Is this really THE Genshin Impact Killer? | CBT2 Review - Wuthering Waves
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✨Overview
Wuthering Waves is an upcoming open-world action RPG that promises to deliver a rich open world experience for players on both mobile and PC. It features a anime inspired cel-shaded character designs blended with a mix of stylized AAA high fidelity visuals, and is set in a post apocalyptic world ravaged by the Calament, a catastrophic event that nearly wiped out humanity, Wuthering Waves presents players with a vast and diverse landscape to explore, filled with mysteries to uncover, activities to partake in, and challenges to overcome.
The game is currently in a closed beta test “CBT2” for select invitees, which started yesterday Feb 19, 2024. Note that this game review only provides a general impression based on the closed beta test and may not be representative of the eventual final version of the game.
⭐️CBT Score: 8/10
📖Story and Premise
The story of Wuthering Waves unfolds in a world struggling to recover from the devastation caused by the Calament. Players will take on the role as a mysterious amnesiac newcomer known only as the "Rover," and are thrust into a world teeming with danger and intrigue. The main character's amnesia adds an intriguing layer to the narrative, as both players and the main character are blissfully unaware of what is happening, uncovering their past and the role they play in the world's future both at the same time, as the story unfolds.
The premise of the game is built around the idea of survival and renewal, as players navigate through a society on the brink of collapse, forging alliances, uncovering secrets, and ultimately shaping the fate of humanity. This is actually a revamped story, which is estimated to be 90% rewritten from the original story that testers got during the last closed beta test (CBT1). In that previous version, almost every character we meet is hostile or very suspicious of the player, but in this version, many characters are now friendly, and there are fewer fetch quests ingrained in the story progression.
🎨Visuals and Art Presentation
Wuthering Waves blends cel-shaded and realistic graphics to create a visually stunning world that is both vibrant and immersive. It looks awfully a lot like Genshin Impact at the outset, but that's simply a testament to the high-quality visuals that cel-shaded games can achieve. Character designs are detailed and expressive although lacking some variety for now and some of the faces look very similar with each other. On the other hand, landscapes are breathtakingly beautiful, and the visuals effects are impressive, even on low settings on mobile.
The background music is also relaxingly soothing and well made, though it can be a little too relaxing that you can probably fall asleep listening to it. The game is heavy on cutscene presentation that feels like you’re watching an anime at times, adding to its immersive experience. However, the amount of dialogue can be a little too much, which, combined with the current lack of voice acting, can make these moments feel tedious and boring to experience in this CBT. Fortunately, the developers have said they will add voice dubs in the future. There is a skip option but unfortunately it isn’t present on some occasions requiring players to sit through some dialogue for some reason, some of which aren’t really important to the story.
🎮Gameplay
The game features a variety of gameplay mechanics, including exploration, combat, puzzle-solving, and side-activities, all of which are seamlessly integrated into the game's narrative and open-world. Players can interact with NPCs, complete quests, and discover hidden secrets as they journey through the game world. But perhaps the main attraction is the combat system, which again is reminiscent of games like Genshin Impact and Honkai Impact, with a mix of basic attacks, skills, character swapping, and ultimates that players can unleash on their foes. If you didn’t know anything about the game, you’d think this is another Hoyoverse game, actually.
Combat in Wuthering Waves is fast-paced and exciting, with a focus on fluidity and strategy. Players can switch between characters to create powerful combos and take down enemies, as well as absorb creatures around the world ala-Pokemon to use them as unique ability summons called Echoes. The current combat and movement systems overall feel polished, offering smooth animations and satisfying skills that are visually appealing. The dodge mechanic is very forgiving, adding to the fluidity of combat, and ofcourse there is a wide variety of skills to choose from. However, there are some minor issues with stiffness, particularly in movement and jumping, which was exacerbated by the game’s currently unoptimized performance, that could be improved upon.
⏫Progression
The game allows players to choose their desired gender and name their main character, who becomes another character that can be used alongside the other characters, many of which are acquired via gacha means. The main character that you create can be swapped out with other characters during combat and exploration for gameplay reasons, and is not required to be present in the team lineup. However, they will always appear and play a central role in the cutscenes and dialogue.
Progression in Wuthering Waves is tied to both character development and story progression and features a typical gacha RPG progression. As players complete quests and defeat enemies, they will earn XP and loot that can be used to improve each of their characters' abilities and equipment. The game also features a crafting system, allowing players to create new items and gear to enhance their characters' abilities further.
💵Monetization
While the foundations for monetization and the gacha system are present in Wuthering Waves, purchases are currently disabled in the closed beta testing phase. However, the prices for in-game purchases have already been set. The current gacha system in place seems quite fair and player-friendly so far. It offers a variety of banners for characters and weapons, each with their own pull and pity rates — Very similar to Genshin’s style, and in a player friendly way. As Wuthering Waves is currently in its closed beta testing phase, future points of contention may revolve around how the game's content is rolled out to players, particularly concerning its final monetization and gacha rates.
📊Technical Performance
I played Wuthering Waves entirely on mobile to provide a realistic experience and set expectations for readers. This allowed me to immerse myself in the mobile experience as much as possible, as PC performance tends to be superior anyway due to its higher power.
In terms of performance, Wuthering Waves was playable on my Snapdragon 888 phone (ROG Phone 5), but the performance was less than optimal. The game only achieved around 20+ FPS in most cases with huge performance spikes, even on almost lowest settings. Additionally, there were minor visual and animation bugs present, as well as the aforementioned lack of voice-overs, all which are expected in a beta testing phase. Overall, the game's performance is generally playable with no major issues affecting gameplay, but further optimizations are really needed.
⚖️Conclusion
The term "Genshin Impact killer" is often overused online to describe games that have the potential to challenge Genshin's dominance or just to plainly attract clicks. Personally, I rarely use the term, despite having reviewed some gacha games myself. However, in the case of Wuthering Waves, it truly feels like a game inspired by Genshin Impact for all the right reasons and the term felt appropriate for me to use. The combat is already enjoyable, the game feels compelling, player-friendly, and the developers have demonstrated their commitment to the game with a 90% story rewrite based on feedback. With the right strategy from the developers and a favorable market, it has the potential to rival Genshin Impact's success.
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