Zenless Zone Zero Review – An Exhilarating and Zenful Surprise

Zenless Zone Zero is the latest free-to-play Gacha game developed by Hoyoverse. The studio and publisher behind the hit mobile, console, and PC hits Honkai Impact 3rd, Genshin Impact and Honkai Star Rail. As someone who only recently got into Genshin Impact, my experience was leaving some to be desired. I know full well that Genshin Impact had its spacious world design and deep exploration influenced by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. But the account level gating between main story quests started to feel suffocating when the only way to progress was by wandering off in spacious environments without any form of expediency such as mount for instance.

Feeling worn down from the week I spent in Genshin Impact, I decided to download and try their recently released new game Zenless Zone Zero to get in on the launch hype and see if it was my alley. Little did I know that I may have found one of the most polished and exciting action games I have played since Scarlet Nexus. With just enough downtime between combat scenarios that never felt jarring.

Developer & Publisher // Hoyoverse
Platforms // PlayStation 5, PC, iOS, Android
MSRP & Release Date // Free, July 4, 2024
Reviewed On // PlayStation 5

Into the Retro-Futuristic Town of New Eridu

Zenless Zone Zero takes place in New Eridu, where you play as one of two main characters Belle or Wise. They are siblings who operate as a Legendary Proxy called Phaethon that handles dangerous jobs on the internet. Very quickly in the story, they find themselves caught up in an odd job with a group called The Cunning Hares, who find themselves in a predicament with a peculiar lockbox and have to sacrifice their status to get it open. This leads to a soft reboot of their career, having to explore beyond the comfort of their home business of operating a Video Tape store and build new relationships along the way.

The plot of Zenless Zone Zero is, at the time of writing, elaborate yet mysterious. Relying mostly on the main story arcs of each faction in the game to lay out the mystery of what’s in the lockbox, and the dangers beyond. As part of the world in Zenless Zone Zero are various ethereal domes that are filled with monsters, and the connections from each faction begin to paint a picture of what to expect in later story arcs.

The narrative is very gripping, however. Almost every cutscene and major interaction is fully voice acted, with some fantastic animation work in important story beats that actually rival most of what you would see in similarly styled full-priced games. The presentation helped its ability to keep my attention throughout my nearly 50 hours of playtime and I am excited for what comes next. But it is not a gloomy wait between more of its narrative, there is a very fleshed-out world and various game modes and systems to interact with.

Serenity on Sixth Street

The main player hub you start with is called Sixth Street and really gets you into the daily loop of its many shops and character interactions, similar to the Persona series. From the record shop across the street from the main characters’ store to a newsstand with a dog running the place, and a short man operating a ramen stand with a coffee shop right next door.

Zenless Zone Zero has an honestly very lived-in world, but it is not just Sixth Street that you get to walk around in. There are various other locations that make the world more realized. Such as a club where you get to take on challenge battles for upgrade items, and a military outpost that offers a rogue-lite mode that offers a variety of different modes, and challenges to take on. While this already sounds plentiful for a free-to-play title, Zenless Zone Zero keeps opening up and offering bigger locales as the story progresses.

But the arcade on Sixth Street has been my go-to for some downtime. Primarily due to two mini-games that are fleshed out and rewarding in their own right.

The first is called Snake Duel and it is basically just Snake. Snake Duel has you collecting gems and other items while growing longer and avoiding death by running into a wall or yourself. The second is Soul Hounds III, and it is basically Tetris, but with the challenge of descending down, and avoiding death by having a cube fall on you. Both games also have an online mode where you can take on other players. Both modes have their own set of rewards that give currency to use for the game’s Gacha mechanics that will be spoken about later.

But the meat of Zenless Zone Zero is not just the story or the various locales. Its weighty and frenetic combat makes the whole experience much more enjoyable.

Fast Paced Character Action with a Side of Hot Swaps

No singular screenshot could ever do the combat in Zenless Zone Zero its proper justice. For starters, it is very fast-paced, and every attack from each character feels unique and has a lot of weight to it. For example, Billy has a pair of pistols that allow him to strike from a distance with rapid gunfire. But when you mix in a dodge, Billy fires around in a circular motion with a lot of momentum. On the other hand, Soukaku has a giant axe that opens up to make itself a giant fan that dishes out a lot of ice damage. In addition, the attack can stagger foes, with her own area-of-effect Ice cyclone.

But it is not just the variety in each character’s move set or attacks. It is how the attacks feel. Billy’s gunfire feels like it’s keeping enemies in place with rapid fire. Whereas Soukakus attacks feel satisfying when you stun bigger foes by hitting them with a giant axe that turns into a fan. You also have the option to swap between characters and there are fight mechanics built around it. Such as a parry and dodge system that when you parry with someone, the animation of that character suddenly appearing to stop a giant foe’s attack sounds and feels incredible.

Not to mention that attacking, parrying, or using special moves builds up a stun meter that, when full, freezes the combat in place. This allows you to swap between each character to use special moves for extra damage. The cherry on top are the ultimate attacks that are only usable when chaining parries, special moves, and filling up the stun meter. It all feels so satisfying, looks incredible, and is extremely intuitive.

The mix of style and substance blending together so excellently in Zenless Zone Zero makes every encounter a treat to engage with.

A Game of Gacha

To be as transparent as possible, if you have problems with gambling in the slightest, do not play Zenless Zone Zero. The core game for the prelude and first chapter does not require you to spend any pulls you earn throughout the game. In contrast, all of chapters 2 and 3 do lean on needing more characters due to the specific elements their attacks dish out. While the game does give you a healthy number of free pulls to fill out your team and the appropriate equipment, the well will run dry eventually and the cost to get any pulls will be very costly.

For example, every 10 pulls costs 1600 Polychrome, and while the game gives you a very plentiful amount over time, for those who are impatient, the only bundle to get exactly 10 pulls will be the $30 bundle Monochrome bundle. Monochrome converts to Polychrome to use just for those pulls, and the game is designed around buying multitudes to get the rarer, better characters. The cost is outrageous, to say the least.

You can earn plenty of characters and equipment just by playing, but it would be irresponsible of me not to warn people who are interested in the game but plan to play it long-term.

Lacking Accessibility Settings

As far accessibility goes for those who intend on playing it on PC or PlayStation 5, the pickings are slim. The non-animated cutscenes do have a pause or auto play feature, but for those who need larger text, Zenless Zone Zero does not offer an option to increase the text size for dialogue or change the font color. There are also no colorblind options at the time of writing this review.

On the upside, the game does feature the option to map buttons, and you can hold down the attack button to auto attack, but there are no options to slow the game down to work around the perfect parry or dodge system the game has.

Stellar Sound, Minimalist UI, and Suave Performance

Zenless Zone Zero runs wonderfully on the PlayStation 5. It is only in certain mission types and one location that the game runs at a lower frame rate. For example, the long-form combat-oriented missions known as Rallies can have a lot of moving parts in the environment. It’s here you will fight off numerous foes, but as the environment moves, the frame rate takes a hit. This is in addition to Lumina Square, a more open location with numerous cars passing by and a lot of NPCs where the game runs at a choppy frame rate. If you explore this part of the map at midnight, you will not encounter any performance issues, but most of the side quests and story events take place during the day and mid-evening.

The game also features a lot of different menus, while feeling confusing at first, become second nature over time. When exploring, the button prompts even on the PlayStation 5 and PC are laid out like a mobile game, but they never take up too much of the screen. One cool feature of the PlayStation 5 version to note is that in a back alley where there is a cat, if you go to pet it you can feel the gentle scratches on the fur under the controller thanks to the Haptic Feedback and hear the cat purring from the Dualsense’s speaker. It is a very subtle detail that really took me by surprise and put a smile on my face.

Zenless Zone Zero’s soundtrack is absolutely incredible too. From the serene music that plays on Sixth Street during the day or not, to the soft rock and fast-paced techno tracks that play during missions. There is a wide variety of music in the game, and it reminds me of the better tracks from Scarlet Nexus, and a lot of what you would expect from the Persona series.

Is Zenless Zone Zero Worth Your Time?

Despite the warning about the gambling mechanics, I still very much enjoy playing it every day and do recommend playing the game. The combat is some of the best I have experienced in years and think the more mellow moments between the very engaging story is worth your time. It currently has over 50 million downloads, and that success is very much earned from the game’s sheer quality, and breadth of content. To the finer details, like the stellar voice acting from the entire English voice cast, amazingly expressive animation, and top-notch soundtrack. It is free-to-play, so if you can restrain from falling prey to the gambling mechanics, you have nothing to lose.

Final Score: 8.5/10

Pros

• Wonderful Art Style
• Incredible Combat
• Varied Character Designs
• Deep Customization
• Excellent Variety of Mini Games
• Fantastic Music

Cons

• Gambling Gacha Mechanic
• Lack of Accessibility Features