Zenless Zone Zero: RPG from the creators of Genshin is stylish and charismatic! We tested

HoYoverse has increasingly expanded its presence not only in Brazilian territory, boasting one of the best stands in Brazil Game Show 2023, but also in the games industry as a whole. The company, which is known especially for Genshin Impactis sparing no effort to create new intellectual properties and even promoted closed-door sessions for its next release: Zenless Zone Zero – or simply ZZZ for the most intimate.

Since its announcement in May last year, The game draws attention for its aesthetics full of personality. Like other titles from the producer, Zenless Zone Zero It adopts anime-style visuals, but with a more urban and post-apocalyptic theme in the last metropolis that resists the imminent threat of Hollows, types of disasters that corrupt everything around them and can even cause mutations.

At the invitation of HoYoverse, the Voxel had the opportunity to try it around an hour after the launch and tells, in the following lines, his first impressions of Zenless Zone Zero. Check out:

A show of charisma and style

The tried version contained three distinct modes: Hhistorywhich allowed us to learn a little about the characters and structure of the chapters; Challenge, which brought freedom to choose a trio and explore a boss; It is Explorationto discover a piece of New Eridu, the dystopian city where the game takes place.

Right from the start, the title features a mix of scenes rendered in the engine itself with beautiful art in a comic book format. In the tested version, the voices were in Japanese and the dialogues were in English. In conversation with Steve Ruygrok, Public Relations Manager at HoYoverse, he did not confirm whether the game will be localized in our languagebut said that It would be a huge surprise if the game didn’t come in Brazilian Portuguesegiven the company’s history.

After a brief introduction to the main trio, composed of Anby Demara, Nicole Demara and Billy Kid, the game puts us in control of the characters in very linear scenarios. This, in fact, is one of the main differences of the game, as it does not take place in a vast open world for exploration. The dynamics are very similar to those of games like Devil May Cryas we sometimes encounter enemies along the way and receive a score for combat performance.

The gameplay mechanics are also straight to the point and familiar to gamers. Genshin Impact, as we have at our disposal a basic attack, a special ability, dodge and an ultimate, which fills up as we fill a meter called Decibels. There is also the possibility of switching between characters, including performing very dynamic combos.

The selectable characters have very stylish looks, as well as fluid and varied combos. It is clear how HoYoverse has refined its techniques and technologiesas the game features very high quality animations and dolls with different archetypes, something that has been the target of much criticism in Genshin Impact. These features are the biggest highlight of the game so far.

It is no longer possible to say the same about enemies, however. Because they are mutant creatures, they have an extremely generic and forgettable design. Even the bosses follow this direction, which is quite different from the developer’s latest titles. Therefore, the expectation is that the game will bring more variety in this sense.

Extremely satisfying combat

In the Challenge segment, the game put us in direct combat against a boss, but with one difference: the possibility of assembling your own team. In this way, it was possible to choose three of the twelve characters available for testing. As mentioned, they all proved to be quite different from each other and should appeal to all player styles.

The boss is not a big problem once the player observes his attack patterns and makes good use of dodge, which is capable of reducing the speed of the action a little. If the player manages to sustain their combos, the game offers the possibility of executing sequences together, with the ability to switch between the other members of the trio to cause more damage and place the desired character on the field.

It is still not very clear what the roles of the characters in the trio are, that is, whether there are those who are more focused on support or damage. But it became clear that there are, for example, characters that are faster, while others are heavier. It was also possible to notice that some have unique properties, such as the possibility of freezing enemies or shooting from a distance.

Exploration with a “pinch” of Persona

In the last segment, it was possible to get to know a little bit of New Eridu — at least a very small and still incomplete portion of the city. At this time, the player can interact with NPCs, participate in mini-games and accept commissions, as there are independent groups that take care of the Hollow threat in the game world.

The dynamics are very reminiscent Persona, as there is a calendar and clock in the upper left corner. Everything indicates that several of the game’s activities will be linked to the period of the day, perhaps setting a time limit to complete some commissions. Despite this, it was not possible to draw many conclusions, as a tiny portion of the content was available.

Not moment, Zenless Zone Zero There is still no release date, but it should arrive in 2024. In addition, the game is in development for PC, consoles and mobile devices. It is very interesting to note how HoYoverse is investing in different worlds and increasingly improving the quality of its games.

Initial impressions were quite positive and aroused curiosity, so there are more than enough reasons to at least try out its new release when it becomes available.