Zenless Zone Zero is the new HoYoverse favorite and is expected to release in mid-2024. After playing the beta, here are all the similarities and differences I found between ZZZ, Genshin Impact, and Honkai: Star Rail.
How Zenless Zone Zero is different from Genshin Impact and Honkai Star Rail
Exploration
Of the three games, Zenless Zone Zero has the most limited exploration capabilities, with little focus on overworld encounters. There are NPC interactions and activities you can do in the overworld (like playing in the arcade), but unlocking areas depends on the story and the explorable world is extremely small.
All enemy encounters occur inside Hollows, which are digital dungeons where you can find observation data, supply boxes (the equivalent of treasure chests), and solve puzzles with the help of accessories (such as special exercises for switching between “floors” ). Still, unlike HSR, where you can greet enemies at any time, you can only do so in ZZZ while doing commissions or re-entering existing dungeons. The exploration system feels more like a combination of Arknights and Honkai Impact 3rd, as well as an adaptation of HSR’s Simulated Universe in the form of Hollow Zero.
Combat
ZZZ’s combat system takes a little bit of everything from previous HoYoverse games while introducing more combat-focused mechanics. All combat takes place within Hollows with no encounters with enemies in the outside world, a mechanic reminiscent of Honkai Impact 3rd. You can switch controls between Agents who are supported by up to three Bangboos, depending on the game mode. Unlike HSR, Zenless Zone Zero does not have automatic fighting features.
The combat system is inspired by traditional fighting games, with Perfect Dodge, Perfect Assist, Dodge Counters, Chain Attacks, Decibels (combo), parrying techniques and other mechanics that will be familiar to you if you have previously explored the fighting sphere . It’s a fast-paced, action-packed experience completely different from Genshin Impact’s focus on elemental reactions and Honkai: Star Rail’s turn-based mechanics.
Graphics
Zenless Zone Zero’s graphics are top-notch, as expected from a major HoYoverse title. The game’s models have a softer-toned appearance, with less sharp lines and a more painterly style. ZZZ characters come in all shapes and sizes and are not limited to specific models like Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail. This has allowed the developer more liberties with character design. If Ben (the bear on the left of the image above) appeared in Genshin Impact, he would probably be as disappointing as Arataki Itto’s muscle-less form.
Despite the lack of world exploration and the inability to enter shops, Sixth Street is well designed with a variety of common-looking NPCs and interesting merchants. I find the environment within Hollow Deep Dive to be much less pleasant: I quickly grew tired of the sights of ruined cities and wrecked trains and hope that further area expansions will remedy the visual boredom.
character design
Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail character designs are mainly based on the geography of the characters, so Inazuma’s characters will have a different appearance, different from Fontaine’s. Zenless Zone Zero doesn’t have a large world, so the developers used factions to group characters with similar designs.
The image above illustrates Victoria Housekeeping Co., a human resources dispatch agency that dresses thematically in outfits inspired by maids and butlers. Even their Bangboos are dressed like the Agents.
History
Zenless Zone Zero is not a story-focused game, as evidenced by the existence of the jump button. The story itself is not difficult to understand, and there are no major stories outside of the daily newsstand and the Inter-Knot message board. Unlike Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail, which house a massive archive of collectible reads for history lovers, ZZZ has little to analyze.
However, the game makes up for the lack of an interesting story with engaging storytelling methods. It uses a combination of manga panels, dialogue, and highly expressive cutscenes to deliver a fun, quirky, character-driven story that focuses on exploring each faction and how they relate to the larger plot.
That being said, ZZZ’s story is very easy to understand. While Genshin may throw you into a confusing samsara as you try to figure out what exactly happened in Remuria, and Honkai: Star Rail may have you questioning Dan Heng’s past despite playing through the story twice, you won’t have any trouble understanding the simple narrative. by ZZZ.
Gacha System
HoYoverse’s gacha system is copy and paste in most of their games, and ZZZ is no different. Offers a standard banner (Stable Channel) and limited character and weapon banners that rotate regularly. Stable Channel offers a free five-star picker after reaching 300 pulls, just like Honkai: Star Rail. Meanwhile, the limited banner offers a 50-50 system that ensures the agent or weapon increases its speed every second.
What is different is the existence of a Bangboo channel, which is completely free (as of the beta version), as the currency can only be obtained by playing the game. Bangboo are battle assistants that can be deployed to help the team eliminate Ethereals and other enemies in the Hollows.
Cooperative mode
Genshin Impact allows players to enter each other’s worlds, play mini-games together, and often launch engaging cooperative events, like the annual Windtrace. Meanwhile, Honkai: Star Rail doesn’t offer any semblance of cooperative play other than being able to offer and utilize friend support.
Fortunately, Zenless Zone Zero implemented the early stages of cooperative play in the latest beta, allowing up to three players to team up to defeat bosses in limited game modes. Some key combat games, such as combos and perfect assists, rely on character switching, so the inability to do so has opened the doors to a different set of multiplayer combat mechanics.
Agriculture
Of the three HoYoverse games, Genshin Impact has the least favorable farming system, requiring you to repeat manual battles within the Domains too many times. Honkai: Star Rail’s auto-battle system is the most flexible, allowing you to run the game in the background with little management required.
ZZZ falls between the two. You must manually defeat bosses to obtain resources, but battles are fully customizable. You can edit the farming lineup to include multiple waves of enemies that drop different items in the same material category. Additionally, farming Disk Drives (Artifact) is RNG dependent on ZZZ as it is only farmed for generic currency and must be “Tuned” to get random Disk Drives.
For more information on ZZZ, check out our guide on How to Get Polychromies in Zenless Zone Zero here on MyFullGames.