Zenless Zone Zero

I jumped into New Eridu as a curious Proxy hoping for stylish action and a city worth exploring — and Zenless Zone Zero largely delivers. The neon-soaked urban fantasy, punchy animations and an EDM-forward soundtrack hooked me within the first hour. What keeps it honest is a combat loop that rewards timing and audacity: parries feel meaningful and swaps keep fights cinematic. But the game is also a gacha live service, and that colouring affects progression, balance and some design choices.

Diving into the Hollows

The core loop throws you between New Eridu’s bustling streets and the dangerous Hollows — instanced arenas that test reflexes more than exploration. Combat is a three‑part dance: basic attacks to build momentum, special moves for burst, and Chain Attacks or assists to finish. Parry and dodge windows are tight but fair; landing a perfect parry punctuates the moment with a satisfying clang and opens a damage window. You control a three‑agent team and swap on the fly, meaning you’re constantly thinking about timing, assists and off‑field effects. Driving this is a small resource economy (skill bars, assists and anomaly status) that makes every decision feel meaningful rather than spammy. The game rewards animation cancels, manual chain attacks and learning enemy tells — which I found genuinely addictive.

Agent Tactics and the Gacha Tradeoffs

What sets ZZZ apart is how it layers depth over a gacha shell: agents have kits that interact (stuns, anomaly buildup, aftershock on/off‑field synergies) so teamcraft matters. Drive‑Discs (the gear system) let you tailor stats but bring RNG frustrations — substats can make or break a build. F2P players get surprisingly generous pull income compared to genre peers, and I managed useful comps without paying, but high‑tier endgame often nudges you toward limited units or meta weapons. There’s palpable powercreep — older agents sometimes need buffs — and Hoyo’s banner cadence influences who’s viable. Still, the variety of playstyles (hypercarry, double DPS anomaly, stun chains, defensive comps) keeps the late game interesting when you’re willing to min‑max.

Neon Sound and Animated Panache

Visually ZZZ is a love letter to slick 2000s cyberpunk: expressive faces, exaggerated poses and buttery animation. Cutscenes often feel like short MVs and the soundtrack (San‑Z and collaborators) is legitimately a feature — EDM, drum & bass and techno tracks keep the adrenaline high. Performance is mostly stable on mid‑to‑high end PCs, though arena fights with dense particles can stutter on modest rigs; Steam Deck players report playable but limited framerates. UI and presentation are polished, but the Steam → HOYO launcher handoff is clunky and breaks the flow for newcomers. Accessibility options are decent but I’d still like more toggles for camera shake and aim assist.

Zenless Zone Zero is a compelling, often thrilling action gacha: the combat and audiovisual presentation are top notch and kept me coming back. However, gacha economics, occasional performance quirks and the Steam→launcher friction temper the experience — especially if you hate RNG or launcher gymnastics. If you want stylish, high‑skill action and don’t mind live‑service tradeoffs, it’s worth the download. If you expect a pure single‑purchase experience with no gacha compromises, look elsewhere.