In the opening hall of the Makuhari Messe this Tokyo Game Show was an enormous, monolithic tribute to HoYoverse, a company fast becoming one of PlayStation’s most important developers. While the juggernaut Chinese studio may not get the same recognition as the likes of Naughty Dog or FromSoftware, its games are absolutely colossal in scale – and to underline our point, the company is registering greater profit margins than the entirety of Sony’s gaming division right now.
Its influence could be felt not just at TGS, but around Tokyo in general – especially in the Akihabara area. For example, we spotted one vendor adjacent to an arcade flogging Genshin Impact-themed pastries. Meanwhile, the fantasy open worlder’s characters could be seen decorating many of the streets, while billboards overlooked iconic photo spots. It’s not just in Japan either, by the way – Ximen station in Taipei is also wallpapered with the gacha’s colourful cast.
But while the organisation’s meteoric rise can be attributed predominantly to Genshin Impact, the developer’s catalogue is expanding. Obviously, Honkai: Star Rail will release on PS5 this coming 11th October, and is already a gigantic hit on PC and mobile. And then it’s got the urban flavoured Zenless Zone Zero cooking, which was confirmed for consoles late last week. We went hands on with both games on the show floor.
Zenless Zone Zero
While there are common themes between Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail, we think HoYoverse has done an incredible job differentiating the two. Achieving that a third time was always going to be difficult, however – and yet Zenless Zone Zero has a totally different vibe to the developer’s current two flagship titles.
This feels like a Dreamcast game in terms of presentation, with its colourful, contemporary, vaguely Japanese urban streets. While our demo time was frustratingly limited, we were able to explore the hub area which will presumably form the foundations of the gameplay. It’s all as slick and beautifully presented as you’d expect from the developer, with a ramen vendor and arcades lining the streets.
The music – a consistent aspect acclaimed in HoYoverse games – is absolutely superb, and this hub area feels like it could comfortably expand over the course of the title’s lifespan. We didn’t get to test out the combat for ourselves due to a lack of time, but watching over the shoulder of other attendees it appears to have a similar flavour to Genshin Impact, with constant character switching.
It’s worth underlining that this is a real-time action game, as opposed to the turn-based more tactical action of Honkai: Star Rail. It looks faster and more frenetic than anything HoYoverse has made before – even including the decidedly flashy mobile title Honkai Impact 3rd – and so we expect this to capture the attention of fans of character action games, like Devil May Cry and Bayonetta.
Perhaps the only worry here is that it does seem to be taking its sweet time to release. Obviously, the company’s launch energies have been focused on Honkai: Star Rail, but it feels like we’ve been seeing the same content from Zenless Zone Zero for quite some time. We’re told an updated beta is due in the near future, and hopefully this will give us a deeper insight into the release as it edges closer to launch.
Honkai: Star Rail
Having invested a couple hundred hours into Honkai: Star Rail on our phones already, there are few surprises in the PS5 version. However, we’re happy to report that most importantly of all, the game feels right at home. The outing’s stunning visual style scales well to 4K monitors, and the action is running at 60fps here.
While the gameplay, which is entirely turn-based, doesn’t necessarily need the ultra-smooth framerate, it still adds greatly to all the flashy animations and transitions you’ll see on-screen during combat. And when you’re exploring locations like Belobog and the Xianzhou Luofu, it just feels smooth and polished.
We suspect this is going to be a gigantic hit on the PS5 to be honest, but we will caution prospective players that it is a time sink. Constant events, updates, and banners mean you’ll only really get out of the game what you put in, and seeing as this is designed to be played forever, it does demand a degree of commitment that most other games don’t.
How are you feeling about HoYoverse’s lineup, and the meteoric rise of the developer overall? Will you be checking out Honkai: Star Rail when it launches next month, and are you keeping an eye on Zenless Zone Zero? Let us know in the comments section below.
Comments 22
I'll never understand the attraction of Gacha games..
@Rjak I'd compare it to having fast food. It's simple, quick and easy way for some dopamine rush.
@Rjak That's fine hundreds of millions do
But snark aside, I get it, I didn't either, at all. But then during lockdown with little to do I tried Genshin Impact at launch because it was free and I was amused by this seeming Breath of the Wild clone. What I found was an exquisitely constructed RPG that, yes, copied some elements from BotW but also did it's own thing, and did it brilliantly.
The level of quality that is on offer is absolutely top tier for an RPG, level design, music, voice acting etc. I also found that you didn't have to spend a penny to enjoy the game. (Not everyone finds this, if you have a compulsive streak steer well clear, that's how they make their money).
Yes there are problems once you hit a certain point progression slows to a crawl, this is your sign to stop playing and come back when the next large content drop appears, which is more frequent than any other game I have played.
It's also a time sink. But i'm glad I am playing it, it's kinda unique.
@Powerplay94 It's entirely built around and playable single player. I've done that. Multiplayer is just an option
Who would of thought from the time a disgruntled geek smashed his switch, that the hoyoverse would become so big.
@Rjak To be fair, these games are more like massive JRPGs with loads of characters and beautiful worlds that have gacha mechanics to get a lot, but not all, of the characters. For the most part, Genshin Impact is like a huge, more varied and more story-focused BotW with a party and much better combat. The gacha is this side thing that you only bother with if you like a certain character or want to do the challenging non-story optional challenges.
Then there's stuff that just gacha with basic combat and not much to it but checking in every day to maximise your free premium currency. With the kind gameplay that no one would bother with outside of a gacha.
Then there's in between stuff like Ever Crisis which is a more traditional remake of FFVII, a remake of Crisis Core in the style of FFVII, and the First Soldier story in the same style. Fans would want to play that anyway, but it's still more basic in terms of exploration (i.e. very little) compared to if they were proper, non-gacha remakes. And again, the gacha stuff is mainly for tackling the non-story stuff.
@tameshiyaku Didn't he smash his PS4?
The success of this developer is impressive, but I’ll steer clear. Unless I lose my job and suddenly have unlimited free time. And even then, I have a backlog to keep me busy for a few years.
Its almost everything I hate about modern gaming to be honest
Tried Genshin impact at launch wasn't for me just seemed like too much of a time sink.
this is bad for gaming more publishers will follow suit and make games with the money making model
Sony will try and make there own game of this type now
This one game developer makes more money than the entirety of PlayStation?!? I suppose that's why Sony never tried to add HoYoverse to their stable despite their strong partnership.
@mariomaster96 haha, don't think so. Why would someone pack a home console to a convention, but at the same time, why am I expecting reason from gamer man babies.
impressive. Played genshin since the beginning, but i stopped something like 3 months ago. it was really good. really.
But the game started to push way too much events in the past year. I realized i wasnt paying attention to story anymore, skipping text to get to rewards as fast as possible.
Also, the main story felt like it became a a reason to add characters for gacha, and it didnt feel as good or well paced as the first arcs.
Whatever. fun experience, not coming back.
@trev666 "Sony will try and make there own game of this type now"
In case you missed the news, Sony will not try to make just 1 gatcha game, Sony recently announced they currently have 10 gatcha games in the works.
https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2022/02/sony-plans-to-launch-10-ps5-ps4-live-service-games-by-march-2026
I may play "Zenless Zone Zero" b/c I think I'll be able to remember that name. 😂
Can't blame those who are turned off by these kind of game's gacha mechanics. My personal experience with Genshin is that it least it feels the least scummy when it comes to gacha. You can play the game without paying for anything and still be fine (sure you can pull every now every now and then with their free Primogems that you can collect from time to time). Though this is one of those live-service games that you had to be there from the start or otherwise, you'd be overwhelmed by the story contents and events.
Star rail is a great game just wished they released new story content more often. I understand why people are complaining about the gacha mechanics but as I've played it since launch I can honestly say you really do not need all the characters. So long as you can cover all your elemental bases and this can be achieved with the free characters. I grinded this game daily and have all the characters except 2 and suffering for it cause there's not enough materials to level all of them up to take on the toughest content. I'd advise anyone intending to play this on ps4/5 to save their free crystals and check out various sites for which character is SS tier and if they fit your play style. There's also a try before you buy option to test out the new character. I'm glad this was there or I would have got Kafka who's move set was nothing like it was when she was a boss character...what a rip.
If THIS is what Jim and Hermen's GAAS plans are for PlayStation, i.e. an online only game where you are NEVER forced to play with others, then I can't wait to see what they do.
But if any of PlayStation's upcoming gaas titles force you to play with others and are mostly shooters too, then I won't even add them to my game list like Destiny, Fortnite, EA's one, Ubisoft's current doa one or future doa one....... and so on.
@Rjak Hoyoverse games are unlike ordinary gachas though, since they're built like AAA jrpgs first, which is an attractive proposal as a free game. I just can't get into gachas, not even their own older game, Honkai Impact 3rd but Genshin? I'm hooked since launch. Also, I believe Genshin is cleverly targeted to low spenders instead of the usual whales, that's why it has such a huge engagement.
I do like Genshin Impact, but I feel the free-to-play mechanics get in the way of my enjoyment of it. Sell it for £50 or £60 as a full game without any of free-to-play faff and I’d buy it straight away.
@mariomaster96 : You are right. It was a PS4, not a Switch.
https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2019/08/random_raging_zelda_fan_smashes_ps4_over_breath_of_the_wild_copycat_genshin_impact
Another Hoyoverse W. Gacha games aren't for everyone, but Hoyo does it better than any company has ever done. The reason they're a juggernaut isn't because they manipulate their player base with pay for power PvP or all of the content being designed for a banner character only (although some content is designed with those characters in mind, they can ge done just as well with other characters), it's because they put out quality games with constant updates, and make worlds you really want to spend your time in. Yeah it's a time sink, but it's time well spent! Even though I'm taking a break from Genshin (For Honkai Star Rail, actually) I know I'll find myself back in Teyvat soon enough...sooner if they ever add endgame content, but they won't for that game...
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