You know that giddy feeling when a game does something unerringly right? I first felt it with the delicate Grappleshot in Halo Infinite; while going through a music video-like sequence in Control; and when you fight the delightfully terrifying Hyperion boss to the ethereal organ tunes in Returnal. Perfectly preserved memories that I reach for when I need a reminder of how good games can be. Imagine my surprise when that giddy mood resurfaced during a hands-on preview of Zenless Zone Zero, the upcoming release of developer Genshin Impact miHoYo. Something I already tried during its second beta – and had a lot of trouble with at the time.
It was the Twin Marionettes who did it. A random boss in an area that I stumbled upon while browsing the new maps. From what I can gather, you can “Hunt” these bosses three times a week to get either level-up materials or monetary rewards, which is the standard way to keep coming back and building shiny new characters. Farming resources isn’t exactly exciting, but that’s why I was so taken aback by the combat. I had no idea what to do for most of it, but it felt pretty darn good switching between my three characters at speed, watching flashy transition animations and blasting the duo with chaotic ultimate attacks.
My tiny robot bunny Bangboo even got in on the fun, adorably slapping the boss after I shot my dear Nicole by getting distracted by the marionette ambush spectacle. It felt like I was back in some weird, anime version of The Return, figuring out how to dodge and weave in my offense, but this time the arena was coated in a comic-book-style dressing reminiscent of the urban environments in games like Persona 5. , Jet Set Radio and Hi-Fi Rush. Ultra cool design combined with super slippery combat. Hello precious gaming memory, take a seat next to Master Chief, you’ll feel right at home.
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But then that was part of my main problem with Zenless Zone Zero even in its second beta. There wasn’t much room for these Twin Marionette delights, as most of your time was taken up by the Hollow Deep Dive (HDD) mode, a TV-style minigame in which you slowly moved up, down, left, and straight to a repeating top-down view to continue the story. There was some variation in what you did during these excursions, such as solving puzzles, but not enough to stave off boredom as you were pulled from too-brief stints with more enjoyable combat sections or exploring the unusually cheerful streets of the post-apocalyptic city of New Eridu. 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 the time spent on the HDD has been drastically reduced during every other part of the game. There’s also a new double-speed switch, so you can move around the board and read dialog faster in those segments of the hard drive. It’s almost unbelievable how much this simple fix has changed the way Zenless Zone Zero feels now that the focus is on looking and feeling ridiculously cool rather than navigating this lackluster board.
As for why the HDD TV mode is still included and laid out the way it is, Zenless Zone Zero producer Zhenyu Li told Eurogamer that while some don’t like exploring HDD TV, others do. So there was “a lot of deliberation and thought” before “confirming the weight of the survey”. I still don’t find it a thrilling experience, but at least this compromise let the art and combat shine brighter and longer. Li also said that other exploration methods other than TV mode are being explored, in addition to new additions already planned for launch. The already stellar fight is still in the works, while Li mentioned that the team “actually thought about having less people in the group” than the typical three members (more than three can be “a bit messy or messy, though.”) .
With a team of roughly 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 while preparing for the upcoming global launch. But what about the other changes made in this launch version? First, the daily Battery Charge system is no longer required to experience story and side missions. A win – although it really shouldn’t have been included in the first place. Another of my favorite additions is the introduction of an instantly available “hard mode” when playing the main story chapters.
In my experience, this optional switch won’t cause any broken controllers, but it does come with the ability to select trial story characters – adjusted to the appropriate level so you can experience the campaign with those involved in the current plot. – in fact, Zenless Zone Zero feels like a more traditional gaming experience. It’s like choosing between easy and normal difficulties. Live service games often live in their own land with specific character builds, upgrade plans, and reward systems that can sometimes spoil the story experience, so while this doesn’t exactly seem revolutionary, it’s a small step towards designing something. fun for casual story players as well as those looking for something deeper while playing the campaign.
This freedom of choice was emphasized by Li in our interview. More personally, he’s all about making the “combat loop” and “action feedback” feel good, so he wants you to “do whatever you think is fun and cool,” whether it’s grinding for better gear or exploiting enemy weaknesses , or using trial characters on the easiest mission difficulty. I think most developers like to say that their game can be played in a variety of ways, but it really feels like Zenless Zone Zero can.
Li also talked more about balancing all aspects of the game, specifically regarding some people asking for automatic mode switching for combat and exploration. The team is considering it, Li said, but wants to further investigate whether it’s a “genuine” demand from players if they really want this particular kind of automatic tool. Whatever the team decides to do, they “want to create something that players will actually enjoy” rather than a system that just takes their hands off the keyboard.
This mentality extends to daily grinds with some experience with live services and gacha games in general. While daily quests don’t look like they’re going anywhere at launch, Li says the team is working on an update for casual players to help them squeeze in some time during the day even if they don’t have long to play. If it all seems like too much, don’t worry, the open secret of all these types of games is that you don’t actually have to deal with all the features, rewards, and journals to enjoy it. From my playthrough, Zenless Zone Zero certainly seems to follow this trend, perhaps even more so than most, as almost everything is optional. This also technically applies to pulling characters in the gacha game system.
When asked if the limited characters that can only be obtained from these gacha pulls affect how the team balances combat, Li said that while there are some activities for players who are “up to date on the latest characters” they can “experience the story without much trouble… I believe players could play most of the action parts with the characters they like.” However, when talking about characters affecting the ease of battles, Li tells us that “this is an action game, so I must emphasize that you have to practice your action skills. As long as you train, you’ll get used to fighting characters you like.” This is what it looked like to play in the latest demo, but there’s no telling how character-dependent clearing the hardest modes in Zenless Zone Zero will be until the full release.
That said, whether you’re planning to pull out for the latest shuffle in the current meta’s tier list or decide to get a character because you like their playstyle or look, it’s still annoying that either comes with spending a ridiculous amount of money. , or farming in-game currency by eating everything they throw at you. It’s the exact type of ‘balance’ that is unviable for casual players. This is especially painful in Zenless Zone Zero, where so much effort has gone into accommodating those unwilling to put up with the live service grind. Being able to play tons of characters for free, in batches, means it’s easy to tell people to ignore the optional gacha system – but I’d be surprised if many people listen. Zenless Zone Zero’s emphasis on designing enticing characters—combat and story—along with the consistent drumming of hype already underway on social media makes this 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 with the suggestion that major changes needed to be made before it was fully released – especially since the game’s biggest strengths, like combat, were buried under HDD TV mode, its biggest weakness. and the thing that also took up most of your time. Turns out I was wrong. Zenless Zone Zero didn’t need major changes, just a few well-targeted tweaks. Reducing the cost of battery charging while playing the story, mercifully reducing the amount of time spent in HHD TV mode, and adding a few options for both casual and combat-focused players are all that was needed to turn Zenless Zone Zero from drudgery to excitement. Hello presto! It looks like miHoYo may be the next winner.
This preview is based on a press trip to Singapore. HoYovere paid for flights and accommodation.