Zenless Zone Zero, I mean… it seems like only food words could possibly suffice. It's luscious. Now, the first time I typed that, an errant pinky had hit the caps lock key and the words "it's luscious" looked a lot more excited than you might expect. Here's the thing: it would be true, even in caps. The game is nutballs, world class in every particular, with supernatural art and animation, a very weird but cool cyberpunk urban fantasy hybrid setting and action gameplay that stands up tall. Music is excellent. I've also never felt less equipped to engage with a game's underlying systems - the dense thicket of custom lingo, mystery resources, and shibboleths designed to obscure that free-to-play games are gig work - they are jobs that you pay to work at.
It objectively looks better and plays better than most games on the market, except of course for the very small flaw it has in it where the air is always slightly leaking out. You barely notice! You can stay crushed in the vice-grip of this ocular drug for a very long time. I say you can, because I can't. I like the game a lot, as might be clear from the language I've employed. I spared no rhetorical expense! I dusted off some top shelf words. I even coined "photopharamakeia," and then scrupulously avoided its use. Dodged a bullet, there - I think we all did. This game is the most potent anglerfish, the dealy-bobber is out there dealin' and bobbin', but I can already hear the fweeee of the air leaving the balloon.
Multiplayer is sorta limited. There's some minigames you can play in the arcade, but out of their Big Three - Gensh, Honk, and Zenl - it seemed like the "brawler" archetype had the most to offer a co-op experience. In fact, I sorta figured that would be this game's real claim - aside from strategically avoiding its other freemium gameplay fiefdoms, a brawler would be best situated to quick fun with friends. One of the things that makes the combat so interesting is reacting to these golden bursts enemies have, parrying appropriately, and then swapping in heroes - often, your whole party stack can get involved. None of that here, because it sorta can't. We'll see where things go in the fullness of time or whatever, but that's not the business model.
As my comrade suggests, that morsel is of the highest quality but it is armored on all sides by inedible husk that you just have to shuck and shuck. It's stuffed with such a profundity of incredible work, braided from virtually every art form, that I feel bad for scooting it around on my plate.
(CW)TB out.
