Who will break Genshin Impact’s dominance in the open-world free-to-play genre based on gacha monetization? This is probably a question that has been circulating for at least the past two years. With its popularity still irreplaceable, it has become a psychological satisfaction to look forward to and wait for various games that are considered “dark horses” that will be able to succeed later, especially if we have seen various promising trailers and screenshots. One of the titles that is predicted to be able to achieve this “impossible” task is Wuthering Waves, a game with a similar taste from Kuro Games. Having built up super high hype, it is finally available on the market.
Built with Unreal Engine as the base, the presentation presented through various trailers, both character introductions or just mechanics that Kuro Games had thrown was indeed charming. It was enough to build a high curiosity about what was being “cooked” there, especially in terms of the story and gameplay mechanics that it carries. Moreover, in the name of competing with similar gacha games that are already available on the market, they also immediately launched a campaign to provide so many resources and rewards at the beginning. This is certainly a solid trigger for interest.
So what exactly does Wuthering Waves offer? Why do we call it a game of ups and downs? This review will dive deeper into it for you.
Plot
Before we dive deeper into the plot, we have to talk about one major issue surrounding Wuthering Waves: the terminology. Whether it’s for the sake of looking cool or something Kuro Games might consider essential, this game is absolutely flooded with so many absurd, foreign terms that it takes a while to understand what each character is talking about. The bad news? They bombard you with these terms from minute one. We’re talking about a game that decided to name their monster “Tacet Discord.”
The story revolves around a world called Solaris-3 which of course is divided into several different large regions that have to deal with a catastrophic disaster called The Lament. This disaster then not only destroyed the world, but also created so many mysterious monsters called Tacet Discords that were scattered around, complete with a superior version that of course is not easy to subdue. You will play as a mysterious entity named Rover who arrives in this world without any memory.
So like similar gacha games on the market, you certainly won’t get the completeness and conclusion of the Wuthering Waves story directly here. Reflecting on the last 1.1 content we tested for this review, the plot and conflict still revolve around a large city called Jinzhou with their protective Magistrate – Jinhsi. The loss of the protective entity “Sentinel” named Jue has had dire consequences, which also makes Rover end up meeting several organizations and parties with different agendas, including Fractsidus who clearly wants to trigger a new Lament event. Rover’s identity is also revealed as an “Arbiter” who seems to have a much more significant role in Solaris-3 itself.
Of course, the conclusion of all the stories that have been built at the beginning of this release itself has no certainty of being paid off sweetly like live-service gacha games in general, with minimal confirmation and also about the deadline that Kuro Games wants to achieve to complete it until the end. So what is the next story of Rover in more regions of Solaris-3? You have to consistently play Wuthering Waves to get the answer.
