Live service may as well be a curse word among some enthusiast circles, but Chinese titan HoYoverse has the model on lock. The companyās cringey corporate motto exclaims ātech otakus save the worldā; in truth, it just wants to take over the world. Indeed, with the introduction of Zenless Zone Zero, its current cadence will see it cycle through one major update for each of its flagship games every two weeks. If you already find most of your playing time monopolised by Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail, then this all-new urban fantasy RPG will practically incarcerate your PS5 and throw away the key.
You play as a Proxy named Phaethon whoās an acclaimed problem-solver in the challenged setting of New Eridu City. The developerās penchant for proper nouns means thereās an abundance of gobbledygook to sift through here, but effectively daily life has been disrupted by the existence of Hollows, strange otherworldly portals which transform their occupants into Ethereals ā or, in simpler terms, angry, aggressive monsters. Working remotely using a souped-up super computer, youāre able to infiltrate these gateways and complete Commissions ā effectively odd jobs or quests, to use tired gaming terminology.
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The gameplay is perhaps the most stylish of all HoYoverseās efforts yet, and feels like an evolved version of one of the studioās older titles, Honkai Impact 3rd. However, considering many of you will be unfamiliar with that game, it works a little like a Devil May Cry-style character action affair, where quick transitions between Agents buff you in a variety of different ways. Much like with Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail, the moment-to-moment gameplay is relatively basic, but itās the unique possibilities made possible through pairing different combinations that elevate it beyond its core.
Thatās not to say this is a simplistic button masher ā itās not. Characters handle differently and have unique advantages and disadvantages: Lucy, for example, is a baseball bat-wielding motorcycle gang member, who hits home runs onto the battlefield in order to burn enemies; Ellen Joe, meanwhile, the inaugural S-Rank banner character, is capable of freezing foes and triggering shatter damage. The sheer complexity of the systems can get headache-inducing when youāre reading through all the various status effects, but casuals will find a fervent drip-feed of dopamine from simply watching all the big numbers fly off their targets.
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HoYoverse has, quite clearly, learned a lot from Honkai: Star Rail ā and so youāll find a streamlined suite of material gathering compared to the ageing Genshin Impact here. But the game does still require a PhD in free-to-play to get to grips with: a bounty of currencies, resources, skill checks, and time gates await, all filtered through a seemingly never-ending list of gameplay challenges and grinds. For the familiar, this is certainly a slicker offering than the Travellerās toils in Teyvat, but the path to the perfect build is still undeniably obstructed through all sorts of irritations.
Nevertheless, the game feels like a prestige package to interact with. The animations, sprightly throughout, are absolutely sublime ā and while the game loves the sound of its own voice far too much, the writing is laugh out loud funny at points. This is an off-the-wall experience, fully embracing of even the strangest sequences in Honkai: Star Rail, and thus it feels totally reasonable to clash with a sentient construction tool thatās fallen in love with an abandoned building. The release is unflinchingly confident in its own sense of style, and while it wonāt appeal to everyone, it tickles this authorās pleasure receptors.
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The same is true of the art style, which is just phenomenal if you can tolerate the current glut of anime-inspired content. New Eridu City itself harkens back to the early 2000 era of SEGA Skiesā¢, blue like the ocean and bursting with colour and character. Some of the Agents may turn stomachs, flip-flopping from buxom babes with heaving cleavages to ear-splitting lolis in short shorts, but HoYoverseās artists are at their most creative yet here, introducing a friendly-faced bear with boisterous bling and a butler who just so happens to be a wolf.
Outside of the core combat, thereās an arcade you can visit to play an extremely entertaining adaptation of Mr Driller, as well as a light business management segment which sees you running your own VHS rental store. And weād be remiss not to mention the television-hopping navigation aspect, which is so off-the-wall itās almost impossible to explain; effectively, during quests, youāll find yourself traversing through different television screens, completing rudimentary puzzles like pushing switches and more. The developer gets really creative with this concept, even introducing a sequence which resembles Bomberman, although it has said itās working on more traditional exploration gameplay too, and there are hints of that in the launch version.
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And thatās perhaps a key jumping off point because, if Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail have taught us anything, itās that what weāre playing today is merely the start. Zenless Zone Zero will be updated every six weeks with new characters, quests, locations, minigames, events, and more; while we can only review whatās in front of us, itās important to underline that this is a game designed to grow and evolve, much like its cast of misfit characters.
Weād also be doing you a disservice if we didnāt discuss monetisation, which is sure to prove divisive. This is a gacha game and so, yes, there are microtransactions available allowing you to use real-world money to buy in-game currency which can be spent on draws for time-limited characters. While the system has more structure than true ambiguity, there is an aspect of gambling involved, as outside of the 180-pull guarantee, youāre never quite sure who or what youāre going to get. Itās important to note, however, that you can play the entire game free of charge, and if you invest wisely and save up the resources you earn though gameplay, itās possible to unlock the Agents you want at no cost.
Conclusion
Zenless Zone Zero has the swagger of a game that knows itās going to be a big success, and judging by its 50 million downloads at the time of publication, that confidence is not misplaced. In some ways this is a strange beast: artistically itās all over the place, pulling from a litany of different sources and somehow stringing them all together into a cohesive, compelling whole. But at its heart itās a character action game with a massive emphasis on team-building, and itās a bloody good one at that.