Zenless Zone Zero

As someone that was hyped for the game for a long time i have to say im not impressed

they did a great job in setting the theme and the atmosphere for this game it's just something we don't see in other games... But even with that the game comes short with the story and gameplay loop

it's just too simple and has no depth yes the character design are one of the best I've seen but doesn't change the fact that most of them are boring to play and the levels are empty with the most boring design ever for the bosses and enemies

play wuthering waves wouldn't recommend zzz in the current state

I usually fight through finishing a game, but can't continue with this. Very fun combat, gotta give it that.

Decent action, great character designs, but the whole level system along with the board kind of sequence is kind of off putting.
The action does play nice though.

Not for me

[Review made as of 09/09/2024]

I played Zenless Zone Zero for about a month before deciding to drop it and return to Honkai: Star Rail.
Now, don't get me wrong: all gacha games are bad at heart, that I know. Star Rail isn't any better as a product than ZZZ, but I ended up not enjoying this game as much as I would have wanted to.

I was initially ininterested in it, but decided to give it a try because of some characters looking interesting and the urban settings, which I always like in my videogames. On a very, very low settings PC the game runs well and is actually pretty to look at thanks to the small and not too overly complex areas the game takes place in.
Sadly, this aspect of the game is also what makes it kinda repetitive to play after a while: without the exploration of Genshin Impact or Star Rail, progressing the story is way faster and the gameplay loop gets stale rather quickly.
While I do find the combat quite good - with great animations and a satisfing parry system. the combat sessions are too short and too far apart one from another, with the much more less interesting "exploration" mode being one of the most boring stuff I've seen in gaming. Seriously, who designed the whole "dungeon" explorations experience? I got bored of it after 10 minutes, and being it a good 40% of gameplay just made my progression way slower than it should have been because I just didn't want to go through that shit.

Can't really say anything particular about the characters and story progression - it's ok, nothing especially interesting, and the characters surely don't shine that much.
The first cast of characters you're presented with are kinda anonymous, to say the least, in both designs and characterization. The protagonists not being playable, but the characters behind every operation is a pretty cool concept, but it kinda feels pointless to make you choose which one to use (and not letting you use both to move around the city) when they are both active in the story, have their original names and personalities, and act in a way that led you to believe one is more oriented to take the lead of the whole "Proxy" business while the other acts more like a cute, moral support.

Talking about designs, I have a pretty weird take on this game.
While I absolutely LOVE the Bangboos and how cute they are, everything else in the game kinda... falls flat.
There are really few good designs (such as Billy Kid, Ellen Joe, Qingyi and Ben), and even they don't shine that much; not enough to catch my attention as a player and convince me to try to actively search for them, at least.
All the others design are anonymous, barebone or just visually boring: can't believe they literally made an entire faction composed of blond lolis with blunt weapon.
This sounds like a joke, but isn't. Oh yeah, and the designer behind those is known to draw hentai of big black guys pounding blond lolis, just so you know.

I know people should not mix fandom and games together, but when even the official accounts of such game starts to use the fan-made memes when talking about their own characters, it gets kinda difficult to do so - the team behind this game know who their targets are, and they want to satisfy them. Or better, to give them the illusion to be satisfied, and Zenless Zone Zero has been capable of doing it for a month already.
I'll admit that I did find the marketing for some of the latest characters (Jaden Doe and Zhu Yuan) kinda nauseating. You should try to convince me to play for those characters for their gameplay and personalities, not for their sex appeal.
And while I think some fanservice isn't bad, the game in question kinda went over it. They even forgot to make any public announcement about a new male character, because hey - who the fuck cares about a male characters? Let's just show how much GYATT this rat lady has! The fans will love it!

After seeing how boring the gameplay got, how uninteresting the plot was and how cringe the whole campaign behind the game was, I just couldn't go on with it, because I honestly have better things to do; and better games to play, too.
That isn't to say ZZZ doesn't have any redeeming quality: the graphics are good and the soundtrack is actually kinda a bop. The city design is visually appealing and the combat can feel pretty good once you master it, something that doesn't require as much dedication as Genshin and Star Rail do.
I really like the color palette used in the game too.
But that said, I still think that - much like Star Rail - the game suffers from an identity crisis. It wants to do so much and be so many games, yet it fails to succeed in any.
It's a shame, because I think the game could be way better with the correct adjustment. Maybe they will improve on it, and then I'll be willing to give it another try.
But for now... I'll just leave my account to rest.

A shame, because I had already an S character and many cute Bangboos!

The combat is fun, engaging and fast-paced. The aesthetics and theme of the game is cohesive. Animations are great.

The Gameplay loop and content currently just lacks depth.