Zenless Zone Zero shows great potential but needs further improvements to captivate players long-term. Credit: miHoYo
Since Chinese game developer miHoYo released Zenless Zone Zero, a new action role-playing game (RPG) populated with rogue-like elements last Thursday, the reviews from Chinese players have been mixed. Online communities have seen comments praising its combat mechanics and visual design, but others saying the game is somewhat unengaging.
As the developer of hit game Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail, miHoYo has caused a stir in the domestic gaming industry with this new release. Less than three days after the game became available to the public, the Shanghai-based firm announced that global downloads had surpassed 50 million, thanking players by distributing in-game rewards.
The free-to-download game is available on Windows, iOS, Android and PlayStation 5, with future versions planned to launch on Switch and Xbox, though there are no confirmed release dates for the latter.
We spent eight hours playing the game to give readers a comprehensive review.
Game background
In the environs of a post-apocalyptic metropolis called New Eridu, the last humans to exist live in a place called Hollows, where monsters roam. New Eridu thrives by extracting resources from Hollows, leading to conflict between monopolistic enterprises, gangs, and conspirators. Players take on the role of a Proxy, a group that links the Hollows and New Eridu.
As players progress in the Hollows, the Proxy recruits new members to their party as they continue to fight the roaming monsters. By combining the abilities of different members in the game, players can cause greater damage and have greater impact on their enemies.
Beautiful visuals and hard-hitting music
Zenless Zone Zero’s visual effects and camera movements are smooth, and the story animations are fluid, in a similar style to Japanese manga.
The game simplifies action elements, making it easy for beginners to pick up, while containing many intricate details for veteran players to master. It employs a three-character team for diverse combat strategies, an intriguing choice when first playing. Players can switch to another character during the battles for an enhanced hitting score, if they seize the right moment.
The game’s visual design has gathered widespread acclaim, especially for its stylized street fashion. Character design and game scene details are so rich I would give them a score above 9 out of ten. The music and sound effects are also fantastic, with high-quality music featuring electronic melodies and high-BPM (Beats Per Minute).
Plodding storylines and mediocre gacha animations
The storyline and dialogue of Zenless Zone Zero occasionally prompted me to speed through them, and may be more appealing to younger players. Meanwhile, the hitting impact sensation during battles is better on a PC, leaving plenty of room for improvement on the mobile version.
Gacha refers to a game mechanic whereby players spend virtual currency (in-game purchases) to receive random in-game items or characters, similar to toy vending machines, often seen in miHoYo’s mobile games. This is a gacha animation screenshot:
The gacha animations in this game are mediocre, and come nowhere near those of Genshin Impact, a game the tester played for two years. Additionally, compared to Genshin Impact, the character pool isn’t very appealing, and there were no characters I felt compelled to invest in.
The tester spent four hours experiencing the game on both mobile and PC. Currently, the variety of monsters in battles is rather limited, which could stifle extended play.
As the game is essentially a gacha pay-to-win system, and due to limited testing time, it could be that we’re yet to uncover its full complexity. However, from a beginner’s perspective, the overall gaming experience falls short of that of Genshin Impact.
Pros:
Unique combat experience
Smooth artistic visuals
Beginner-friendly mechanics
Acclaimed music
Cons:
Bland storyline and dialogue
Mediocre hitting sensation on mobile devices
Characters and gacha animations less appealing than Genshin Impact
Limited monster variety in battles
Conclusion:
Zenless Zone Zero shows great potential but needs further improvements to captivate players long-term. It doesn’t quite measure up to Genshin Impact, especially in the gacha mechanics, a crucial area that has earned billions of dollars worldwide for the company through its other hit titles.
The game’s greatest strength is its art design, making it satisfactory as a mobile game. However, given four years of development and the success of Genshin Impact, miHoYo was expected to deliver a better game. The current version falls short of our expectations.
Jessie Wu is a tech reporter based in Shanghai. She covers consumer electronics, semiconductor, and the gaming industry for TechNode. Connect with her via e-mail: jessie.wu@technode.com.
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