What makes a game a game? What defines it as different from its peers, worth investing in? Recently I began replaying some older Zelda titles in my free time and began to wonder about the world it was building. Was it compelling on its own merit, or simply borrowing aesthetics from other fantasy works for convenience? When I imagine the game identical in mechanics but reduced to pure digital abstractions, the experience seemed undeniably less. But where does that reduction begin? If I turn off the bloom the game will be different, but will it be notable at all? How much of a game’s style could be removed before the player notices? To fans of MiHoYo’s action title Zenless Zone Zero, it doesn’t take much for a game to lose what makes it so charming even if the gameplay remains the same.
Allegations of Zombie Zenless aren’t new. When the game hit the second year of content it started with a teaser trailer showcasing the next year of agents and the new home of our heroes, Failume Heights. Of the cast front and center was Yixuan, a warrior monk who seemed to wield magic. While it’s hard to call Zenless’ preceeding characters grounded, there was certainly a tone of incredulity to the reveal of such explicit mysticism. The other Hoyoverse titles (namely Honkai: Star Rail and Genshin Impact) both used fantasy as a basis, while Zenless had kept a sci-fi edge to its world. Broadly interpreted as a pivot toward safer territory due to underperformance, but if those numbers exists in the public they’re not anywhere I can see.
The common complaints about Season 3’s content echo the biggest problems fans had with Season 2. Moving from the urban crime drama into a more generic action fantasy work, with a special mention going to the character designs growing more generic. But as I sat down to analyze Season 2 I found the complaints didn’t really hold much water. While the monks at Weifei Temple act as major characters, they’re often support in the background. Much of Season 2 focuses on Spook Shack, a faction of student age locals who participate in the fight against the antagonistic TOPS and the Exaltist cult working behind the scenes. Along with them are Obol Squad, an elite military unit first introduced in Season 1 before being expanded here. Both groups continue the trends of youthful fashion and sci-fantasy soldiers that made the first year’s agents so fascinating.
My own opinion on the groups has changed over time. Truthfully, when the first members of Spook Shack were revealed I was unimpressed. Yuzuha and Alvie struck me as generic, uninspired, boring compared to characters like Miyabi and Zhu Yuan. Part of this reaction on my part was because I felt the preceding content was both unappealing and seemingly required. The previous banner agent had been Ju Fufu, a lolicon character that lacked any sort of appeal but seemed likely to be major support for the flagship agent Yixuan. To not pull for her was to leave damage on the table, which may have meant leaving precious resources needed for pulling later characters you actually want. Still, it was hard not to be charmed by the duo. Yuzuha and Alice’s friendship felt warm and authentic, and I felt a little sad I didn’t pull for them when I finally caught up their stories.
This is probably why I’ve largely avoid the doomerism around the most recent trailer. While none of the shown characters grab me as immediately as I’d like, I’ve grown to appreciate characters in a story sense. Truthfully Season 3, rather than a safe play seems fairly ambitious. While Season 2 introduced Buddhist mysticism to the story, The knight motif shown off throughout the Season 3 teaser seems to show the title going into a European style, effectively swinging from one extreme to the next. It’s a fairly big switch which may be the key to the longevity of Zenless as a title capable of exploring a wide spectrum of tones and styles. This ignores that a fair few of Season 2’s agents weren’t revealed in the teaser and there’s still room for adjustments to be made in the more so-so designs to make them more distinct. And yet, I can’t deny I sympathize with the less optimistic about the future. There is a feeling of distance in Zenless the further it goes on, and players seem to believe it’s a loss of style since that’s what attracted them to the game in the first place, but I think it’s more concrete than that. Zenless has abandoned most of its original cast.
Over the course of the first ‘year’ Zenless introduced us to several factions. The Cunning Hares who act as our heroes, Belebog Heavy Industries, Victoria Hosuekeeping, NEPS, the Sons Of Calydon and Section 6. Each group felt cohesive and distinct, stylish and varied, and the strong writing of Season 1 meant even if I was certain I wouldn’t roll for them, I ended up taking a stab at pulling most of the agents at least once. And yet, I can’t really remember any of them playing a role in Season 2’s story. Only recently in the epilogue have we had a big focus return to the Cunning Hares with the addition of a powered up member. instead of feeling like a new city full of possibility, Failume Heights feels like moving to a new town and losing contact with your old friends.
This problem feels compounded by the sheer amount of Season 1 agents who didn’t quite get their time in the sun. Though they received agent side stories, Rina and Grace feel underdeveloped compared to their compatriots. It’s hard to look at the story of Season 2, often retreading old ground to make the same points, and not feel like it would have been better served returning to some of the Season 1 cast and expanding them. While I’ve grown to appreciate them Spook Shack does feel like it’s encroaching on the Cunning Hares territory narratively and aesthetically, why not embrace that? Have Phaethon recruit the Cunning Hares to help and wrap the two factions into one, empowering both. Alternatively, the Victoria Housekeeping faction are specialists who assists the upperclass of New Eridu, but both Ellen Joe and Corrin are high school students who’ve felt underdeveloped. Alice of Spook Shack is exactly the kind of client Victoria usually takes, so why not have the two tag along as support? Players interested in those characters would have an additional hook while they warm up to the new cast.
Raw numbers seem to back this up. On socials the announcement of Starlight Billy, the S rank upgrade to a member of the cunning hares, quickly became the most liked post on the account. This was almost immediately broken by the reveal of a combat form for Phaethon, itself a kind of combat upgrade for the main character. While relying too much on old characters is a death spiral of it’s own, the prospect of another ten or so months without seeing the characters I originally loved in any substantial role feels, frankly, depressing.
When all is said and done Zenless Zone Zero is probably the best playing of the gacha titles I’ve delved into. While simple on the surface, Zenless feels like boiled down essence of what makes my favorite action games so good. It’s frantic, it’s flashy, it hits like a tank when you get off a counter, and most of all it oozes style. But style only goes so far, and the real heart of Zenless is the characters. These are too good to fall to the wayside. Here’s hoping the commute to our new township isn’t too far from home.
Has Zenless Zone Zero lost its charm or are we wrong? Let us know in the comments and on our social media.
