Wuthering Waves, a storm of potential, tempered by rough waters.
The highly acclaimed Punishing: Gray Raven developer Kuro Games is back with Wuthering Waves, a bold free-to-play open-world action role-playing game that aims to stand out in the crowded gacha market. Wuthering Waves is a stand-alone game that aims to compete with genre heavyweights like Genshin Impact by focusing on fast-paced combat, fluid movement, and a mysterious post-apocalyptic setting.
It was released on May 22, 2024, for PC and mobile devices, with PlayStation 5 and macOS versions coming in early 2025. Although it has several noteworthy features, its implementation isn’t always reliable. Wuthering Waves, however, exhibits indications of becoming something genuinely unique when it shines.
Wuthering Waves, which takes place in the eerily gorgeous Solaris-3 universe, begins with a well-known sci-fi cliché: the protagonist who is amnesic. Rover, who is controlled by you, awakens after civilization has been destroyed by a calamitous event known as the Lament, and terrifying creatures known as Tacet Discords have been introduced.
Rover discovers mysteries related to the disaster, their lost memories, and the fate of a society trying to rebuild amidst the lingering relics of its former technical brilliance as they travel through a fragmented planet. Along with an intriguing backdrop of industrial ruins, overgrown wilderness, and shiny technical relics, a large portion of the plot collapses under the weight of its ambition.
But because of the slow pacing, jargon-filled talks, and too detailed explanation, you might become disinterested in the beginning. Cutscenes, especially in the English version, may feel excessively drawn out and emotionally flat due to poor localization and wooden voice acting, despite being expertly directed and wonderfully animated.
By adding a much-needed cutscene skip tool, Kuro Games appeared to recognize these early storytelling errors. Because it enables users to enjoy games without having to deal with lengthy, tedious chats, you’ll probably value this patch. However, time has passed. In comparison to its predecessor, version 2.0 has achieved a remarkably powerful tempo, resulting in superior cinematography and narrative moments that are meaningfully engaging.
A few unexpected plot twists and some truly captivating character developments emerge in the later acts. The narrative trajectory is at least moving in the right direction, with enough background and mystery to keep lore-hungry gamers interested, even though there are still some undeveloped side storylines and inconsistent companion stories.
Wuthering Waves more than makes up for its early plot shortcomings with its gameplay, especially its thrilling battle system. The game features skill-based, fast-paced combat that is responsive, technical, and extremely rewarding, with a strong influence from Punishing: Gray Raven. Each of the three Resonators in your party has unique passive attributes, elemental alignments, talents, basic attacks, and ultimate abilities.
To facilitate smooth combo chains and tactical coordination among team members, switching characters in the middle of a battle activates Intro and Outro abilities. Battles are given a rhythm by this mechanism, which transforms them into a dynamic art of timing, aggression, and escape.
Parries, Dodge Counters, and Extreme Evasion are examples of mechanics that reward mastery and promote accuracy. Players will find the combat loop to be satisfying and intensely engaging if they take the time to study attack patterns and adversary behavior.
There is no limit to expertise. Additionally, you can use Echoes—powers acquired by defeating monsters—to momentarily transform into or call forth these creatures to deal powerful blows. This system, if I may say so, almost feels like a cunning mashup of Pokémon and standard CRPG systems, opening up a lot of battling options and squad customization.
However, not all aspects of warfare are precisely calibrated. The elemental system, which includes Glacio and Fusion, seems a little undeveloped. Wuthering Waves views elements more as thematic alignments than tactical tools, in contrast to Genshin Impact, which bases its combat depth on elemental reactions and status effects.
Particularly in the endgame, where the absence of technical complexity in this area becomes increasingly apparent, there is a lost chance to further vary strategy and battle variation. Due to Wuthering Waves’s front-loaded narrative, early combat scenes may also feel bare and excessively tutorialized, which could turn off action-focused players.
Wuthering Waves, however, really shines when it comes to exploration. Among the greatest in the genre is the traversal system. Moving throughout Solaris-3 is easy and thrilling because, unlike many other open-world games, it permits stamina-free sprinting, fluid wall-running, grappling hooks, and wall-dashing. The liberty of movement drastically changes one’s interaction with the world.
Hidden areas on the map beg to be discovered via clever navigation; thus, mountains are opportunities rather than barriers. With biomes ranging from icy plains and hearty forests to decaying cities in alien lands, this idea of movement is well supported by a variety of worlds. Exploration becomes a real, breathing experience thanks to dynamic weather effects and a complete day-night cycle.
Through treasures, side quests, hidden Echoes, and ambient narration, the game incentivizes players’ curiosity and encourages them to go beyond simply pursuing quest markers. The Wide World also cleverly incorporates environmental riddles. Puzzles, which range from time-based tasks to Echo morphing mechanisms and 2.5D platforming sections, offer both significant rewards and pace pauses.
The finest puzzles challenge players to think spatially and experiment with movement by utilizing the camera system and traversal capabilities of the game. The need for narrative progression to unlock specific traversal abilities, however, can be annoying for players who prefer a free-form exploration style, and several puzzles are extremely basic or repetitive, particularly in the early going.
With certain quality-of-life enhancements, Wuthering Waves’s gacha system, called “Convenes,” adheres to the tried-and-true model familiar to players of Genshin Impact or Honkai: Star Rail. Using novice, event, and standard banners, players can call forth new Resonators and weapons.
With a 50/50 chance of acquiring the highlighted unit, a guaranteed 5-star character or item is awarded after 80 pulls, which is marginally better than Genshin’s 90-pull guarantee. Even while RNG and luck still play a part, this method feels more approachable and less harsh, especially for users who are playing free-to-play games.
Wuthering Waves sidesteps some of the more intrusive issues associated with gacha games, although commercialization remains a persistent concern in the genre. The early phases see a liberal distribution of resources, a steady trickle of premium currency through daily and weekly tasks, and a fair pity system.
As with other gacha games, though, spending may still be encouraged by the need to hunt out meta-characters or temporary banners, particularly in challenging content like the Tactical Hologram or Illusive Realm modes. Even while it works, Wuthering Waves’s endgame material is currently one of its weakest features.
While Tactical Hologram delivers boss battles that get harder and harder, the Illusive Realm offers a sequence of little levels with irregular competitors and buffs. Although all modes offer challenges and upgrade resources, their small number of foes and mechanics might make them seem boring. Although these mechanisms are fully functioning, one of their shortcomings is the game’s ending.
The Tactical Hologram has monster fights that get harder with time, while the Illusive Realm consists of a series of little levels with arbitrary opponents and abilities. Although they all provide resources for addressing challenges and making improvements, veterans seeking continuous challenges may find the few adversaries and mechanisms in each module boring if they are not varied and rotated frequently.
Since the game’s debut, performance has greatly improved, particularly in comparison to early mobile platform versions that had serious problems with frame dips, animation, and overheating. Lower-end devices may still experience issues in crowded places, but Kuro Games has been quick to address these technical problems with patches.
As of the most recent upgrades, the experience is mostly seamless across most platforms. Wuthering Waves‘ sound design and music are its weak points, which is strange considering the game’s central theme of “sound” and resonance. The soundtrack is mostly forgettable despite the immersive and skillfully done combat cues and ambient noises.
There aren’t many standout songs, and Wuthering Waves doesn’t have a distinctive vibe like Genshin Impact’s expansive symphonic themes or Punishing: Gray Raven’s throbbing electronic soundtrack. This lessens the emotional effect of significant scenes and does not support the game’s overarching themes.
Voice acting is also irregular. Character traits are frequently flattened, and dramatic passages feel inadvertently awkward due to the stiff delivery and inconsistent localization of the English dub, in particular. If the game aims to compete narratively on a global scale, localization across all regions still requires improvement, but alternative language options perform better.
In the end, Wuthering Waves represents a daring advancement for Kuro Games. It combines extensive exploration with a vividly conceived setting and the finest contemporary action RPG combat. The main gameplay mechanics, particularly fighting, traversal, and environmental interaction, are robust enough to sustain the experience even though the narrative pacing, localization, and audio design falter.
It has a distinct character based on speed, skill expression, and mobility, making it more than simply another Genshin Impact clone. Wuthering Waves has the potential to become a genuine genre standout with a well-defined strategy, regular releases, and a responsive production staff.
For the time being, Wuthering Waves is a stunningly flawed yet incredibly captivating journey through a world resonating with risk, intrigue, and the lingering effects of a bygone era. If they are prepared to endure some early setbacks, players seeking crisp fighting mechanics, immersive traversal, and an environment that encourages curiosity will find a lot to enjoy in this game.
