Zenless Zone Zero Is the Hoyoverse Game to Play If You’re Tired of Open-Worlds

First, there was Genshin Impact, which was nice, however ultimately expanded a lot that it felt really unwieldy. Then, there was Honkai: Star Rail, which was additionally wonderful, however coupled with an uninspired story and your typical anime fantasy aesthetic, it rapidly misplaced my consideration lower than a month after its launch.

The excellent news is that Hoyoverse has clearly amassed insane quantities of cash from how nicely each these video games have carried out that they’re seemingly in a position to simply create no matter they need now, and the outcomes are large.

Enter Zenless Zone Zero, Hoyoverse’s newest recreation, and this lastly feels just like the one I can really, correctly get into.

If the flashy trailers with neon lights and the city fantasy-punk aesthetic weren’t sufficient to win you over already, you’ll be glad to know that the precise recreation is each bit as cool because it appears to be like. I’ve spent fairly a little bit of time with the second closed beta check this previous weekend, and I discovered myself stunned by how small it was. Granted, I did go in with some preconceived notions based mostly on what I knew of Genshin Affect and Star Rail, however contemplate me pleasantly stunned by the outcomes.

Greater than the rest, Zenless Zone Zero is a dungeon crawler motion RPG, the place the core gameplay loop revolves round you exploring the sixth Avenue of New Eridu to speak to NPCs and interacting with a pc to leap into the digital world to tackle Commissions. All major and facet quests revolve round Commissions, that are ranges that you just probe for foreign money, key gadgets, and have interaction in fight.

It’s going to sound a little bit wacky, however stick with me right here. Everytime you begin a Fee, you’re transported right into a digital world made up of analogue TV screens. The screens themselves are tiles you possibly can step on, and there are particular tiles that may set off numerous results. There are therapeutic tiles, fight tiles, and treasure tiles.

Earlier than too lengthy, although, the sport begins throwing enjoyable curve balls at you. You begin getting puzzle tiles, the place you have to transfer objects over sure tiles to unlock a brand new route. You additionally begin coming throughout Fissures, that are mainly teleportation tiles that take you to a complete different location with extra tiles to take a look at.

Not every thing is predicated round fight both, as there are some Commissions with ranges which might be simply all puzzles. One early facet quest had me leap into the digital world solely to be confronted with a reminiscence check the place I needed to depend the variety of coloured screens in a number of seconds and reply a number of questions accurately. One other quest tasked me with hitting switches with the intention to decelerate a digital practice so I may hijack it, and stated practice was fantastically depicted with greyscale tracks and railcars on analogue screens, making this one of the crucial visually hanging video games I’ve performed shortly.

The purpose is, Zenless Zone Zero’s digital world comprises a few of the most modern stuff I’ve ever seen in a Hoyoverse recreation, and that’s genuinely thrilling.

It actually helps that the fight is so enjoyable as nicely. Like Genshin Affect, that is an motion RPG that permits you to swap between a number of characters on the fly. You get a most of three characters in your get together, and every time you hit the dodge button, you routinely swap out to the subsequent character in line. This may sound annoying on paper, however it truly works fairly nicely in apply due to how seamless the transitions really feel.

There are additionally common and particular assaults, which you’ll chain collectively to daze an enemy. As soon as an enemy is dazed, time slows down, permitting you to modify to a different character to tug off a robust combo assault. Lastly, there’s your final assault, which does precisely what it says on the field: it offers a crap ton of harm to your surrounding foes more often than not.

Fight feels good, however most significantly, it additionally appears to be like good. The animations in Zenless Zone Zero are actually on a complete different degree once you evaluate it to its predecessors. Your characters are at all times posing in that cool anime aesthetic approach it doesn’t matter what you do, and the sport simply offers you an unimaginable sense of satisfaction like no different once you clear a fight encounter. Time stops, the phrase “SLASHED” simply flashes throughout your display screen in large letters and delightful neon colours because the digital camera pans round your character in a cool pose.

Aesthetically, Hoyoverse actually knocked it out of the park. The menus are slick and straightforward to navigate, even the gacha animations (extra on that later) look good. NPCs all include distinctive animations once you ask them for one thing, whether or not it’s getting a robotic aptly named Tin Grasp to whip up a cup of espresso for you, or watching the newsstand canine scratch its ears adorably when you learn the day’s headlines.

Included on this closed beta check is the gacha system itself. For those who’re accustomed to these kinds of video games, you most likely already know what to anticipate. You’ll accrue foreign money slowly as you play the sport, and these can be utilized to tug on a gacha banner for an opportunity to get an S-tier character. You’ll get an A-tier character with each 10-pulls, together with Cores, that are mainly gear gadgets.

The excellent news is that Zenless Zone Zero makes it fairly clear how the pity system works. You’ll hit pity on the particular occasion banner with 90 pulls, which implies you’re assured to get an S-tier character on that ninetieth pull. Nonetheless, it’s solely a 50% probability of getting the featured banner character. The subsequent time you hit pity on that banner, you’re assured to get the featured character, so it’s nonetheless a little bit of a toss-up for that first pity counter.

Just like Genshin Affect and Honkai: Star Rail, there are three forms of gacha currencies: Grasp Tape, Encrypted Grasp Kind, and Movie Tape. Common Grasp Tape is used for the sport’s common banners, whereas the Encrypted model is used for particular occasion banners. Movie Tape may be collected and transformed into both model. After all, it stays to be seen simply how beneficiant the sport will probably be with its foreign money, however I think about gamers can anticipate to save lots of for round two or three months earlier than they’re in a position to assure pity on an occasion banner.

In all that pleasure, it’s simply occurred to me that I’ve but to even discuss what the sport’s about. Zenless Zone Zero places you within the footwear of Phaethon, a widely known pair of hacker siblings, and you may select to play as both Belle or Clever, AKA a feminine or male character. Working along with fellow Agent Nicole, Belle and Clever quickly discover themselves confronted with a digital risk who’s threatening to reveal and take them down.

You’re then pressured to work with Nicole and a number of other different Brokers to discover the digital world and discover out who’s coming after you. Alongside the way in which, you’ll tackle numerous different Commissions and meet different facet characters with their very own enjoyable tales to inform.

Story-wise, I’ll be the primary to confess that Zenless Zone Zero doesn’t appear notably impressed. And maybe I’m biased, however it virtually seems like the sport’s vibe and environment alone are sufficient to maintain me taking part in. The mesh of high-tech hacking and the retro aesthetic is extremely interesting; the juxtaposition between diving right into a VR world and having it’s depicted with analogue, old-timey tv screens is ingenious. The truth that Belle and Clever run a video retailer with precise video tapes as a entrance for his or her hacking enterprise is great.

And New Eridu itself can be fantastically retro, with noodle shops on the facet of the road, scratch playing cards, rundown comfort shops… All of it simply feels splendidly nostalgic, with a touch of the futuristic on the facet. There aren’t fairly sufficient city fantasy RPGs available on the market, and I suppose Hoyoverse is giving me one thing I by no means knew I wished till I bought it. Particularly one which doesn’t overwhelm you with large open-worlds to discover, and is as an alternative centered on the smaller particulars that it is aware of you’ll get invested in.

I got here away from the closed beta check feeling excited and genuinely hyped for Zenless Zone Zero to lastly launch subsequent 12 months. It’s a recreation that I haven’t been away to tug myself away from, and after I did, I discovered myself excited about it consistently, and that’s a uncommon feeling to search out in video video games as of late.

In regards to the creator

Zhiqing Wan

Zhiqing is the Evaluations Editor for Twinfinite, and a Historical past graduate from Singapore. She’s been within the video games media business for 9 years, trawling by means of showfloors, conferences, and spending a ridiculous period of time making in-depth spreadsheets for min-max-y RPGs. When she’s not singing the praises of Amazon’s Kindle as the best technological invention of the previous twenty years, you possibly can most likely discover her in a FromSoft rabbit gap.