of places. At this level, Genshin Affect’s open-world has grow to be nearly too massive and sprawling to facilitate a snug or compact cell gaming expertise, that 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 cell gadgets. 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 remains to be robust, nevertheless it’s scaled again significantly. As an alternative of high-stakes conflicts with gods and better powers, up to now, Zenless Zone Zero has you observe the each day lives of two tech-genius siblings–Sensible and Belle–as they discover methods to earn a living legally and illegally. You get to choose which sibling you play as, however regardless of who you go together 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 town of New Eridu.
Sensible 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 known as Hole Raiders as they discover and navigate harmful, shifting dimensions known as Hollows. Loads of these phrases get thrown at you from the soar, however they will grow to be 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 typically pay them high greenback for his or her companies. And outdoors of their Phaethon persona, they handle an old-school video rental retailer, Random Play, to earn cash on the precise 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 changing into stale. The comics maintain you engaged as they slide from scene to scene with the choice to return to earlier panels in case you miss any info. In the meantime, character portrait conversations are absolutely animated to convey life like feelings by way of mannerisms that allow you to perceive the demeanor of the characters who’re talking. And each the comics and portraits are absolutely voice-acted–including all dialogue from Sensible and Belle.
Anby, Billy, and Nicole are the primary Hole Raiders you meet, they usually’re the right trio to reveal how dynamic these conversations might 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 due to some nice voice performing. The truth is, lots 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 completely different goals. You management a Bangboo because it strikes by way of TV units like a tiled board, and just like a board sport, sure TVs set off particular occasions that result in fight, additional dialogue, rewards, and extra. These Hole board sections are intriguing initially, nevertheless it 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 major kinds of commissions: Story, Fight, and Exploration. Story commissions are normally probably the most attention-grabbing, as they relate to the primary plot and use extra of the storytelling parts talked about above, blended with the TV boards and fight sections. These commissions grow to be out there as you progress however are generally gated by degree necessities that drive you to do different fee varieties and full aspect actions within the metropolis. That is par for the course in a variety of gacha video games, however it may be irritating to grind by way of much less partaking content material to get again to the great things. That mentioned, the early degree grind in Zenless Zone Zero no 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 completely different enemy varieties discovered inside Hollows, providing you with an opportunity to take management of your favourite Brokers (characters you’ll be able to 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 way. Exploration commissions would not really feel as tedious if the puzzles provided extra of a problem, however because it stands, they really feel like a chore. They arrive in stark distinction with Fight commissions, which might be accomplished on multiple problem with timed goals 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 partaking facet of Zenless Zone Zero gameplay-wise due to HoYoverse making it look as stunning as attainable. The graceful actions and flashy results had me hooked immediately.
There are two major 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 utilize particular assaults and EX particular assaults for extra damaging combo chains. There’s additionally a dodge that you should utilize 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 enhance, ultimately gorgeous them.
The true star characteristic in fight, nonetheless, is the Help mechanic, which lets you immediately swap between your three celebration members. Swapping characters proper earlier than an enemy assaults results in Good Help parries, evades, and particular interrupt strikes that set off a few of the most visually thrilling moments within the sport. Good Assists devour Help Factors, and you must stun enemies and carry out chain assaults along with your celebration to regain these factors. In any other case, you’ll be able to solely use common evades to dodge enemy assaults. You are rewarded in your response time whether or not you’ve Help Factors to make use of or not although. The Help switches, together with the gorgeous animations and presentation, are what make the fight so partaking.
However as famous earlier, the fight is simply 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’ll be able to choose up and use therapeutic objects whereas shifting by way of the TVs in Hollows. There are Brokers who create shields and specialise in tanking or help as options, however realistically, you need to be avoiding most harm with well-timed evades.
Your alternative of assaults hardly ever feels prefer it issues, although, so long as you’ll be able to 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 along 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 persistently really feel trivial. Until you are going up in opposition to a boss–which are sometimes enjoyable, cool battles–mobs simply stand round, ready to be killed whereas throwing out assaults that may barely damage even when they did land. Perhaps this can change as we transfer ahead from Model 1.0, however as of proper now, even the higher-difficulty fights might 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 alternative of celebration 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 no less than a few characters for every factor, nevertheless it doesn’t really feel like their function (Attacker, Help, or Stun) makes a noticeable distinction as you breeze by way of the primary storyline. Brokers with the identical faction or elemental attribute additionally acquire additional 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 without doubt one of the solely components of the sport the place you see a problem in fight, however it could be good if the sport taught you higher habits or methods with harder enemies earlier than reaching that time.
If 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 clients’ 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 companies pushed bodily rental spots out.
This old-school vibe extends to sure menus and options as effectively. 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 attainable 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, providing you with the liberty to expertise total story missions as many occasions as you need.
The Random Play retailer is situated within the first major hub, Sixth Avenue. And in addition to your managerial duties, it’s also possible to 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 may discover a shocking variety of unique-looking NPCs to work together with for aspect commissions in case you take the time to stroll round Sixth Avenue and the opposite small hubs, and you may even chat with Brokers throughout town who’re simply dwelling 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 nearly instantly due to their clothes or uniform, however the characters typically nonetheless really feel distinct in each type and persona. This 17-character launch roster accommodates a wolfman butler, a blue oni, an android, and even an enormous speaking bear sporting a gold chain (we love Ben Larger on this home), simply to record just a few standout Brokers. There’s additionally a day/evening cycle and Persona-style Social Hyperlink system that means that you can spend time with particular person Brokers and full character-specific aspect quests to lift their Belief Stage for rewards as time passes. It is good to have one other significant solution to work together along with your favourite characters exterior of Story commissions, however the day/evening cycle provides nearly nothing to the expertise apart from a man-made 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’ll be able to grind for almost all forex and degree up supplies in two locations: the Hole Investigative Affiliation (HIA) and Hole Zero. These supplies are used to lift ranges, degree caps, ability energy, and improve W-Engines and Disc Drives. W-Engines and Disc Drives are the primary gear in ZZZ. Each present additional stat boosts, however the former additionally offers a single major buff impact, whereas the latter has two-piece and four-piece set buffs relying on what number of you’ve outfitted.
The VR challenges within the HIA will let you customise every state of affairs as you grind, providing you with the choice to choose enemy varieties, problem, and major rewards. This successfully limits the quantity of RNG you must take care of when trying to improve particular Brokers in your roster.
Finally, you additionally acquire entry to Hole Zero, the repeatable roguelike mode. Hole Zero is just like Star Rail’s Simulated Universe, besides as an alternative of normal motion exterior fight, you are caught in TVs once more. You acquire buffs, strengthen your crew, and make your solution to the tip of the Hole to finish it. That is additionally the place fight lastly will get a bit tougher as a result of you’ll be able to battle stronger bosses and customise your expertise, similar to within the HIA. And after Hole Zero comes Shiyu Protection–a absolutely combat-focused mode with timed encounters that enhance in problem like Genshin Affect’s Spiral Abyss. That is all the things you’d need from the fight, nevertheless it 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 blended 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 grow to be a each 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 primary 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 all 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 brilliant spots are dimmed by an entire lack of significant challenges relating to almost all commissions–for each puzzles and combat–in the early chapters of the sport. However the present expertise nonetheless shines due to how enjoyable and vibrant the path is in all sides of the sport.
