Zenless Zone Zero (ZZZ) is HoYoverse’s third recreation launch in 4 years. You’d suppose 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 recreation that’s each iterative and modern on the identical time. The draw back right here, nevertheless, is that ZZZ places a number of new and fascinating parts collectively however forces you to spend essentially the most time with the least fascinating of the bunch.
Zenless Zone Zero has extra model and aesthetic excellence than each Genshin Influence 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 Influence’s open-world has develop into nearly too giant 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 units. Zenless Zone Zero sits squarely in the midst 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 robust, however 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 comply with the each day lives of two tech-genius siblings–Smart and Belle–as they discover methods to earn cash legally and illegally. You get to select which sibling you play as, however irrespective of who you go together with, each stay within the story as characters who get common dialogue. The primary distinction is that you simply select what your protagonist says and management them whereas exploring town of New Eridu.
Smart 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 referred to as Hole Raiders as they discover and navigate harmful, shifting dimensions known as Hollows. Numerous these phrases get thrown at you from the bounce, however they will develop 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 essentially the most well-known Proxies in New Eridu although, so Hole Raiders typically pay them prime greenback for his or her companies. And out of doors of their Phaethon persona, they handle an old-school video rental retailer, Random Play, to earn cash on the best aspect of the regulation as a canopy for his or her shadier ventures.
Though the stakes are low as of Model 1.0, Zenless Zone Zero does an incredible 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 for those who miss any data. In the meantime, character portrait conversations are absolutely animated to convey real looking feelings by means of mannerisms that aid you perceive the demeanor of the characters who’re talking. And each the comics and portraits are absolutely voice-acted–including all dialogue from Smart and Belle.
Anby, Billy, and Nicole are the primary Hole Raiders you meet, and so they’re the right trio to exhibit how dynamic these conversations could be. Anby’s monotone voice and calm demeanor subsequent to Billy’s over-the-top expressions are felt even by means of the comic-panel stills because of some nice voice performing. Actually, lots of the vocal performances and character personalities make even the longer chats really feel like they’re price listening to.
The largest 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 means of TV units like a tiled board, and much like a board recreation, sure TVs set off particular occasions that result in fight, additional dialogue, rewards, and extra. These Hole board sections are intriguing initially, however it quickly feels such as you spend far an excessive amount of time inside TVs when these gameplay hours ought to be unfold extra evenly with fight.
There are three primary sorts of commissions: Story, Fight, and Exploration. Story commissions are often essentially the most fascinating, 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 develop into accessible as you progress however are typically gated by degree necessities that pressure 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 means of much less partaking content material to get again to the good things. That mentioned, the early degree 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, providing 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 provided extra of a problem, however because it stands, they really feel like a chore. They arrive in stark distinction with Fight commissions, which could 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, essentially the most partaking side of Zenless Zone Zero gameplay-wise because of HoYoverse making it look as lovely as attainable. 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 actual star characteristic in fight, nevertheless, is the Help mechanic, which lets you immediately swap between your three occasion 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 recreation. Good Assists devour Help Factors, and it’s worthwhile to stun enemies and carry out chain assaults together with your occasion to regain these factors. In any other case, you possibly can solely use common evades to dodge enemy assaults. You are rewarded on your response time whether or not you may have 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 just too simple, particularly early on earlier than laborious 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 are not any healers on the roster. As an alternative, you possibly can decide up and use therapeutic objects whereas transferring by means of the TVs in Hollows. There are Brokers who create shields and focus on tanking or help as alternate options, however realistically, you have to be avoiding most harm 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 vitality 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 constantly really feel trivial. Except 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 it will change as we transfer ahead from Model 1.0, however as of proper now, even the higher-difficulty fights might stand to be tougher. On the flip aspect, this lets you construct whichever characters you want most with out worrying about any kind of meta, for essentially the most half.
Your selection of occasion members is nearly extra essential than what you truly do with them in fight, as having a combination of weapon ranges and elemental skills to focus on enemy weaknesses makes fights simpler. So, it’s best to construct not less than a few characters for every factor, however it doesn’t really feel like their position (Attacker, Help, or Stun) makes a noticeable distinction as you breeze by means 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 likely 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.
Whenever you’re not exploring Hollows, your completely authorized day job includes managing the Random Play video rental retailer. Your managerial duties embody 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 companies 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 attainable to replay chapters in case you missed something or wish to see earlier scenes once more, not like in Genshin Influence and Honkai: Star Rail. Zenless Zone Zero goes a step additional, providing you with the liberty to expertise complete story missions as many occasions as you need.
The Random Play retailer is positioned within the first primary hub, Sixth Road. And apart from your managerial duties, you can even 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 stunning variety of unique-looking NPCs to work together with for aspect commissions for those who take the time to stroll round Sixth Road and the opposite small hubs, and you may even chat with Brokers throughout 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 nearly instantly because of their clothes or uniform, however the characters typically nonetheless really feel distinct in each model and character. This 17-character launch roster incorporates 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 checklist a couple of standout Brokers. There’s additionally a day/night time 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 boost their Belief Degree for rewards as time passes. It is good to have one other significant strategy to work together together with your favourite characters outdoors of Story commissions, however the day/night time cycle provides nearly nothing to the expertise aside 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 possibly can grind for almost all foreign money and degree up supplies in two locations: the Hole Investigative Affiliation (HIA) and Hole Zero. These supplies are used to boost ranges, degree caps, talent 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 gives a single primary buff impact, whereas the latter has two-piece and four-piece set buffs relying on what number of you may have outfitted.
The VR challenges within the HIA let you customise every state of affairs as you grind, providing you with the choice to select enemy varieties, issue, and primary rewards. This successfully limits the quantity of RNG you must cope with when seeking to improve particular Brokers in your roster.
Finally, you additionally acquire entry to Hole Zero, the repeatable roguelike mode. Hole Zero is much like Star Rail’s Simulated Universe, besides as an alternative of normal motion outdoors fight, you are caught in TVs once more. You acquire buffs, strengthen your group, and make your strategy 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 possibly can 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 improve in issue like Genshin Influence’s Spiral Abyss. That is the whole lot you’d need from the fight, however it does take some time to achieve this level.
For gacha video games that are not primarily based on established properties, I often 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 solely. Genshin Influence 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 develop into a each day participant who could even spend a little bit 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 means 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 increased, 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 easy 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 terms 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 path is in all sides of the sport.