Zenless Zone Zero review: painfully cool animation can't save a superficial gacha

Many years ago game designers advised their peers to make their prototypes "juicy". They were talking about the nebulous collection of sensations a player is exposed to when heads explode, coins jangle, and balls bounce. Zenless Zone Zero is a game deeply informed by the philosophy of juice. Like the lootbox hawkers of yesteryear, gacha designers understand the appeal and power of a pleasingly animated gizmo, ker-chunking open and fizzing with potential. This poppy visual and sonic language stretches across Hoyo's latest game, from its cinematic moments, to each character's attacks, to the cute bunny mascots that erupt into gatling guns, to the barista's coffee-making ritual and the recipes of the robo-limbed noodle server. The menu screens, the maps, the free-to-play storefront, everything. It is all very juicy. It is pumped with juice, but only in the same way supermarket chicken is pumped with water. Read more

Developer: HoYoverse Publisher: HoYoverse Release: July 4th On: Windows From: Developer website , Epic Games Store Price: Free-to-play Reviewed on: Intel Core-i7-11700F, 16GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060, Windows 10 Many years ago game designers advised their peers to make their prototypes "juicy" . They were talking about the nebulous collection of sensations a player is exposed to when heads explode, coins jangle, and balls bounce. Zenless Zone Zero is a game deeply informed by the philosophy of juice.

Like the lootbox hawkers of yesteryear, gacha designers understand the appeal and power of a pleasingly animated gizmo, ker-chunking open and fizzing with potential. This poppy visual and sonic language stretches across Hoyo's latest game, from its cinematic moments, to each character's attacks, to the cute bunny mascots that erupt into gatling guns, to the barista's coffee-making ritual and the recipes of the robo-limbed noodle server. The menu screens, the maps, the free-to-play storefront, everything.

It is all very juicy. It is pumped with juice, but only in the same way supermarket chicken is pumped with water. The sci-fi city of New Eridu is beset by giant domes of harmful matter that swell out over whole districts, displacing citizens, creating monsters, and making parts of the city impassable.

Impassable, that is, except for your crew of three raiders, who dip into these harmful "Hollows" to perform various favours for those on the outside. You might save some trapped.