Zenless Zone Zero Review
Zenless Zone Zero Lore
Your goal in the game is to explore the Zenless Zone Zero world by completing story missions and fighting off the monsters called "hollows" that come from a different dimension. Creatures called Hollows come to life from a different dimension and corrupt certain areas. In addition, the ether pressure inside Hollows can cause ordinary people to turn into creatures called Hollows and cause them to become corrupted. Our aim in the game is to kill the hollows that emit ether pressure and prevent the hollow disaster.
Gameplay Mechanics
As a miHoYo classic, you must obtain the characters you will use to form a team in the game through a luck-based lottery system called gacha. Again, as in the producer's other games, there are different powers and rankings between the characters. The order of the characters in this game is A, B and S. Characters with a B rank can be summarized as the weakest, while those with an A rank can be summarized as intermediate. But when it comes to S-ranked characters, these characters come with stronger and more flexible skill kits than others. The classic team combination includes a support character with an A or B rank and a damage dealer and tank character with an A or S rank.
Once you get a character you need to develop and strengthen it. To make characters stronger, levelling them up is your first option. If you want to unlock the passive abilities of your characters, you must draw them from the same character through a lottery. Each time you draw the same character, a passive ability of your current character is unlocked, you need to draw 6 of the same character to unlock all 5 passive abilities and reach your character's maximum potential.
Another method to strengthen your characters is to improve their abilities, W-engine equipment. Additionally, each character has its own element attribute; fire, electricity, ice, physical, ether. Depending on these elements, you can apply status effects to the enemies you fight and improve your combos.
After choosing your characters and assembling your team, you need to go to ether-tainted areas and participate in battles designed in comic book style. During battles, you must evaluate your characters' abilities and make combos that will cause the highest damage. Additionally, since you can switch between characters in your team during battle, we recommend that you create a composition using characters that support each other's abilities or continue combo attacks. Although the visuals of the game are impressive both during battle and when using skills, what is important is the maximum damage you can do with your characters.
Limited Open World
Although Zenless Zone Zero does not position itself as an open-world game, it has a limited open world in the style of Honkai: Star Rail, one of the producer's previous games. You can travel between cities with your main character, explore the areas allowed by the game, and take on main quests or side quests by talking to NPCs. The only useful aspect of your main character, who is never involved in combat, is that he/she can travel around the open world and receive tasks by talking to other characters. If you want to see your main character more often, you'll need to spend more time in the limited open world of the game. You can also obtain materials by completing daily tasks to improve your characters or weapons.
Narrative
Zenless Zone Zero has a different storytelling style compared to conventional games. When you start the story missions of the game, you will notice that the narrative of the entire story is in a comic book style with fun character drawings. There are also anime-style narratives in the story parts. All story missions and dialogues have original voice acting. Moreover, Zenless Zone Zero, as a new storytelling style, requires you to solve puzzles among dozens of monitors, and when you solve the puzzle, it tells the story through the monitors. The good news is that you can skip all the storytelling sequences.
Universe Design and Atmosphere
Zenless Zone Zero takes place in an apocalyptic world full of creatures called hollows. The world design of the game combines today's world with the theme of the future. You may see old-style street vendors on the street, encounter advanced structures during wars, or notice the high-tech weapons used by organizations. In this respect, Zenless Zone Zero has a universe design that brings together the present world, the past and the future and presents it harmoniously.
As for the atmosphere of the game, it has a design that is supposed to be horror-themed, but everything is too sweet. In addition to the destroyed and corrupt structures you expect from an apocalyptic world, the character designs and presentations of the locations completely remove the feeling of fear.
Is Zenless Zone Zero Worth to Give a Try?
Although Zenless Zene Zero, like all other games from the miHoYo producer, offers free access, it is a game where you have to pay to unlock characters and speed up your development, at least if you are not extremely lucky. If you like the producer's other games, we are sure you will love this game too.
If you are unaware of the producer's other games and enjoy anime-style games, we can say that Zenless Zone Zero will not disappoint you. With original character designs, a 20-hour story, extraordinary storytelling, and a comic-book atmosphere, Zenless Zone Zero is a game worth trying.