I had to follow an NPC that traveled quicker than I could walk and slower than I could sprint in the first part of Wuthering Waves' primary mission. I was very upset about this cardinal sin of game creation right away. A free-to-play open-world action RPG gacha game is called Wuthering Waves. Gacha is the essential word here. A common gambling technique in various Asian countries involves inserting money into slot machines with the promise of receiving a specific payout once a predetermined sum of money has been spent. It is a very predatory aspect of the game that essentially makes children and teenagers addicted to gambling. But if lootboxes aren't gacha, then what are they exactly?

Additionally, Kuro Games, a little Chinese game company that released Wuthering Waves as their first significant international title, made the decision to replicate Genshin Impact, a well-known free-to-play open-world action RPG Gacha game. They have imitated Genshin Impact's visual style, narrative devices, gameplay elements, and even certain aspects of Zelda and other video games. There are new characters and battle maneuvers that seem a little more action-packed, but the single decision made at the initial meeting when they agreed to produce this game was to "make a carbon copy of Genshin."

Nevertheless, there is some bright side to everything. Wuthering Waves is an aesthetically stunning game that offers engaging gameplay and item customization, enabling you to create characters who are well balanced. The gacha system seems much more generous than it did in Genshin Impact, and the story cinematics sometimes give the impression that you're seeing a high-quality anime. The open world frequently leaves you in awe of its beauty, and there are so many mini-puzzles and activities to choose from that you'll never run out of enjoyable things to do.

Wuthering Waves was much anticipated by those who don't mind gacha mechanisms, and it will satisfy all of their needs. Before entering, everyone else, please read what I'll be writing about in this review.

Let's Check to See If the Journal Has Any Premonitions

You play the game in a world where some individuals known as Resonators are able to see and control life's vibrations. This endows them with superhuman skills to aid in the battle against Tacet Discords, monsters composed of multiple frequencies. You appear out of nowhere as the chosen one, and your mission is to confront the impending threats to Jinzhou and learn more about your background.

Since the game was created by Chinese game creators, I was excited to learn more about the rich Chinese storytelling culture and folklore that would undoubtedly be included into the narrative. Indeed, there are dragons and human tales infused with Chinese culture, with a noticeable focus on always assisting the elderly or honoring the People's Liberation Army. I'm referring to the troops in the game who defend the populace from monsters.

Unfortunately, poor localization ruins much of it. Unnatural and confusing language formulations, such as the one shown in this subsection's heading, plague English translation.

When you combine it with sometimes horrendous voice acting and nonstop exposition with a ton of text that nobody wants to read, you have a game where the skip button is the greatest part of the narrative.

Easy Pop Rock

This is unfortunate, since the game has several exquisite sequences that evoke the best kind of animation. You will be able to explore an open environment that is a visual feast. The environment is full of little riddles and objects for you to locate, and just exploring, gathering, and running about is a very fulfilling experience that brings to mind the excellent open world of Zelda BOTW.

As a group of three resonators, you will engage in several enemy battles throughout the route. Every resonator has a particular area of expertise. You can use strong intro and outro boosts and talents to overcome even the most formidable opponents by switching between characters.

Combat is an action-packed game with animations that will cover your screen with spectacular special effects and dazzling actions, making the entire thing almost never dull. The fact that you can fight 90% of the game's enemies effortlessly and even on your phone is the most intriguing feature. Even a casual can master the basics of combat.

There are some very difficult bosses in the Tower of Adversity or Tactical Hologram challenges for those who want to push their character optimization to the limit and become experts at avoiding and utilizing their character's abilities. Some of these battles require preparation and experience comparable to Dark Souls bosses, yet they are all really well thought out and performed.

Pokémon Echo

In the game, every adversary has the ability to drop their echo. You may equip your character with these unique items to further improve their stats. You also get a special move that is exclusive to that echo when you place an echo in the main slot. They range in grade from ordinary green to the gold you'll get at the conclusion of the game.

The artifact system from the Genshin Impact is duplicated in this system. You'll get echoes with random stats on them; but, you may significantly improve your fighting skills by carefully mixing these echoes and farming for the appropriate stats. In addition to being a pleasant, if repetitive, concept, this game of gathering creatures—each with its own unique move, appearance, animation, and stats—brings a Pokémon-like element to the tedious item hunting of other games of a similar genre.

Got Ya

You will get rewards as you go through the game for solving puzzles, finding chests, finding collectibles, completing side or main quests, and defeating bosses and challenges. Along with weapons, echoes, and ingredients for character growth, these prizes also include Astrite, the premium currency.

At these unique occasions known as Convenes, astride is used for gambling. You may draw (or wish, or summon, or whatever term you choose to use) from an event once in Astrite, and each event has the potential to provide you with a single, unique, five-star character or weapon.

Most of the time, the gacha mechanism assures you that you will get one five-star gift out of 80 draws. Either the first or the eightieth pull will do it. You'll have enough free Astrite after exploring every area and gathering everything to do around 160 pulls.

In the Gatcha genre, Wuthering Waves is very giving. You may assemble and outfit your squad with powerful characters as a free-to-play gamer without having to pay any money.

When you get to the conclusion of the game, you'll discover that the main feature of the game is to prevent you from leveling up your character or creating a team without having to pay Astrite. In this way, the 25000 Astrite you received for free will suddenly seem like a pittance. Not all of your characters, weapons, or echoes have adequate upgrade materials. They must be ground, but only a very little quantity may be ground each day. You will need to spend Astrite if you want to get more.

This is the point at which the temptation to use your credit card to purchase that new character or weapon and top up on Astrite becomes quite great. It is made even more powerful by the fact that new characters and weaponry will be added to the game about every month, forcing you to either pay money once again or wait weeks or months to save up enough to add a new player to your ideal squad.

Simply Say No

The visually stunning game Wuthering Waves offers an enjoyable open world to explore, top-notch combat techniques, and entertaining gameplay that will appeal to both casual and experienced gamers. About 50 hours of material are available in its 1.0 edition. It's a really generous Gatcha game, and for aficionados of the genre, it's definitely an 8 out of 10.

This is an extremely risky game for individuals who are prone to gambling addictions because of its terrible plot and translation, as well as its game features that demand annoying amounts of grinding and rigidly limit your advancement unless you grind for weeks or use your credit card. It speaks volumes that the most innovative part of the game is this limited-time, rogue-lite mode dubbed Depths of Illusive Realm, which may not even remain in the game for a few weeks.

Playing the game is enjoyable as long as you can restrain your urges and refuse to pay to gamble for new characters every time you feel like you should. If you're enjoying the game, Kuro Games should be compensated, however anything above $20 is excessive and would be better used for many other games.