Review of Zenless Zone Zero: What's new, New Eridu?

Our Verdict

Zenless Zone Zero is an electrifying urban ARPG fuelled by fluid, fast-paced combat, quirky characters, and gripping gameplay. A departure from Hoyoverse’s usual M.O., it pulls you into a fresh yet familiar futuristic world, blending threads from different genres into a truly unique universe.

I mean it when I say that Zenless Zone Zero is an incredibly rare beast. ZZZ seems highly autonomous of its elder brothers and appears to have no desire in filling their (albeit huge) shoes, even if it still has that distinct Hoyoverse taste.

Instead, while Genshin and HSR weren't looking, it went out and got a pair of light-up platforms, colored its hair neon green, grabbed a handful of bubblegum, and went to a party. Well, that was a bit of a strange metaphor, but maybe it all makes sense when I discuss my experiences in New Eridu in more depth in my Zenless Zone Zero review.

ZZZ is the newest urban ARPG from Hoyoverse, but it's also a gacha game with puzzles, social and life sim components, roguelike mechanics, and obvious inspirations from some of the best fighting games available (for more information on that, be sure to read our Zenless Zone Zero interview with lead producer Zhenyu Li). Though the concepts and genres are rather mixed together, it all comes together to create an exhilarating and enjoyable trip.

The story takes place in the not-too-distant future, in a post-apocalyptic world where hostile parallel realities known as Hollows have seized control. These Hollows serve as entryways for strong beings known as Ethereals, who have entered the human world via them to cause havoc and exterminate the majority of mankind. But a few of cunning survivors overcame the invasion by taking Ethereal technology and resources and used them to create New Eridu, the only city remaining, as a barrier against the invaders.

It is your responsibility as a Zenless Zone Zero Proxy to assist your clients in exploring the Hollows and finding new friends in order to combat the Ethereals and retaliate against this enormous menace. However, your job isn't quite legal or safe. Fortunately, Belle and Wise are not new to this; they operate under pseudonyms on the Inter-Knot, own a video shop named Random Play to conceal their activities, and exercise extreme caution in selecting their customers and commissions.

Though it takes many diverse paths, Zenless Zone Zero's gameplay is primarily divided into two halves. In the first, Belle and Wise go about their "regular" lives on the streets of New Eridu. Everything seems extremely comfortable and urban, even the daily grind, which most of the time boils down to a cup of coffee and a few cat pictures.

The game has a time system that divides each day into distinct phases (morning, afternoon, and evening), much like Digimon World and Persona. Your in-game calendar allows you to plan your daily activities and missions, although certain interactions and events are limited to particular times of day. This is a feature that I've always liked in games since it makes them more realistic. However, if you don't want to wait around or find ways to kill time, you can just relax on the sofa and go to whatever time frame you like.

As previously noted, Belle and Wise own and operate Random Play, a video rental company on Sixth Street. As such, you are responsible for the store's maintenance. You may choose which employee will welcome clients and which cassettes to exhibit that day in this pretty basic form of a company management minigame, but I think it's a lovely touch. You may sometimes have the chance to assist clients with suggestions and special requests.

I really like the addition of Random Play to the game's launch edition via Belle and Wise's second-floor bedrooms. They really enhance the reality of the Proxies' existence in the store and go a long way toward complementing their characters (since, let's be honest, sharing a single sofa as your sole sleeping space with your sister would be awful).

Additionally, the bedroom has a charming memory wall that can be customized with images from the main plot missions and gorgeous stickers. To my dismay, however, I couldn't find a way to hang your own photos given that the game has an in-built camera. All I really want is for that valuable real estate to be filled with pictures I snap of New Eridu's cat population. Is it really that incorrect?

Aside from cat collages, the bedroom brought with it more than just a new feature for the memory board. Rather than just falling asleep, your character actually takes out their phone and begins doomscrolling for a while, giving you the opportunity to read through the Inter-Knot forums and even text or call your friends (by friends, I mean the other Zenless Zone Zero characters, in case you're confused).

This adds just another layer to that genuine urban living atmosphere, and I think it's a very great addition. I mean, I don't know about you, but I frequently stay up much too late perusing Reddit and emailing photos of my (actual) cat to my friends. In order to further enhance the immersion of the Inter-Knot forums, there are a few comments on each post (in fact, these posts are the primary source of side quests), and a "Welcome to Inter-Knot" post that appears at the top of the feed feels a lot like a Reddit auto-mod post that contains the rules for new users. Even though it's little, I really like it.

Aside from Random Play, there are a few neighborly businesses on Sixth Street. The Bardic Needle is a music store where you can purchase disc drives, Waterfall Soup is a noodle shop that provides energy boosts, and Coff Cafe sells coffee that will give you a boost in energy and, if you choose the right flavor, will also boost material drops. These stores are managed by very talented folks, each of whom has a distinct personality and style. They sometimes ask for your assistance as well, for both straightforward errands and Hollow-related tasks, which really contributes to the street's feeling of vitality and community.

Furthermore, Sixth Street is home to the God Finger Arcade, which at the moment has two operational minigames: Soul Hounds III, in which you take on the role of a small demon dog digging through blocks, and Snake Duel, which is basically just Snake with additional steps. Both of these games are way more fun than they should be. Snake Duel and Soul Hounds III both provide multiplayer options.

At Zenless Zone Zero Billy's request, you first see God Finger in the main tale, and he even plays a game with you. We were given the chance to participate in a battle as part of one of the Zenless Zone Zero events during the beta with people all across the globe. I can certainly see me losing a lot of money playing Snake Duel with my Proxy friends, and it seems like there is lots of space for other games in the future.

Of course, there are more locations than Sixth Street. Although the area has grown significantly since launch, we were able to visit the Brant Street Construction Site (where Belobog Heavy Industries is located during the main narrative quest line) and get a quick glance of Ballet Twins Road during the second closed beta test.

Undoubtedly, the most striking location is Lumina Square, which has several well-known Sixth Street stores (Coff Cafe, Waterfall Soup, etc.) next to a sizable body of water where blimps and boats are constantly floating by. The lights here are quite lovely, making this a great place to come on in-game night.

Additionally, there's the HIA Club, a quirky place where you may attend VR trials to gain resources to develop your characters, Scott Outpost, a camp connected to the permanent Hollow Zero gaming mode, and New Eridu Metro hub, a shockingly realistic public transportation hub. Additionally, a new feature allows you to message various characters and ask them to go places with you, such as to the arcade or grab dinner. This feature gives you a little more control over your daily routine and speeds up the process of earning the trust of your favorite agents.

The fact that I can't really roam about within buildings like the arcade and café makes me a bit irritated, even if these new sections are very attractive and yet rather modest. Ruby (editor) and I both feel that Lumina Square feels a little too small, especially in comparison to the more expansive metropolises found in other urban genre titles such as the Persona games and Master Detective Archives: Rain Code. However, Lumina Square is much larger than Sixth Street.

Not that I'm against larger-than-life games; in fact, I'd much rather see Zenless Zone Zero set in these charming, compact locales than in a desolate open-world game, but a little more freedom to roam around would really help to enhance that sense of urban, city living, which is obviously what the developers are going for.

As I've already shown, seeing New Eridu is just a minor portion of Zenless Zone Zero; the true magic is found in Random Play's Video Archive Room. It's time to explore the Hollows because this isn't just any average storage cupboard—it's also where Belle and Wise operate their Proxy company.

Through Belle and Wise's PC at the rear of Random Play, you may access the Hollow Deep Dive (HDD) system and subsequently do several tasks. Combat and exploration quests are the two main types of these missions; in the final launch, they are much more distinct than they were in the second closed beta. Missions that focus on combat usually let you get right into the action with a group of three characters and a bangboo that can assist you in battle.

On the other side, exploration and major quests often center on a highly special Hollow traversal system that puts you in a grid of screens that you have to navigate in order to reach your goal. You come across a wide range of features and gameplay elements as you go between screens, such as dialog-based events, objects, and buffs.

Certain panels correspond to battle or challenge situations, in which the game takes you to a place where you must advance by fighting or working through riddles. Here, you represent the members of your selected team while playing with your bangboo.

This game's combat is quite smooth and has become better since the second closed beta. Although it differs greatly from Genshin Impact and Honkai Star Rail and may not be to everyone's taste, it is very well-balanced, fast-paced, has clear animations, and has a genuine sensation of impact when assaulting your enemies. There are many of variations based on combinations and how you respond to opponent assaults, which gives each battle a pleasant degree of complexity even if you do have your standard rotations of basic strikes, special attacks, and ultimates.

For instance, you may always use your character's special move, but activating it when they have sufficient energy will unleash an enhanced version known as an EX special strike. Likewise, you may change characters or dodge at any moment, but if you do it just before an attacker strikes, you'll execute a flawless dodge or assist that can slow down time or unleash a powerful parry attack.

In addition, characters have unique responsibilities, anomalies (elements), and attack types that work well in certain situations in place of conventional "classes." All of this adds up to a surprisingly intricate fighting system. While you can go through a lot of material simply selecting a powerful character and pressing buttons, spending more time in the game to experiment with various combinations and team compositions will definitely pay off.

Character-wise, ZZZ is obviously a gacha game. With a pool of regular characters, a limited number of banners that rotate in and out every few weeks, and the same pity system, the Zenless Zone Zero banners are quite similar to those of Honkai Star Rail and Genshin Impact.

The primary gacha currency, polychrome, which you can either earn in-game or buy for what I assume will be a comparable price to Hoyoverse's other titles, allows you to pull for both characters and W-Engines, which are basically weaponry. But just by playing the game, you can also get a respectable cast of characters and a few W-Engines for free. In my opinion, the A-rank characters are now just as entertaining as the S-ranks, so there's place in New Eridu for free-to-play gamers.

Additionally, there is a Bangboo banner; fortunately, it is completely free and cannot have actual money purchased for it. As an alternative, you may acquire the cash (boopons) via certain gaming modes and events. You can also choose whatever S-rank banana you want to pull, and you'll always obtain it in 80 pulls or less. This is good news since it seems a little excessive to have three premium banners to fully use your best restricted character.

As one would anticipate, you may also enhance the power of each of your agents by upgrading their equipment, abilities, and levels. Naturally, this calls for that well-known material grind. Fortunately, a lot of this grinding can be accomplished via the VR gaming mode, where you can construct a challenge for yourself by selecting various adversary cards according to the resources you need.

The graphics of Zenless Zone Zero are really stunning, skillfully fusing modern and vintage aspects to give the setting a true feeling of depth. As usual, the playable character designs are flawless, while noteworthy side characters like General Chop, Elfy, and the endearing Bangboo perfectly fit the high standards we've come to expect from Hoyoverse in recent years. Everything in the game looks stylish, vibrant, and well-coordinated, giving it a distinct personality that blends in nicely with its setting, from the quirky cutscenes reminiscent of comic books to the vibrant UI and menus.

I've had the opportunity to play the game on both my PC and my iPhone 13, and both have given me excellent performance. One benefit of the smaller maps is that they nearly always load quickly. In all of my long playing, I have had very no lag, stuttering, or frame rate reductions. The transition between the PC and portable seems just as natural as the fight itself because to the user-friendly controls that work well on both systems.

Naturally, I would never forget the sound design as well. From the playable characters to the non-player characters, all of them have excellent voice acting, and the sound effects used in battle are powerful and striking. The really outstanding OST of Zenless Zone Zero, however, is where the game truly shines. Music director Mr. Yang's amazing EDM and dubstep-fueled rhythms never fail to get your heart racing during the most intense battles, and there are some terrific lo-fi tunes to appreciate during the more relaxed parts of the game. I can confirm that Hoyoverse never disappoints when it comes to music, but Zenless Zone Zero still manages to pleasantly surprise me in this area. I attended the Genshin Impact concert in early 2024.

All things considered, Zenless Zone Zero is a very promising urban ARPG with a wonderfully distinct and captivating universe, amazing characters, catchy soundtracks, and remarkably smooth and fulfilling action combat that is enjoyable for both novices and experts alike. Even though it's early, Hoyoverse has a fantastic track record, so I'm very interested to see what this future, quirky universe has in store.

Alright, what say you? Would you want to jump into the Hollows? If so, make sure to get some Zenless Zone Zero codes to carry with you and have a look at our Zenless Zone Zero tier list. In order to keep you informed about what's new in New Eridu, we also have guides to all of the most recent Zenless Zone Zero events as well as the current and upcoming Zenless Zone Zero update.