Zenless Zone Zero is Amazing | Daily Rant

Zenless Zone Zero was released on July 4th, 2024. It’s a free-to-play action role-playing game created by Chinese company MiHoYo. It follows in the footsteps of other MiHoYo games like Genshin Impact, Honkai: Star Rail, and Honkai Impact 3rd.

Unlike the aforementioned titles, all unique in their own right, Zenless Zone Zero has a very different take on the action RPG genre. I for one will say it wasn’t what I expected, but I do love the game for what it is. But there are a lot of people, fans of the MiHoYo games, and action RPGs in general, that found Zenless Zone Zero extremely lacking.

Story

In Zenless Zone Zero, you take on the role of a Proxy. The story and lore are convoluted, as most MihoYo games are, so I won’t go too into depth into the story aspect. The story takes place in the fictional world of Eridu. You take on the role of a brother and sister, named Wise and Belle. It doesn’t matter which sibling you choose, they essentially become your avatar for the game. They are known as Proxies, which seem to be like under-the-table hired guns that enter other dimensions called Hollows. Inside Hollows, people and creatures are corrupted by a mysterious substance called ether and become Ethereals.

And I think ether is used for power or something. As I said it’s a convoluted story, with a lot of characters, factions, and terminology that quite frankly I am still not used to. I enjoy the characters, I get the basic gist of what is going on, but I will not for the life of me remember all of the jargon they throw around. Even I will admit it is a bit much.

But basically, you’re hired to go into pocket dimensions called Hollows to stop Ethereal monsters from running amok. And I kind of always thought the Hollows were like separate, digital worlds outside reality that a Proxy can boot in and out of. I could be wrong but that was my understanding.

Cutscenes

Gameplay always begins with a cutscene. The cutscenes, character models, special effects, and locations are absolutely stunning. The animation is over the top, highly exaggerated, flashy, full of jump cuts, severe close-ups, chaotic flair, and snappy character interactions. Cutscenes are, and will always be, the highlight of the game for me. They are freaking captivating and inspiring to watch unfold.

Usually, once the cutscene ends, you move on to a motion comic. They’re static images but are beautifully rendered and fully voiced. Scenes of importance will always switch from gorgeous comic moments to talking model segments. During these moments, full renditions of the models stand side by side and talk over fully voiced text boxes like a visual novel.

Exploration

Once the talking portions are finished, you are teleported to the main world hub. It consists of Belle and Wise’s base of operation, disguised as an old movie rental store. Here you can go on missions, talk to NPCs, sell or buy things, gacha new characters, and essentially set up for the next mission.

You can walk around the movie store, go outside to explore a bit of the surrounding area, and later take a car to different locations. These locations, however, are always small, secluded sections that feel really disjointed. I wish you could freely explore the world and walk to each place like you can in Genshin Impact.

Combat

Once you enter the Hollows, there are always more comics and more visual novel segments, and then you hop into a TV section. These TV sections are like board game maps that you navigate via a moving image of a rabbit, or Bangboo in Zenless Zone Zero. And like a board game, you move from square to square trying to advance to the next area.

Each square is either blank, has money, holds a puzzle element that unlocks the next area or exit, gives a hint or clue, progresses the story, or has enemies positioned on it. Once you navigate through the Hollow and run into an enemy, the screen flickers and you enter a dungeon.

Dungeons have hallways and corridors that aren’t very large and are very simple to navigate. There is usually only one way to go, so it is impossible to get lost. At certain points in each dungeon, you’ll run into a group of Ethereals.

Combat happens in real time. You choose up to 3 characters to follow you into the Hollow, and they become your fighting party. Oddly enough, Belle and Wise stay outside and act as guides and tipsters, with the rabbit Bangboo as their voice module that follows you around.

Each character has one elemental type like Fire, Ice, Electric, Ether, and Physical. They also have various styles that make them unique during combat, apart from their elements, like Attack, Stun, Anomaly, Defense, and Support. These come in handy when dealing with specific monsters, so the crew you take into the Hollow can help or hinder progress as you move through the other world.

Combat is action-oriented and is absolutely frenetic. Everything, like the animated cutscenes, is flashy, over the top, full of style, and lightning-fast. You can do simple attacks, special attacks, and charge energy for an ultimate attack that does loads of damage, along with the standard jump and dodge. You can also switch out any of the three characters, for some devastating combo attacks.

Ethereals will attack with various patterns depending on the creature type. All of them, from the grunts to the bosses, will signal a large attack with a bright, glowing flash of yellow light like a star. These attacks are highly telegraphed and can be dodged. A successful dodge will initiate a parry that deals a lot of damage.

Closing Thoughts

I understand why people aren’t into Zenless Zone Zero. It plays out more like a visual novel, the dungeon crawling is short, and you explore the Hollow via a mini-board game instead of being able to dive into full exploration. Combat, while flashy and excellently animated, is all flash, has no real challenge, and does not have much substance. You can button-mash to victory easily.

It is pretty much cutscene, a visual novel, a mini-board game, a little battle with no real challenge or nuance, and rinse and repeat. It can be repetitive.

But it’s for that very reason that I do enjoy Zenless Zone Zero! I get the hate, I do. But for me, I play games to explore, to get engrossed in the story, and the world, and to be inspired to write and draw my own creations. I don’t care about challenging gameplay. I don’t play games to get a thrill from playing a game on hard.

I will gladly play a game on Easy or Story Mode. Or mod the game so that I can enjoy, explore, and get immersed in the story and world. That’s why I enjoy Zenless Zone Zero.

Zenless Zone Zero is fun, the combat is flashy and I just like to rage out and not have to worry too much about timing things right or getting frustrated. And the visuals, my good gosh the visuals! I love how exaggerated and over-the-top they are, and I am always excited and impressed by every cute scene. And I love the character designs.

Hopefully, they change the board game though. I want to explore. I want them to open the whole world up, cause I want to uncover new lands and go on weird adventures. I think the developers said they were going to do something like that soon. I’m looking forward to it!

So I give Zenless Zone Zero a 4/5.

Score: 4 out of 5

Rating System:
1 point for Story
1 point for Characters
1 Point for Music
1 Point for Design
1 point for Fun

1/5- Unplayable
2/5- Not Worth it
3/5- Flawed but enjoyable and playable
4/5- Fun and Inspiring
5/5- Perfect