Review of Wuthering Waves: two excellent gachas for the price of one
Our Verdict
Despite a somewhat rocky launch, Wuthering Waves introduces us to an exciting new world with plenty of potential, where dodge mechanics make for incredibly fun combat, and engrossing exploration keeps us coming back.
Are you prepared to begin this review of Wuthering Waves? Alright. Just make sure you strap up, since this might be a big one. To begin with, I was drawn to this game right away by its marketing, environment, and character designs. And when I first started playing the game, I wasn't let down.
There are a lot of names, locations, and character indications that we're not sure about, much like in any decent story-driven open-world game—but whose game doesn't have these? You'll be able to adapt to the environment fast if you've played any games like Tower of Fantasy, Echocalypse, or Genshin Impact.
Shall we tackle the unspoken matter at hand? Wuthering Waves is comparable to Genshin Impact, yes. Actually, it is really similar to Honkai Star Rail. However, upon launch, Genshin was a lot like Breath of the Wild, and a lot of other games use the same structure. Wuthering Waves' futuristic base-filled terrain and many levitation puzzles are evocative of both Death Stranding and Tears of the Kingdom. Having said that, Verina is a little too. The only true distinction between her and Nahida is that she is a healer, and an excellent one at that.
The plot of Wuthering Waves goes like this: you are the Rover and you are placed in a world where a horrible catastrophe occurred three years ago and is threatening to recur. The reappearance of the overarching power (the Threnodians) has resulted in monsters (Tacet Discords) everywhere. You and the other important individuals who can employ elements and resonate with the world—the Resonators, who are playable characters you may add to your roster—are the only ones who can defeat these monsters.
As the plot progresses, I must admit that I didn't really pay attention to the first hour or two. This was partly because I was using erratic WiFi while travelling by train, but it was also because I was eager to start playing and explore the universe. The story picks up steam when the Threnodian begins to return, and General Jiyan does a fantastic job of breaking down everything in terms of what's happening and the background. Sure, there's some filler where you learn about some specific candies and hear a potential enemy babble on about lambs, but once you get into the action, things get good.
Wuthering Waves has a few significant advantages over other, comparable games. For example, you may harvest more resources before running out of waveplates, which are 200 of the equivalent of resin and energy in Hoyo's games. More free characters are available, and finding equipable things as they emerge in the overworld is considerably simpler. There is a useful dodge mechanism in battle that may result in additional attacks. And you can pet canines. In this game, you can really feed and touch dogs!
I really adore learning about and travelling the globe. The Huanglong area is now home to only one city, Jinzhou. There are six major zones, according to the narrative, so I'm excited for additional villages to pop up in next Wuthering Waves updates. The setting is well-designed, with more realistic textures and a little darker style than, example, Genshin Impact. Though it doesn't fully match the gameplay, the music is nonetheless a pleasant ambient experience. With the ability to sprint up walls, launch a grappling hook into the air, and zoom about, exploration is quite enjoyable. Additionally, you instantly pick up any drops from battles and chests, which reduces the amount of retracing and button bashing.
The game's in-game money, astrite, and a plethora of puzzles and groups of Tacet Discords await you along the way. Solving them will earn you a tasty bounty of XP goods and astrite. There are problems to solve all around you in the overworld, such as fighting, rushing to a goal, gathering money, and arranging objects to finish a design. There's another kind of mystery in the narrative. Occasionally, your perspective shifts to a two-dimensional screen where you must navigate a platformer-style level while dodging obstacles and monsters to find a certain object or new place. This offers a welcome diversion from the typical third-person perspective.
Beating up every adversary you come across is something you have to grow accustomed to. That bear with the spikes? Achieve it. Those gullible humanoids? Take them to task. That turtle? Please proceed. These opponents have the ability to become echoes; if they leave a yellowish silhouette, you may use your gourd-shaped gadget to absorb it, equip it, and use it in combat. This features, among other superbly crafted creatures and monsters, the iconic disco turtle and the spiky bear. It's funny, but this method makes me feel a little like a bastard pounding the tortoises. To be honest, it reminds me a little bit of Pokémon Legends: Arceus.
Let's now examine the characters from Wuthering Waves Wuthering Waves who you may use these echoes on. To be honest, Kuro surpassed themselves with the drawings for this masculine figure. Jiyan is, well, gorgeous, Calcharo has a weird nose, and Lingyang's fighting strings with the lion dance tune are rather unique. He also has an extremely useful and entertaining kit that includes a furious dragon that assaults anything in its path. Although each of the female characters is fantastic in her own unique way, several of them have too many design elements, most notably Jianxin, Baizhi, Rover, and Yangyang, who are all female and have black hair and clothing.
You may access skill training for each new character you get. This is a dedicated lesson that walks you through all of their combinations and abilities. You may review this at any moment, and it truly helps you understand how to maximise every unit in the game. The finest aspect of Wuthering Waves is really the battle. Every character moves smoothly, and the majority have unique, themed movesets (particularly Jianxin's martial arts-based strikes). It also requires you to utilise a little more of your wits than simply your ultimate, mashing talent. Timing is important for both the intro and outro moves, as well as for avoiding or jumping over assaults and securing a free hit.
The personalities and voice acting of some characters in English are a source of disagreement throughout the community. Overall, I don't hate the voice acting, although some of it is a touch hammy and has the incorrect accent; Yangyang and the female Rover are the worst of this. Regrettably, Rover has a pretty flat voice. For me, this is made up for by Aalto's performance as he brings some fun. In fact, Aalto's voice actor commented on a TikTok video showcasing his fight animations, expressing his gratitude that the lines made it since they were mostly improvised and allowed him to have a great time, which comes through.
It took some getting accustomed to the three-person party structure and the lack of elemental responses with other characters or the outside world, even for a die-hard Hoyo. But I'm curious to see how the kits go and where the roster goes with more possible shielder and buffer characters in the future.
Given that Wuthering Waves is a gacha game, we must examine the pity mechanisms and price. Although I haven't played a lot of gacha games, WuWa's method looks to be rather lenient. Most of the time, there are four Wuthering Waves banners following the novice banner and the selection of typical five-star banners. These banners are for regular characters, standard weapons, limited characters, and limited weaponry.
Each banner pull costs 160 astrite, and you get a five-star rating in 80 pulls or less, and a four-star rating in every 10 pulls. There is no 50/50 on the banner for the limited weapon. It's great that 80 pity has assured you of the event weapon. Furthermore, even four-star ratings have a 50/50 chance of being featured if the limited character banner you get has a four-star rating and it isn't the featured one. Are you listening, Hoyo?
Like most other games, it is still fairly priced, with various packages costing anywhere from 99p to £99.99, or the equivalent in your local currency. Indeed, a 30-day membership to lunite is available for £4.99, which gives you access to 90 astrite daily. Indeed, I've already purchased it. But take note of this: wavebands for your characters are available for purchase in the shop. Along with two four-stars, you may obtain two of each of the five ordinary five-star characters, and the restricted five-star character. That's right—two more copies of your favourites, guaranteed!
There is now the matter of the game's performance. Although I didn't have many bad experiences, many others in the community have. Performance levels across devices and platforms have varied greatly; for example, I found that playing on my two-year-old Samsung was terrible, while my Motorola phone and PC worked well, with the occasional frame drop. Kuro Games has been releasing patches every day, sometimes even more, to address game problems, crashes, and stuttering.
Was the game released flawlessly? Well, then what game does? Punishing: Grey Raven, Nikke, Genshin, and Epic 7 didn't, and I'm certain Zenless Zone Zero won't either. Even though the story is as ancient as time, Kuro is still working on it and has offered us 20 pulls in exchange for the freedom to choose any five-star character we choose. The ability to utilise controllers on mobile devices is something I do hope Kuro implements, since it is not presently possible. Additionally, they should obtain a better translation and proofread the language since part of the quest's content has misspelt words and letters or spelling mistakes.
Who knows what the future holds? Personally, I think it's great, and who knows where the game will end up? There are currently no clues about future regions or plot updates, and we have no idea how banners will evolve in the future—we could only have one at a time instead of two. All I can do is hope Wuthering Waves keeps growing and receiving the support it deserves. Fortunately, Kuro already seems to be committed to the game.
After reading this positive review, if you want to try the game or you're not sure what to do with your characters, check out our builds forWuthering Waves Jiyan andWuthering Waves Verina. You can also get the most recentWuthering Waves codes by following our guides.