You know that dizzy feeling you get when a game does something undeniably right? I first felt it when I unleashed the delicious Grappleshot in Halo Infinite ; gliding through a trippy music video-esque sequence in Control ; and battling the beautifully gruesome Hyperion boss to ethereal organ melodies in Returnal . Perfectly preserved memories that I reach for whenever I need a reminder of just how good games can be. Imagine my surprise when that giddy mood surfaced again during a hands-on preview of Zenless Zone Zero, the upcoming release from Genshin Impact developer miHoYo . Something I had previewed during the second beta—and had major issues with at the time.
It was the twin puppets that did it. A randomly chosen boss in an area that I happened to stumble across while browsing new maps. From what I can understand, you can challenge these ‘Hunt’ bosses three times a week to get level-up materials or currency rewards, a standard way to keep you coming back and building shiny new characters. Resource farming doesn’t exactly scream excitement, but that’s exactly why the battle caught me so off guard. For the most part, I had no idea what to do, but it felt damn good to quickly switch between my three characters, watch flashy transition animations, and bombard the duo with chaotic ultimate attacks.
My little Bangboo bunny robot thing even joined in on the fun to cutely punch the boss, after I defeated my sweet Nicole by getting distracted by the spectacle of the Marionettes’ attack. I felt like I was back in a bizarre anime version of Returnal, trying to figure out how to dodge and weave my attack, only this time the arena was covered in comic book-esque decorations, reminiscent of the urban environments in games like Persona 5, Jet Set Radio and Hi-Fi Rush. An ultra-cool design combined with super tight combat. Hello dear gaming memory, sit next to the Master Chief, you will feel right at home.
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But this was also part of my biggest problem with Zenless Zone Zero, even back in the second beta. There wasn’t much room for these Twin Marionette-esque delights, as the bulk of your time was taken up by the Hollow Deep Dive (HDD) mode, a television-style minigame that had you slowly moving up, down, left, and right in a repeating top-down view to progress the story. There were some variations on what you did during these jaunts, such as solving puzzles, but not enough to keep the boredom at bay, as you were pulled away from the all-too-brief periods of more enjoyable combat, or exploring the unusually cheerful streets of New Eridu’s post-apocalyptic cities. While I can’t confirm whether these pacing issues have been completely resolved, as I wasn’t able to replay much of the story during my preview, I’m happy to report that HDD screen time is drastically reduced during every other part of the game. There’s also a new double-speed toggle, allowing you to move around the board and read dialogue faster while in those HDD segments. It’s almost unbelievable how much this simple solution has changed the way Zenless Zone Zero feels, now that the focus is on looking and feeling ridiculously cool, rather than navigating this boring board.
As for why the HDD TV mode is still included and laid out as it is, Zenless Zone Zero producer Zhenyu Li told Eurogamer that while some people don’t enjoy exploring in HDD TV, others do, and that “a lot of thought and consideration went into it” before “affirming the weight of exploration”. I still don’t find it an exciting experience, but at least this compromise allowed the art and combat to shine brighter and for longer. Li also said that methods of exploration beyond TV mode are being looked into, on top of new additions already planned for launch. The already great combat is also still being tinkered with, with Li saying that the team had “actually thought about having fewer people in the party” than the typical three members (any more than three might “get a bit chaotic or messy”).
With a team of around 400 people working on Zenless Zone Zero (“and growing”), you can see how the “parallel pipelines,” as Li calls them, allow the team to freely experiment with future updates as they prepare on upcoming global developments. launch. But what about the other changes made in this launch version? First, Battery Charge’s daily stamina is no longer required to experience story and side missions. A victory – although it really shouldn’t have been there. Another of my favorite additions is the introduction of an instantly available ‘hard mode’ while playing through the main chapters of the story.
From my experience, this optional switch isn’t likely to cause any broken controllers, but combined with the ability to select trial story characters – leveled up appropriately so you can experience the campaign with whoever’s involved in the current plot – it makes Zenless Zone Zero feel like a more traditional gaming experience. It’s kind of like choosing between Easy or Normal difficulty. Live service games often live in a land of their own, with specific character builds, update schedules, and reward systems that can sometimes muddy the narrative experience, so while this doesn’t exactly seem revolutionary, it’s a small step toward designing something enjoyable for both casual story players and those looking for something a little deeper to play through the campaign.
This freedom of choice is something Li emphasized in our interview. He’s more personally concerned with the “battle loop” and “action feedback” feeling good, and therefore wants you to “just do what you think is fun and cool”, whether that’s grinding for better gear and exploiting enemy weaknesses, or using trial characters on the easiest mission difficulty setting. I think most developers like to claim that their game can be played in different ways, but it really feels like Zenless Zone Zero can do that.
Li also talked more about balancing all aspects of the game, particularly in regards to some people requesting an automatic mode switch for combat and exploration. The team is considering it, Li said, but wants to further investigate whether this is a “real” request from players, if they really want this particular kind of automatic tool. Whatever the team decides, they “want to make something that’s actually fun for the gamer,” rather than introducing a system that takes their hands off the keyboard.
This mentality extends to the daily grind and any experience with live service and gacha games in general. While daily quests don’t seem to be going anywhere in the launch version, Li says that the team is working on an update for casual players to help them free up some daily time even if they don’t have much time to play. If this all sounds a bit much for you, don’t worry. The open secret behind all these types of games is that you don’t really have to use all of the features, rewards, and daily activities to enjoy them. From my playtime, it certainly seems like Zenless Zone Zero is following this trend, perhaps even more so than most, as almost everything is optional. That technically extends to finding characters in the game’s gacha system as well.
When asked if limited characters only obtainable through these gacha pulls will affect how the team balances battles, Li said that while there are some activities for players who are “up to date with the latest characters,” they “can experience the story without much difficulty… I do believe that players can complete most of the action scenes with the characters they like.” However, when it comes to characters affecting the ease of battle, Li tells us that “this is an action game, so what I have to emphasize is that you need to practice your action skills. No matter what kind of characters you have so far, as long as you practice, you will get used to fighting with the characters you like.” That’s what it felt like to play the most recent preview, but there’s no telling how character-dependent it will be to complete the most difficult modes in Zenless Zone Zero until the full release.
That said, whether you plan to pull because of the latest shuffle to the current meta’s tier list, or decide to get a character because you like their playstyle or appearance, it’s still annoying that this is linked is spending a ridiculous amount of money, or farming currency in the game by consuming everything they throw at you. It’s exactly the type of ‘balance’ that isn’t attainable for casual players. That feels particularly painful in Zenless Zone Zero, where so much effort has gone into catering to those unwilling to accept a live service grind. The ability to play many characters for free, in bursts, means it’s easy to tell people to just ignore the optional gacha system – but I’d be surprised if many people listened. Zenless Zone Zero’s emphasis on designing enticing characters – in terms of combat and story – along with the consistent hype already going on on social media makes that easier said than done. A problem with almost all gacha games, not just Zenless Zone Zero.
General gacha issues aside, I ended my last preview of Zenless Zone Zero by suggesting that major changes needed to be made before full release – especially when the game’s biggest strengths, like combat, were buried beneath the HDD TV mode, its biggest weakness. and whatever took up most of your time. Turns out I was wrong. Zenless Zone Zero didn’t need any major changes, just a few well-targeted tweaks. Eliminating the cost of charging the battery to play the story, mercifully reducing the time spent in HHD TV mode, and adding a few options for both casual and combat-oriented players is everything what it takes to turn Zenless Zone Zero from a slog into a sensation. Hey presto! It looks like miHoYo might have a new winner.
This preview is based on a press trip to Singapore. HoYoverse paid for flights and accommodation.