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A sound sensation - Wuthering Waves Quick First Impressions

19K View2023-04-29

PLAY IT OR SKIP IT?

Play it as soon as you’re able to. Wuthering Waves is still only in a limited-release closed beta, and it may be a while yet until it’s more widely available. As soon as you’re able to get into the game, though, I strongly recommend it. This stylish action-RPG brings a unique world to life on PC and mobile devices, with a blend of fantasy and sci-fi that focuses on the mystical properties of soundwaves. Even in this early state, I’m already sold on continuing to explore this strange new world.

TIME PLAYED

I’ve already sunk around ten hours into Wuthering Waves in just the first few days of closed beta. In that time, I explored around a third of the massive map surrounding the city of Tiancheng, recruited a total of six party members, and got my party members leveled up to the mid-20s. I was able to get a good handle on the various complex systems for world exploration and character progression in the game, but I also feel like I’ve just started scratching the surface of what the game has to offer.

WHAT’S AWESOME

• Truly unique setting. I’ve played dozens of games set in every kind of postapocalypse imaginable, but I can say with certainty that I’ve never explored a vision of the future quite like this one. In this devastated world, the remnants of humanity have gathered in Tiancheng, one of the few remaining modern cities left. The mysterious forces that messed up the world in the first place seem to be empowered by sound waves, and so the city is protected by Resonators, the only humans who have the ability to sense and manipulate sound as well.

Given how strange and singular it all is, it’s taken me a good chunk of my play time just to get a handle on what’s going on, and even now I’m not entirely certain that I understand. However, I’m much more eager to keep moving through the story and putting the pieces together than I would be if this were just another generic fantasy setting.

• Combat. Whether I was using the main character (known as Rover) with his sword skills or Chixia with her pistol, battles in Wuthering Waves were always smooth, flashy, and satisfying. While not terribly challenging in the early game, combat still rewards skilled play, and the more I learned how to combo my abilities and smoothly swap between characters, the better it all felt. I was especially impressed by the “auralator,” a unique weapon type used by Bailian that makes her operate sort of like a mid-range magic-user but with a lot more versatility and excitement.

• Gotta catch ’em all. In addition to their main weapons, characters can equip “echoes” of past enemies they’ve defeated and captured using their Resonance Terminal, a sort of BB-8-looking piece of equipment that Resonators carry with them at all times. The more times players catch the same enemy, the more powerful that echo will be—and the more enemies they catch in total, the more powerful their Resonance Terminal overall. In that way, I felt rewarded for fighting groups of baddies, even if I’d already caught that echo type before or had already collected the treasure they were guarding.

In a greater sense, though, the Resonance Terminal and echoes lend a light sort of Pokémon-style sense of compulsion to the game. It made me want to thoroughly explore each area and discover every enemy type I could to make sure I got their echoes. And while the echoes are just quick summons providing a momentary attack or buff, rather than sticking around to fight the whole battle for you, it still feels like there’s a ton of depth to this system and figuring out which echoes work best with which Resonators.

• Exploration. A big open world to explore is only as fun as the mechanics of exploring it. Thankfully, Wuthering Waves delivers big-time in this respect. Resonators can climb up almost any vertical surface, and if climbing is too slow, pressing the sprint button will launch them into a run, even right up a sheer cliff wall. The game also offers up plenty of extremely entertaining tools for further exploration, such as a glider and a grappling hook. Just getting around the world has been a blast.

• So much to do. Also helpful: That world is actually packed full of things that held my attention. Treasure chests are scattered all over the place, often guarded by small groups of enemies. Even more fun, though, are the little mini-puzzles that can be found everywhere in this world. From levitating explosive rocks over to open a cave entrance to trying to quickly hit a series of training dummies in a limited amount of time, I always had small challenges to test myself with. These rewarding experiences made me want to check every nook and cranny of the map and kept me from progressing as much with the main story as I wanted to.

WHAT NEEDS IMPROVEMENT

• Some story elements. While I was pulled into the world of Wuthering Waves on a conceptual level, the actual moment-to-moment plot and character work left me feeling a little cold. Rover is a mostly mute protagonist with the usual RPG hero amnesia plot, which felt surprisingly generic compared to how unique everything else going on here is. And while I was somewhat interested in the social structure and struggles of Tiancheng and characters like Yangyang who are devoted to defending the city, I found it hard to get fully invested. Notably, the closed beta still lacks voice acting; it’s possible that addition will help a lot when it comes to immersing me in the story.

• Pacing. Even if the storytelling gets a boost from voice acting, one issue that’s a little stickier to figure out is the game’s reliance on extremely lengthy cutscenes. This is partially due to the need to explain so much about this strange world, but I was surprised by just how long the dialogue sequences lasted sometimes, even (and especially) in sidequests. It’s not a reason to skip the game by any means, but I definitely felt like my momentum got killed a few times when I had to sit and watch two characters talk for ten-plus minutes.

• Camera problems. Combat and exploration are both top-notch in Wuthering Waves, but both occasionally ran into problems due to the game’s squirrelly camera. In particular when I was fighting or platforming in tighter, more enclosed spaces, I found the camera often getting stuck behind objects or even in the wall, making it impossible for me to see where I was or how to fight. The game’s auto-lock-on in combat also felt a little off at times, occasionally targeting an enemy who I had knocked meters away instead of the two or three opponents still standing right next to me.

💬 Are you planning to enjoy the smooth sounds of Wuthering Waves? Or will this action-RPG have you reaching for the radio dial to change the station? Does anyone reading this know what radios are anymore? Why am I so old? Share your thoughts below!

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Comments

VulgarisUSA

Kef, Kef, KEF!!!!! where can I D/L the beta???? got a link you can possibly send me in an IM?? I've been waiting on this forever! please girlfriend lol!!!

2023-05-08

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Kef Author

I wish I had that power!

2023-05-08

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ZERO

when it's coming, any idea?

2023-05-03

Kef Author

Nothing official on open beta or full release yet! If you follow the game on TapTap, you should be able to keep up to date on it :)

2023-05-08

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Buttermilkk

what about gacha? rates, pitty, how many 5/ssr heroes does they have? does they have limited banners? how do u get primogems if u are f2p? do u get primogems through exploring the world? achievements?

2023-05-03

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Kef Author

I didn't mention the gacha stuff here because it definitely seems like it's not finalized yet, so it's hard to say much. I also wasn't able to get deep enough into the game yet where I was really trying to like pull specific characters from banners or anything like that.

2023-05-08

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This stylish open-world adventure is worth your time - Wuthering Waves Quick First Impressions

PLAY IT OR SKIP IT? Treat yourself and play it! This highly anticipated open-world action-RPG is well worth your attention and time. Wuthering Waves stays fresh and sets itself apart while still incorporating everything I love about RPGs: A capitavting narrative, impressive visuals, satisfying combat, and a fully explorable open world. Even when I didn’t feel like participating in missions, I could explore different regions, find hidden items, swim, and fully interact with the environment by using the vast array of exploration tools at my disposal. All these elements mixed together in a way that made it hard for me to put down.

StaggerLee19K2023-04-28