Zenless Zone Zero - Review

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VGChartz reviewed the action RPG Zenless Zone Zero:

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Zenless Zone Zero (PS5) - Review

With a third miHoYo game now released on smartphones and PS5, we've come to a point where the Chinese developer could, ironically, start to dominate the JRPG industry. An action RPG like Genshin Impact, Zenless Zone Zero comes with a different mood, new characters, more stories, and more grinding. Can miHoYo once again steal RPG players' time from the competition?

Honkai Star Rail was very different from Genshin Impact, and in turn Zenless Zone Zero is distinct from both of them. If medieval fantasy-inspired Genshin Impact represents the past, and sci-fi-centric Honkai Star Rail the future, that leaves the present to Zenless Zone Zero. Indeed miHoYo's latest universe, while still set an anime fantasy world, is urban fantasy strongly inspired by the 90s. Wise and Belle, the two protagonists, manage a video rental store, which gave me flashbacks of my past when visiting this long lost profession. You can choose which of the two protagonists you want to control but, unlike in miHoYo's previous efforts, the protagonist doesn't fight.

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While I can't shake off the feeling that Zenless Zone Zero suffers from a certain lack of investment, I can't see myself dropping the game either, if this initial version is representative of what awaits in future updates. I didn't expect the story to shine, yet it vastly exceeded my expectations. I did have faith in miHoYo's ability to create a great new gameplay experience, but on this front it's only partially successful, being genuinely fun but not particularly deep. Still, boasting some crazily great characters, superb design, graphics, and animations, I see Zenless Zone Zero as a very cool and delightful action RPG that I'll come back to with pleasure as future versions are released.

Score: 7.5/10