Wuthering Waves has been taking the Gacha world by storm. Being dubbed as the Genshin Killer, or the next Genshin Killer, all the while raising 31 MILLION registrations globally. Is it just a rip-off? Will it kill Genshin? Or will It be able to stand on its own two feet? Let’s find out together as I piece together some of the puzzles known as Wuthering Waves.
What is Wuthering Waves?
Wuthering Waves is an action role-playing game coming out on May 22nd. It’s a free-to-play game that will introduce Gacha aspects like Genshin Impact or Honkai Star Rail that will allow you to roll for characters and their respective weapons. If you played Punishing: Grey Raven, then you already know the developers behind this new game, Kuro Games.
Wuthering Waves is set in an open world known as Solaris-III. You play as a character known as the Resonator. Resonators can “resonate” with objects through their abilities. It takes place in a futuristic post-apocalyptic world. An event known as the Lament wiped out most of humanity and brought unknown beings and monsters to the world. You, a Resonator, are an amnesiac who awakes from a deep slumber. There is a video on the YouTube channel of Wuthering Waves that introduces the main character. If Wuthering Waves has controller support, you could use this to find a good one here.
The Gambling, I mean, the Gacha System.
If you are new to Gacha games, these characters and weapons will vary from different rarities, from 3 stars to a max of 5 stars, with 5 stars being the best of the best. You will be spending several currencies to roll for them:
- Astrite – Premium currency obtained throughout the game.
- Exchange 160 Astrite for any Tide.
- Lustrous Tide – Used for Permanent Banners/Novice Banner
- Radiant Tide – Used for Character Event Banner
- Forging Tide – Used for Weapon Event Banner
As you roll for the banners, every character will have a certain percentage to obtain, again, hence the Gacha part. A 5-star would usually be below 1% of a chance, which is… normal.
But there will be banners where a specific character will have a boosted chance to be obtained. Now, these systems, not all but some, have a pity system in them. This Pity system will force a 5 star to drop at a certain point; for example, Wuthering Waves’ pity is 80. Which is the standard pity I have seen.
When you reach 80, you will have a 50/50 chance of obtaining the character that is “boosted.” With the other 50% being a random 5-star. Weapon banners will have an 80 pity as well, with a guarantee of choosing the weapon you want once you hit 80. Granted, that was in beta, if that makes it to the full game it would be great.
I want to make sure to say this: YOU DO NOT HAVE TO SPEND MONEY. While limited, you can earn premium currencies in-game from events, missions, and even daily objectives and rewards. During maintenance and mistakes, developers would compensate some currency to their players.
You do not have to spend your money on this game, or any Gacha game for that matter. If you want to, spend it. But do not feel like you HAVE to. I am not afraid, albeit a little ashamed, to say I have spent tons of money on these types of games, but I am a casual collector, so to collect and grab the characters I want is my thing. While an addiction on its own, I like the idea of playing with new builds and finding new ideas.
That being said, Wuthering Waves will launch with a standard banner that will give you a choice of five 5-stars you can choose from and will come with a discount of 50 in the pity instead of the standard 80. All banners will disappear once you complete a banner that you choose for the character.
These 5 characters are (with their type and weapons):
- Verina – Spectro – Rectifier
- Chlcharo – Electro – Broadblade
- Ling Yang – Glacio – Gauntlets
- Jianxin – Aero – Gauntlets
- Encore- Fusion – Rectifier
And they already announced the limited banners, which will include:
- Jiyan – Aero – Broadblade
- Yinlin – Electro – Rectifier
The limited banners will use the standard 80 pull pity and don’t go away once you obtain the character, however, these banners will be released in phases. Jiyan will be Phase 1 and Yinlin will be Phase 2.
On the 1.0v release, they will be releasing a “standard banner” that will allow players to summon and get a guaranteed 5-star after 50 summons or, if you get lucky, before the 50 summons are used up. Afterward, a “Choice” Banner will appear that will give players a choice out of five 5 stars for them to obtain for the standard pity.
Wuthering Waves will have daily logins that will reward you with Lustrous Tide from day 1-4, the 4-star Sanhua on day 5, and Radiant Tide for days 6 and 7. If that wasn’t enough to fulfill the Gacha itches, as you increase your Union Level, you would get 40 lustrous tides, 1,600 stripes, and a 5-star winter brume weapon of your choice.
Check out this link for Super Market Simulator.
Gameplay
The gameplay for Wuthering Waves is standard by comparison to other Genshin-like games; you go into an open world, fight bosses, and find chests and secrets. Like in Genshin, you will find you can get around with a glider, but you also have a wire move that can throw you up in the air for a little more distance. You will even be able to run up walls instead of climbing. This video shows the kind of environments we will be exploring.
One thing that will be interesting in combat is setting up combos and using the parry system and dodge system to set up counterattacks. There is a special meter that allows you to set up enhanced skills and attacks to unleash more damage, and you will be able to switch between characters to combo attacks; assuming this follows a similar route to Genshin with their elements, you may be able to combine elements to create unique interactions to do more damage or even freeze a target for a bit.
As you explore you will find bosses to defeat, these bosses will drop echos that are used to enhance your combos and for you to perform special tricks in the fights, like turning into a boss or summoning minions to help with said combos. There are more than 40 echos in the game as of release.
There will be several events going forward as the game moves forward from a rouge-like mode to an arena mode that will also introduce another 4-star character. Companion stories will be available from the start for Yinlin, Ling Ling, and Ji Yan.
Check out the progress Monster Hunter Franchise has been making here!
Opinion
This looks like it’s going to be a rounded game. Do I personally think it’s going to be a Genshin killer or replacer? Nah, Mihoyo has done well planting their feet into the ground with Genshin and even Star Rail. While Kuro Games’ designs are just as amazing as Mihoyo’s, It has a lot to give, and seeing only the surface, I can only say what I hope for, and that’s for Wuthering Waves to be able to stand on its own feet while it is being compared to Genshin and its predecessors.
Wuthering Waves comes on IOS, Android, and PC on May 22nd, 2024 with a Console release following behind sometime later in the year.
If you aren’t one of the 35 million registered and want to you still have time here at the Wuthering Waves’ website.
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