Vortex Gaming

Honkai Impact 3rd, Genshin Impact, Honkai: Star Rail. Since 2017, 'HoYoverse' has consistently delivered high-quality games in the Korean market, establishing itself as a brand that needs no further explanation. Especially after the global success of 'Genshin Impact,' HoYoverse's unique style and routine have become a benchmark for large-scale subculture games.

Then came the surprise announcement of a new title, 'Zenless Zone Zero,' which was bound to attract attention in a different way from its initial reveal. This was because it showcased a modern style unlike HoYoverse's previous works, which had emphasized fantasy and SF elements. Of course, despite this unfamiliar style, HoYoverse had proven itself three times before, so it garnered the anticipation of global users and surpassed 40 million pre-registrations.

However, from the perspective of someone who had experienced two CBTs, including the Final CBT, it was difficult to be certain due to the presence of significant potential instability factors. This was because the state of the Final CBT had been the same as the official release, a 'tradition' that had continued since 'Genshin Impact.' But even that prediction was defied, as 'Zenless Zone Zero' showcased a different approach while still incorporating the details that only HoYoverse could deliver.

※ This review is based on a pre-release build for review purposes, and the pickup character 'Ju Yeon' will be released on July 24th.

Zenless Zone Zero is fundamentally an RPG that emphasizes 'action.' This means that the quality of the action is the core factor determining the game's overall quality. HoYoverse had already made its mark in the action RPG genre with 'Honkai Impact 3rd,' but that high level of quality also meant that anything less would fall short and be subject to unfavorable comparisons.

In this context, Zenless Zone Zero has streamlined the conventions of existing action RPGs, reconfiguring the action to be faster and more fluid. Over the past few years, cross-platform action RPGs, including those on mobile, have converged to maximize action within the limitations of the 'mobile' platform. While graphics and presentation have advanced, the fundamental limitations of mobile, such as shared input/output devices and a flat screen, have remained.

Therefore, rather than showcasing the mastery of a single character through complex key combinations and commands during combat, the trend has been to have multiple characters form a team, taking turns to display different actions tailored to the situation. Instead of command-based actions, combat skills are executed with simple button presses, and the flow of offense and defense is managed by dodging or parrying enemy attacks before launching a counter-offensive.

The core of 'Zenless Zone Zero's' action is that it makes this framework faster and more streamlined. It simplifies combat skills to just one, and unifies the sense of parrying or perfectly dodging enemy attacks into a QTE-based tag combo attack under certain conditions. It also adds a 'Grogginess' system to ensure that combos flow naturally and smoothly. In Zenless Zone Zero, attacking enemies increases their Grogginess gauge, and when that gauge reaches 100%, it flashes, indicating a Groggy state. Using a combat skill at that moment triggers a combo skill, allowing for a powerful barrage of attacks without the need for a just-dodge tag.

In other words, knowing how to perform perfect dodges or tag at the right moment to continue combos is helpful, but even if you don't, you can still unleash combos and continuously attack by mashing buttons. That's the core of 'Zenless Zone Zero's' action. Furthermore, the characters' movements are fast and the response to key presses is very immediate, so even mashing buttons feels satisfying as you dash towards enemies and deliver blows. While many mobile-based action RPGs have been released, few have shown such a fast-paced and responsive feel comparable to AAA-level console action games.

The fast-paced action and the ability to produce something even by mashing buttons are elements that have already been refined through two CBTs, so users who have participated in the previous CBTs will not be greatly surprised. What they will be curious about is how it has been developed further, and HoYoverse's choice was to newly establish the details of the UI, as well as each character's role and attribute, and the effects of their moves. While it is certainly fun to sweep away enemies in a flashy manner just by mashing buttons, that alone can easily become boring if you want to continue the service for a long time.

In fact, looking back, 'Zenless Zone Zero' in the CBT stage had such a fast pace of action that it was difficult to grasp what was going on. If you read the skill descriptions, there were clearly various effects, but it was dizzying to calculate them all while using them because the phases changed so quickly. Compared to console games famous for their fast-paced action, it wasn't that fast, so experienced players could still adapt easily, but if you didn't have that experience, it wasn't easy to calculate all the effects and timings to continue the combo.

Furthermore, Zenless Zone Zero is designed to actively utilize five attributes: Physical, Ether, Fire, Electric, and Ice, in addition to roles such as Force, Defense, Anomaly, Break, and Support. Accumulating damage for each attribute triggers an attribute anomaly, and triggering another attribute anomaly in that situation puts the enemy in a 'Chaos' state, dealing additional damage and increasing the Grogginess gauge. Therefore, techniques are required to quickly switch between characters of each attribute to accumulate attribute damage, quickly create a chaotic state, and then deal extreme damage. In addition, each character has special conditions such as holding, special moves when activating skills after a certain number of hits, so there are quite a few things to pay attention to in order to maximize the efficiency each time you change characters.

The solution that 'Zenless Zone Zero' presented was to pay attention to the details of the UI so that it could be easily grasped even in fast-paced battles. It displays it as another gauge next to the enemy's health bar and clearly differentiates the colors for each attribute so that you can easily count how much is left until the attribute anomaly. Furthermore, because the enemy glows yellow with a ding sound every time you make a big attack, you can immediately continue the offensive with an extreme dodge or support and then a combo attack at that timing. In addition, a VR simulator is also provided where you can practice the character's skills or combos so that you can loosen your hands and get used to the action of Zenless Zone Zero.

And for users who are familiar with the action tempo of Zenless Zone Zero, more difficult challenge content has also been prepared. 'Syuyu Defense Battle', a kind of Spiral Abyss-like content that requires an understanding of character combinations and conditions, as well as 'Zero Hollow', a roguelike, have been made more difficult by adding more conditions. It's similar to Honkai: Star Rail's Simulated Universe, but like Darkest Dungeon, stress accumulates each time you pass through the hollow, and each time it reaches 100, a debuff called 'Erosion' occurs, so even a few bad conditions can cause a cascade of misfortunes like a snowball rolling down a hill. The design of 'Zenless Zone Zero', which allows you to play a variety of content, from easy and simple action to extremely spicy content that makes full use of that action, was quite surprising.

In addition, the convenience for users who enjoy action with controllers and pads is also noteworthy. The details of the key settings were outstanding, taking into account not only the basics such as detailed vibrations during battle, but also the situation of entering various menus. Except for the menus that are mainly used when going back and forth between menus, there are situations where you press the start key once, but in Zenless Zone Zero, you can combine the L2 key and R2 and other keys to immediately enter the desired menu, so if you get used to it, the controller is much more convenient than the keyboard and mouse.

It may be really surprising, but the worldview of 'Zenless Zone Zero' can be strictly defined as 'post-apocalypse'. This is because only one city, New Eridu, is functioning properly due to the 'Hollow' disaster that broke out around the world.

'Hollow' is, simply put, a phenomenon in which space-time suddenly becomes distorted and cut off from the outside. In addition, if exposed to an unidentified substance called 'Ether' that comes out as space-time is twisted inside, not only people, but also animals, plants, and even machines are at risk of turning into monsters called 'Ethereals'. And because of the ether that they emit as they become Ethereals, the hollow gradually expands, and the vicious cycle of increasing areas where people cannot live is the crisis facing the world of 'Zenless Zone Zero'.

If you only hear the story, it is no different from the common post-apocalyptic game on the market, but unless 'Zenless Zone Zero' specifically points out what was said earlier, the world does not seem so urgent. Rather, the appearance of living a modern daily life in a city mixed with retro and familiar sensibilities is more noticeable. Even if you only look at the 6th district of New Eridu, where the main characters are located, it is full of scenes that you can often see in everyday life, such as lottery shops, record stores, toy stores, arcades, cafes, ramen shops, general stores, and video stores run by siblings. And in the newly added 'Lumina Plaza', you can see a more developed city.

Of course, as already introduced, the main characters are also 'Rope Pullers' who support people who roam the hollow without government permission from the outside and guide them to the exit. As mentioned earlier, 'Hollow' is an area where people cannot live, but you don't die just by entering it for a while. In addition, it is dangerous, so ordinary people do not enter it well, and because it is a space that has swallowed up areas where people used to live, there are valuables and various information hidden inside that they could not take with them.

Zenless Zone Zero, which features this dual structure of an ordinary city and an extraordinary hollow, shows a completely different color and narrative from the dark and serious post-apocalyptic feel that Chinese subculture games have shown.

In general, post-apocalyptic genres that started in China and have gained popularity in subculture in recent years are works that have been heavily influenced by works from the late 90s to the early 2000s, including 'Neon Genesis Evangelion'. These works are all interesting in themselves, but they are characterized by fully maximizing the taste of digging into each one by pressing various allegories and motifs into them and melting them into their own language. And the sense of depth and immersion felt when you fall into it once had a definite power that has been mentioned not only at the time but also until now.

However, the works that were influenced by this later tended to put too much emphasis on their own terms and profound worldview settings, and continued to follow a narrative of the so-called 'proper noun trap' and 'I won't give you the answer you want'. Or, too heavy a topic, such as a fight for the fate of an organization or humanity, is suddenly entrusted to a protagonist who has lost his memory or is a commoner, so the heavy weight is felt from the beginning.

'Zenless Zone Zero' breaks away from such formulas, focusing more on the aspects of everyday life and the extraordinary, and leading the story in a lighter atmosphere. At the same time, it shows a royal composition in which the seemingly ordinary protagonist was originally a legendary figure, or uncovers the conspiracies lurking in the city with the protagonist as the core. Rather than rushing into the threat from the beginning with worldview explanations including proper nouns, the main story is gradually and easily unraveled while proceeding with everyday hollow exploration requests.

In addition, the disaster of 'Hollow' is also appropriately adjusted so as not to emphasize its power from the beginning, and its structure is also replaced with cathode-ray tube TVs, so that the transition to 'daily life' is naturally continued. Of course, it may be difficult to create a complex hollow with a different structure every time in full 3D as before, so that's why only some sections where battles take place are worked on. However, the cute appearance of the mascot 'Bangboo', as well as the retro production that reminds us of the cathode-ray tube TV era, make us not feel that way. We can't see the characters moving directly, but the composition that matches the setting and the unique retro charm are enough to catch the eye. Furthermore, the retro composition and tone seen everywhere in everyday life also matched well, so I felt a sense of unity.

In the CBT, I had a hard time feeling the crisis except when exploring the hollow because I kept seeing only the cute appearance. However, the composition that was kept secret until the final and shown with the demo build and the official release clearly caught even that balance. This is because the main content, 'Zero Hollow', 'Syuyu Defense Battle', and 'Notorious Hunt', were distributed to the outpost, and the outpost sheds light on how much the 'Hollow' is affecting the city.

In terms of Rope Puller trust level, that is, account level, the timing is just when you feel bored with everyday requests, and at that point, it effectively refreshes the atmosphere by showing the hollow that is expanding while occupying a large area like a black hole in one area of the city. In addition, while watching the various facilities prepared to suppress this and the activities of the members, I was looking forward to the activities of the characters that will appear in the future.

Of course, stories and narratives are areas where individual differences are large, so it is too early to jump to conclusions. However, the narrative of Zenless Zone Zero feels like it has caught the parts that most post-apocalyptic subculture games have missed. Many works in this genre have been too immersed in the phenomenon and profound settings of the worldview that have caused global crises, and the description of them, so I had a strong feeling that something was twisted. Rather, 'Zenless Zone Zero', which allows anyone to understand, and also allows you to select 'skip' if necessary and watch it later, is definitely different from the previous HoYoverse. It shows a build-up of the story they want to tell step by step by easily unraveling familiar materials and styles from everyday life while adding their own personality.

Zenless Zone Zero shows a different style from the previous HoYoverse, but when you actually play it, there are many things that HoYoverse has shown that have been transformed into Zenless Zone Zero style. To put it a little harshly, the resource and growth structure, as well as the content structure, can be generally matched by replacing the things in Genshin and Honkai: Star Rail with the words of Zenless Zone Zero. Zero Hollow like Simulated Universe, Syuyu Defense Battle like Spiral Abyss, Notorious Hunt which is a weekly boss, Regular Sweep which is farming artifacts, W Engine like Light Cone, Weekly Zero Hollow for a certain amount and exchange various resources for rewards, daily quests, and rewards obtained through Lidu Fund, a kind of pass, and routines to collect rewards from boxes hidden in various places and aim for pickup characters are waiting.

The format is already widely known among subculture users, so it is not difficult to adapt. However, it is a method to induce you to look through the vast worldview step by step rather than quickly moving on in the beginning, so the development tempo is somewhat slow. Then, when you get on track to some extent, you will grow quickly, but even then, a formalized routine is already waiting, so it is difficult to expect something new. In addition, since similar content designs have already been shown in two installments, it is not easy to approach 'Zenless Zone Zero', which continues the trend, lightly. Genshin or Honkai: Star Rail were both games that had a risk of getting tired before getting on track if you didn't take a certain stance from the beginning.

The secret of those two games was that they covered this burden with a scale, quality, and production that other subculture games had not easily shown in each genre, but 'Zenless Zone Zero' is a little different. The quality is certain, but it does not show the vast scale that would make you look forward to future adventures. The composition that goes back and forth between everyday life and the extraordinary, which newly reinterprets materials familiar to modern people, is enough to narrow the distance, but it is not enough to experience something different with that alone.

The main story is still a composition that makes you look forward to it. The stories of the past and the relationships between each character, and the story of the other side of the city are intertwined to show a well-organized composition. Furthermore, since HoYoverse has shown know-how in unraveling the stories of individual characters in various works, this part is also smooth. However, even this part may be quite burdensome for those who have encountered HoYoverse's previous works to look through each one. The amount is not that short, and above all, HoYoverse has been very negative about 'skip'.

However, this 'Zenless Zone Zero' has taken a more radical approach. It supports skipping, and uses the setting of 'video store' to allow you to review the stories you have passed before at any time. In addition, HoYoverse's formalized routine has been greatly reduced, allowing users to play at their own pace without being tied to it. When it is difficult or annoying to consume activity, you can easily clear daily quests by simply drinking coffee at a cafe, eating ramen at a ramen shop, or playing games at an arcade, adding small conditions. And the mob composition of the dungeon that repeatedly farms growth resources is greatly simplified, while a system is prepared to select and manufacture parts or sets so that you do not spend too much time farming discs, which is artifact farming.

There have been many words about 'Zenless Zone Zero', but whether it is good or bad, it is a title that can be explained by the word 'HoYoverse' in the end. It was a different attempt that was possible because it was HoYoverse, it was able to have that much detail, and it means that a routine that is too HoYoverse-like will be waiting at the very end.

The reality of 'Zenless Zone Zero' is that the bad points are all explained in that context. The 'Hollow', which showed a different production by implementing it with a cathode-ray tube TV monitor, was a very good design that reduced development costs and gave a fresh feeling, but when you look inside, most of the content that HoYoverse showed in its previous work was expressed in Zenless Zone Zero style. The moment it is replaced and you feel the familiar taste, its charm will inevitably fall. People tend to expect something new when they encounter a new work, but that expectation has been halved.

Furthermore, HoYoverse's games have given the impression that they are difficult to play and approach lightly, instead of showing a vast scale and heaviness. Of course, there are almost no multiplayer elements except for a few events in Genshin or friend support in Honkai: Star Rail, so you can enjoy it at your own pace, but because they appeal to the scale and quality, you need to prepare your mind rather than approaching it lightly just by looking at the characters. And the process of obtaining the character you want was not easy. In addition, although the speed has been increased compared to existing HoYoverse games, the process of unlocking content one by one is still relatively slow.

In fact, when you look at HoYoverse's previous games, it was closer to the feeling of refining and alchemizing the advantages of various existing games to create their own scale, quality, and worldview. Here, 'Zenless Zone Zero' felt like a variation of the action know-how and content design that HoYoverse had shown before, tailored to a new worldview.

Of course, the action, which is easier and more exciting than before, is definitely good, and the design of the hollow, which can be freely produced at any time according to the story and concept, is really amazing, but the driving force will inevitably decrease from the moment you get used to it. The story and the charm of the character itself are appealing by leading it with a familiar material and a clear narrative compared to the past, but something that can give new stimulation in between must be supported, which is the current task of 'Zenless Zone Zero'. I believe and play because it is HoYoverse, but on the contrary, there are things that can be expected because it is HoYoverse. That's why the special broadcast mentioned various gacha rewards that were not mentioned well before, and the rewards received little by little as achievements in the game were also put in a little bit. However, after all the lottery tickets have been scratched, the routine of daily quests or Zero Hollow rewards continues, so it is also important how to fill this gap because it is similar to the previous moves.

Of course, HoYoverse, which has blown away such mannerisms every time a new numbering patch is released, will not ultimately be a big problem. In fact, the key to live service games is to continuously show new things with updates and refine them while supplementing existing problems even after release. However, it is human psychology to expect something more different as it shows a new style. In that sense, Zenless Zone Zero gave a fresh accent with simpler action, a great style, and a lighter and clearer narrative, but it still needs more time to fully bring out its own charm beyond that familiar taste. It's like HoYoverse's previous work 'Honkai: Star Rail' was evaluated as being close to perfect in Penacony after several trials and errors.

It is necessary to watch how HoYoverse will lead the style that is familiar and newly created this time. In any case, it is one of the few cases that presents a style that is rare in the current subculture, and its success may bring a new breeze to subculture games that may become somewhat fixed. It is still in the stage of gradually refining only that possibility, but it is noteworthy whether 'HoYoverse', which has proven itself several times, will continue its long-term box office hit with this 'Zenless Zone Zero'.

8.5

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Zenless Zone Zero

• Exhilarating action that goes out even if you mash it
• HoYoverse-like graphics and sound quality
• Fast and clear development without proper noun traps
• Dungeon design that makes the most of the concept, gimmicks, and style
• Convenience that makes the most of the pad operation feeling

• Content that is too HoYoverse-like and predictable
• Content unlocking speed that is frustrating even after CBT
• A routine that ultimately results in disc farming

Review Platform: PC (Pre-Review Build)

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웹진 인벤윤서호 기자
2024-07-04