Vortex Gaming

The new game 'Zenless Zone Zero' from HoYoverse will be released on July 4th. Since its first reveal in 2022, there have been several CBTs, and each time new information was released, it garnered high interest from global gamers. The pre-registration, which started at the end of April, saw over 40 million global gamers participating before the release.

More than two years have passed from the first reveal to the release, and many experiential events have been held, so there is a lot of information that has already been released. Even if you start playing at the same time, there will inevitably be a gap between those who have never experienced the game and those who have.

I've been waiting for Zenless Zone Zero for a long time, and if you're determined to play it properly, I thought you should learn some prior knowledge to adapt to the game more easily. So, I've compiled some of the good things and features to know in advance about Zenless Zone Zero, which will be released on the 4th.

0. What is 'Zenless Zone Zero'?

Zenless Zone Zero is an urban fantasy RPG set in a post-apocalyptic world where modern civilization has been destroyed by a supernatural disaster called 'Hollows'. The main stage is 'New Eridu', the last city of mankind and a city with technology to counter the Hollow disaster. The player becomes Wise and Bell, siblings who are the managers of the video store 'Random Play' in New Eridu's Sixth District and are also legendary Ropebinders known as 'Paetons', unfolding stories that go back and forth between the city's daily life and the Hollows.

In battles that take place inside the Hollows, you can experience Zenless Zone Zero's unique stylish combat. The characters in the game have their own unique skills, and they will show even faster-paced action with mechanisms such as character combo attacks and quick team member switching. In particular, support fire and parrying are triggered just by tag actions that switch characters, allowing you to continue a spectacular offensive. Intuitive and fast controls are the strengths of this game.

In summary, Zenless Zone Zero is an ARPG that can be easily and conveniently played not only by those who usually like action games, but also by users who are not familiar with action games. At the same time, it also has elements for fans of the 'roguelike' genre, which is characterized by a heavy story unique to the post-apocalyptic genre and the ability to experience new fun every time. In addition, it will be released on most platforms, including PS5, mobile, and PC, so that users can choose the platform that suits them best.

1. Key settings in Zenless Zone Zero that are good to know in advance

There are many unique proper nouns and new settings in Zenless Zone Zero. If you're a gamer who has played HoYoverse games enough through Genshin Impact or Honkai: Star Rail, you may feel familiar with some parts, but there are also many concepts that you have to learn from scratch as the story takes place in a new space called New Eridu. If you don't understand the basic settings, the fun of the game will be greatly reduced, so it's important to know the parts that you need to know to immerse yourself in the story.

First, there's the 'Hollows' mentioned above. Hollows refer to spherical spaces where space-time is mixed for unknown reasons. They look like black holes on the outside. The space-time inside the Hollows has changed chaotically due to unknown factors, and there are also dangerous mutant creatures called 'Ethereals'. If an ordinary person gets lost in the Hollows, they may be attacked by Ethereals, and they are also at risk of being mutated by the influence of erosion. These damages are collectively called 'Hollow Disaster'.

The world of Zenless Zone Zero features technology that can control this disaster. At the same time, there is also technology that can mine valuable resources inside the disaster. The main players who use these technologies are 'Ropebinders' and 'Raiders'. Usually, you can't communicate with the outside from inside the Hollows, but you can solve this problem by using special equipment such as the H.D.D system and Bangboo used by the main characters. Those who connect the inside and outside of the Hollows in this way are called Ropebinders, and the brave agents who directly enter the Hollows are called Raiders. Players must use the H.D.D to command the Raiders who have entered the Hollows, defeat the Ethereals blocking their way, and evacuate them to a safe zone.

If the Hollow is where you can experience the action elements of Zenless Zone Zero, then 'New Eridu' is another major background that is responsible for the daily life parts. In fact, it is no exaggeration to say that Zenless Zone Zero is a game that constantly goes back and forth between New Eridu, which is the base, and the Hollow, which is a dangerous zone.

New Eridu is the last city of mankind, operated under the thorough command and control of the government, and is characterized by having technology to counter the Hollow disaster. It is a metropolis where people from various classes gather, including disaster refugees, vagrants, and survivors from other bases. The main characters live in the Sixth District of New Eridu. As it is the main characters' base, most of the content that can be accessed in the early game is also concentrated in this Sixth District.

First, let's take a look at the video store 'Random Play' run by the main characters. This place ostensibly provides video rental services, but in reality, it is operated as a Ropebinder office. Players can earn Dennies by running a video store here, and they can also check most of the options related to the game play, such as tutorials, agent information, and request records. Oh, 'Denny' is the common currency circulating in New Eridu.

In addition, there is also the special equipment 'H.D.D. System' for exploring the Hollows, the 'Sofa', which is a resting space where you can change the time of day in the game to day and night, and the 'Commercial Vehicle', which is a means of transportation that allows you to quickly move to other areas of New Eridu. As it is a base where you can access most of the content in the game, it is probably the space where you will stay the longest while playing the game.

In addition to Random Play, there are various stores in the Sixth District that you can visit. The services that can be used in each place are all different, so I have summarized them so that you can see at a glance what functions you can access.

There are four time zones in Zenless Zone Zero: morning, afternoon, night, and dawn, and the time naturally flows to the next time zone when you perform certain actions. About a third of the time also flows when you use an arcade, cafe, or ramen shop. There are various stores in the Sixth District, but other stores do not operate at night except for the 24-hour general store 141, so if you plan to visit each place, you need to allocate your time so that there are no disruptions to your schedule.

In addition to the stores introduced earlier, there is also the 'Sage of the Bin' that you can meet in the trash can on the street corner, and the 'District Exit', which is a mecca for street culture enthusiasts. At the time of the official opening, you will also be able to visit areas outside the Sixth District, such as 'Lumina Plaza', where more people come and go.

The last setting that is good to know in advance is 'Bangboo'. Bangboo is a small smart device made for Hollow disaster evacuation, and it can be said to be the mascot of this work. It is characterized by its rabbit doll-like appearance, its small size that comes up to an adult's knee, and its communication with a unique cry of 'Woongnanana'.

In New Eridu, Bangboo is being used as a comprehensive smart device, going beyond its original limited function as a disaster evacuation device. It has various convenience functions to meet the needs of various people, and some of them are deployed to the Hollows with investigators and play an active role in battle. 'Ias', who is the player's reliable assistant and acts as the player's alter ego in Hollow exploration, is also one of the Bangboo models. Players will be able to acquire Bangboos of various grades with 'Bangboo Tickets', which are free in-game currency that can be obtained through game play and various events.

2. Focusing on the fun of action and operation, the battle mechanics of 'Zenless Zone Zero'

Now that we've roughly looked at the background settings of the work related to the story, let's take a look at the contents related to the actual game play and action system. First, let's learn about the characters that the player will control in battle, the 'Agents'.

Zenless Zone Zero's Agents are classified into five characteristics. There are five types: the dealer 'Power', who is in charge of the most basic damage with direct attacks, 'Breaker', who specializes in accumulating stagger stats, 'Anomalous', who accumulates attribute abnormality values to trigger attribute abnormality states, 'Support', who provides buff effects to allies, and 'Defense', who has strong survivability.

Each Agent also has its own 'attribute' in addition to its characteristics. There are also five attributes: Physical, Fire, Ice, Electric, and Ether. Each attribute inflicts attribute abnormality damage on the enemy and can put the enemy into an attribute abnormality state to deal additional damage.

Each attribute has an affinity. Fire is more effective against biological type enemies, Ice is more effective against Ethereal type enemies, Electric is more effective against machine type enemies, and Ether is more effective against energy type enemies. If you inflict two or more attribute abnormalities on an enemy, a new attribute abnormality is added to the existing attribute abnormality, and 'Attribute Anomaly·Chaos' is additionally triggered, which accumulates additional damage and stagger stats. The key to combat using attributes is to trigger as much Chaos as possible during combat.

In Zenless Zone Zero's combat, players can use normal attacks, dash attacks, special skills, and ultimate skills. These are simple controls that can be commonly seen in ordinary action RPGs, so there is not much difficulty. Let's learn about the concepts and controls of 'Combo Skill', 'Evasion Counter', 'Hit Support', and 'Extreme Support', which are good to know in advance.

First, 'Combo Skill' is an attack that is triggered when an enemy is in a stagger state. It is a technique that tags with other party members by pressing the mouse button based on PC operation, and it is triggered up to two consecutive times for elite-level enemies and up to three consecutive times for boss-level enemies. Some combat Bangboos also take over the combo skill instead of the Agent.

'Evasion Counter' is an action that is triggered by using evasion at the exact timing after seeing the enemy's attack motion, and then pressing the basic attack immediately. Invincibility judgment is applied during Evasion Counter, so it is used in various ways, so it is an operation that you must be familiar with.

'Hit Support' can be used by pressing the character switch key (space bar based on PC operation) immediately when your character is hit by a strong attack from an enemy and falls down. It is a useful technique that can prevent additional damage and return to the attack phase at the same time.

'Extreme Support' is a technique that can be triggered by pressing the character switch key when an enemy is sparkling and trying to use a special pattern. At this time, the 'Support Points' accumulated when using combo skills and ultimate skills are used, and 'Support Assault' follows immediately when performing a normal attack operation after Extreme Support is triggered.

Finally, let's look at the equipment system together. The name may feel a bit complicated, but Zenless Zone Zero's equipment can be largely summarized into two types: 'W-Engine' and 'Disk'. The W-Engine increases the Agent's basic attack power and has its own unique advanced attributes and W-Engine effects. As mentioned briefly above, it is recommended to equip a W-Engine that matches the characteristics of each Agent. Usually, you can purchase it at a toy store in the city or obtain it as a reward for completing Ropebinder tasks, and you can also grow it more powerfully by strengthening and modifying it.

In addition to the W-Engine, Agents can equip up to 6 'Disks'. Each Disk has 1 basic attribute and up to 4 random attributes, and if you equip the same set of Disks, the set effect is activated. You can acquire random Disks by using gilding agents at the record store, and you can strengthen the basic attributes by leveling up the Disk.

If you have a favorite equipment combination and are familiar with the basic combat mechanics, you can enjoy the combat content in Zenless Zone Zero more fun. Of course, if you feel that the complicated operations are just difficult and you want to focus on the story experience comfortably, you can select and play the 'Casual Mode' provided with the challenge mode. In Zenless Zone Zero, there is only a difference in experience, and the rewards are provided the same regardless of which mode you choose.

3. What content can you play in 'Zenless Zone Zero'?

To briefly summarize the combat content of Zenless Zone Zero that you can play at the time of opening, it is as follows.

This time, let's take a light look at the characteristics of the remaining content, excluding the basic content H.D.D, where you can follow the main story and enjoy various elements in the game sequentially. First, there is the content with roguelike elements, 'Zero Hollow'.

Before entering Zero Hollow, you must first designate one Agent as the party leader and two additional Agents as rear support standby. The party leader Agent designated in this way starts exploring Zero Hollow alone, and then increases the number of party members with random requests in the safe zone of the Hollow. If you don't need support right away, you can save the communication information in the support beacon and use the support beacon to call it immediately when you need it. As the exploration area deepens, more rear support slots are opened, and more Agents can be set as rear support, but the maximum number that can be combined into a party is only 3.

The exploration process proceeds in the same way as the general Hollow, by controlling the Bangboo on the board to move. The difference from the general Hollow is that it is divided into 4 areas depending on the exploration depth: Outer Rim, Interior, Backcountry, and Core, and each area consists of several explorable floors. If you defeat the enemy at the end of each floor, you can complete the exploration of that floor, and if you remove the final threat at the exit of the last floor, the area exploration is completed. Irregularities called 'Space Fluctuation' may occur on some special floors, so it is important to carefully decide the direction of movement.

Most of the actions in Zero Hollow increase the stress level by '10pt'. When this value reaches 100, a random erosion symptom appears, and the stress level is reset. Erosion symptoms consist of debuffs that affect exploration, such as increased evasion cooldown and HP reduction, and can be stacked up to five times. Even if only three erosions are stacked, the boss battle becomes difficult, so in general, you choose the shortest route and finish the exploration before five erosions are stacked.

An element called 'Resonium' appears in Zero Hollow. Collecting Resonium grants beneficial effects to the party, such as combat buffs and exploration buffs. Think of it as the same concept as the Path Blessing in Honkai: Star Rail. There are several types of Resonium, including common, critical, energy, and evasion, and if you accumulate 4 or 8 of the same type of Resonium, you can additionally acquire 'Deepened Resonium'.

You can purchase Resonium at the Bangboo store with Gear Coins collected during Zero Hollow exploration. You can use up to 15 Resonium at a time, and after that, you have to exchange or discard the existing Resonium. In addition, there is an observatory at the end of each floor of Zero Hollow, where you can remove 1 of the erosions you have and select 1 S-grade Resonium. Considering which Resonium to combine is also a fun element of Zero Hollow play.

When you complete the Core area exploration of Zero Hollow, the 'Risk Level' option is opened, and you can increase the exploration difficulty by selecting some options. The structure is that you can acquire investigation rewards according to the number of Ether material samples acquired during the investigation period, and the maximum number of samples that can be collected increases when a certain Rope Net level is reached, and you can obtain more tiers of rewards. The investigation rewards consist of useful items such as Original Master Tape, which is a currency used for gacha, as well as Color Film, Bangboo System Control, and Dennies. Investigation rewards are automatically updated every week, so it is important to receive them before initialization.

The second content is VR Simulation. You can enter the HIA Club after completing the 'Lost Coffee Bean' request. This is a place where you can collect level-up and promotion materials, and if you build up Rope Net trust above a certain level, you can customize the monster card combination yourself to get the materials you want. You can see the expected profit that can be obtained during training on the monster card selection screen, and some of Tinman Master's special coffees increase the profit after training is completed, so it is also fun to compare several examples and construct the most efficient simulation course.

If you are a user who has done CBT, you will feel that VR Simulation has changed a lot. Disk and weekly boss rewards have been changed to 'Regular Sweep' and 'Notorious Hunt' at the outpost. Checking how this change in composition is solved in the story will also be of great help in understanding the city of New Eridu.

The third content is Ciyu Defense. Ciyu Defense is a high-difficulty challenge content that is periodically reset according to a specific theme, like Genshin Impact's Spiral Abyss and Honkai: Star Rail's Forgotten Hall. You can jump straight into battle with the enemy without the Hollow investigation part, and the goal is to clear it within the time limit by making the most of the specific conditions given to each stage. The fun of the Ciyu Defense content is the fun of placing suitable Agents in the right place by looking at the newly presented conditions each time, and the various rewards that can be obtained when all the challenge goals are achieved.

4. What is the information related to the release time of 'Zenless Zone Zero'?

Zenless Zone Zero will officially launch its service on July 4, 2024 in global regions including Korea, China, and Japan. Pre-download will be available from July 2nd prior to the official launch, so it is recommended to check the pre-download period in advance if you want to start your adventure quickly on the release date.

In Zenless Zone Zero, gacha is conducted under the name of 'Warp'. You can perform regular gacha and pick-up gacha in the 'General Channel' and 'Exclusive Channel' in the game. W-Engines and Agents, which are weapon concepts, appear together in the gacha. 'Original Master Tape' currency is used for regular gacha, and 'Confidential Master Tape' is consumed for limited gacha. Tapes can be purchased with Polychrome, which is a paid currency, and the price is the same at 1600.

The gacha system has a composition that will feel familiar if you have played Genshin Impact or Honkai: Star Rail before. For the first time only, the 10-draw price is discounted by 20% up to 5 times, and new users are provided with benefits that allow them to acquire an S-grade Agent unconditionally in the first 50 draws. If you perform 300 gacha in the general channel, you can select and recruit one S-grade Agent for a limited time, and S-grade Agents and Signals have a 90-draw ceiling, and Bangboo has an 80-draw ceiling. In the case of a pity break, the next S-grade Agent, Signal, and Bangboo will unconditionally feature a pick-up product.

As a reward for the official launch, 100 character gacha tickets and 80 Bangboo tickets will be provided. Launch-related events will also be held, and it is expected that rewards such as A-grade Agents and A-grade W-Engines will be acquired when participating in the events. In addition, the redeem code released in the special broadcast before the launch'ZZZFREE100'If you enter it, you can additionally acquire 300 Monochromes, 30,000 Dennies, 2 Senior Investigator Records. 3 W-Engine Energy Modules. The redeem code can only be entered from July 4, the release date, until July 11, exactly one week later, so don't miss out on it.

Currently, the 'Shopping Stack up Before the Trip' web event is being held on the official website ahead of the official service. It is an event where you can acquire some key items in advance by participating in events that are updated daily. You can earn 'Flip Opportunities' by logging in daily and completing a few simple daily missions, and you can use those opportunities to flip bingo cards and receive in-game item rewards. The reward list includes A-grade W-Engine - Fragment of Time, Bangboo Ticket, and 3 types of A-grade Disks, and you will unconditionally receive one random reward per flip opportunity.

There are really various rewards prepared, but the items that players can take are limited to a few items that can be filled in a 4X4 size backpack. You can create various reward combinations as needed, but the most recommended combination is '1 A-grade W-Engine - Fragment of Time, 3 Bangboo Tickets, 1 A-grade Disk'.

The web event started on May 28, but it's never too late to start from now. This is because the event will continue until the 18th, not the 4th, which is the official service launch date. If the item you want does not come out in the gacha, you can collect the same number of pieces given as the number of times you challenged and 'confirm purchase' at the exchange store, so let's continue to participate in the event until the desired reward combination is achieved. Of course, the most important thing is to fill all 16 slots in the backpack by the deadline. If the backpack is completed early, you can receive the rewards in the backpack first from the 4th, which is the official service launch date.

In addition, if you want to use the limited time a little more efficiently, it is also good to create a daily routine in New Eridu. If you play the game, you will naturally run out of action power, so be sure to charge '60PT of battery' at the cafe once a day, get buffs at the ramen shop, get random rewards at the lottery shop every day, and check the arcade where mini-game events are held periodically. It may feel cumbersome to repeat, but it is really important in the long run to take care of these small routines without missing them.

The release date of HoYoverse's ambitious new urban fantasy ARPG 'Zenless Zone Zero' is really not far away. Even if you haven't participated in the closed beta test that has been conducted a total of three times, there is a lot of prior information that vividly captures the early composition of the game, so it's best to just refer to these simply and find out the really important parts by playing it yourself.

Webzine InvenReporter Park Kwang-seok
2024-07-02