Rarely can a gacha service game be described as daring. But, within the context in which it is operating, HoYoverse’s output does have a certain pluck. Nowadays it’s impossible to navigate a digital storefront without being assaulted by banners for hero shooters, extraction shooters and battle royales, many suffocatingly similar. The Chinese developer stands out because it tries to pursue different genres within that space, while wrapping its efforts in premium production values and lashings of free-to-play solo content.
Still, it’s all relative, and daring by these standards looks more than a little derivative from a wider view. Genshin Impact is an open-world adventure that riffs on Breath Of The Wild. Honkai: Star Rail is a turn-based RPG with puzzle-laden dungeons that doffs its conductor’s cap to titans such as Persona 5. Now here’s Zenless Zone Zero, coming out swinging like Devil May Cry varnished with a cyberpunk edge. And once again, it’s no artless clone. Trading blows in its super-fast combat feels fantastic, while the art style, packed with character and squash-and-stretch animation, sets it apart from both Genshin and Honkai. The storyline, about rogue hackers befriending disparate factions of sometimes-criminals (with hearts of gold) in order to guide them through strange space distortions, is cleanly scribed and engaging. But is that enough to set it apart? Not yet. Combat isn’t the problem, at least at first. It’s gratifying to discover that the flashy VFX scoring the battles aren’t only for show, but integral to systems built around tag-team and group attacks using three-strong parties. With responsive controls across consoles and mobile touchscreens alike, you hammer out combos to daze enemies, opening them up to devastating EX strikes that can trigger chain attacks (where party members jump in) or even stronger assaults. Similarly, when an enemy strike flashes, initiating a switch ushers in a different character for a parry and counter. Throughout, the camera frames every blow to maximise impact. Finish a battle and you freeze in mid-air, “Wipeout” written in huge letters on the screen. It’s exhilarating.
Then you do it over and over, often in square arenas you revisit again and again. There is a range of enemy types, of course, each with their own favoured mode of violence, yet you stop noticing very much, since they all go down in the same fashion. Even more difficult fights mostly mean longer health bars, rarely prompting you to apply much thought, in spite of the intricacies of the combat styles of each playable ‘agent’.