Wuthering Waves
Last updated: 2025-04-29
- High-quality graphics and fluid combat system.
- Engaging story progression with cinematic elements.
- Responsive developers provide QoL improvements.
- Predatory gacha system monetization.
- Slow and weak early story progression.
- Tedious, RNG-heavy Echo system.
Verdict
Mostly positive
Summary
Positive 93% · Negative 7%. Score: 7 / 100
Positives:
- The game boasts impressive graphics, fluid combat, and detailed character designs. Reviewers praise the world's immersive design, the engaging story, and the high-quality animations and cutscenes. The game also offers a fair gacha system and generous rewards for free-to-play players.
- The developers are highly responsive to player feedback, consistently implementing quality-of-life improvements and addressing issues quickly. This dedication to the community enhances the overall player experience and fosters a sense of trust and appreciation.
- Many reviewers consider this game to be among the best in the gacha genre, often surpassing competitors like Genshin Impact. It's praised for prioritizing gameplay and offering a less predatory gacha system, with features like guaranteed weapon banners and lower pity counts.
- The combat system is skill-based, rewarding precise timing and strategic thinking. It offers a dynamic mix of dodges, parries, and combos, appealing to both casual and hardcore players. Boss fights are challenging and require understanding enemy patterns, making victories feel earned.
- The story is mature and cinematic, with brilliant writing that improves significantly as the game progresses. Reviewers highlight emotional involvement, well-written scenes, and entertaining characters, especially from version 2.0 onwards.
Negatives:
- The game's gacha system is a major point of contention. Many reviewers find the rates abysmal, the monetization predatory (especially with FOMO), and the system generally unfriendly to free-to-play players. Some consider it a drawback or even a deal-breaker, while others acknowledge it as a standard gacha element.
- Many reviewers found the initial story to be slow, confusing, and poorly written, making for a weak first impression. Some suggest skipping the early story content altogether. However, some reviewers noted that the story improves in later acts.
- The game lacks localization for several languages, including Russian, Portuguese-Brazilian, Indonesian, and Turkish. This is a significant barrier for players who are not fluent in English. Some reviewers also noted poor communication from developers regarding localization requests.
- The game's Echo (equipment) system is criticized for its heavy reliance on RNG for substats and the tedious grind required to level up Echoes. The stamina system further limits progression. Some reviewers find the system frustrating and potentially leading to player burnout.
- Reviewers criticize the endgame content for being repetitive, uninspired, and poorly balanced. Some find the difficulty artificially inflated through HP sponges and timers. The open world is also criticized for feeling bloated and uninspired.
Gameplay:
- The game utilizes a gacha system for obtaining characters and weapons, similar to Genshin Impact, with pity mechanics in place. While the gacha system can be polarizing, the game provides a decent amount of currency for free-to-play players and base characters are viable for most content. The weapon banner guarantees a drop, which is seen as an improvement over other gacha games.
- The game features a vast and well-designed open world that rewards exploration with secrets, puzzles, and hidden bosses. Traversal is enhanced by mechanics like wall-running, grappling hook, glider, and eventually free flight. The world is fun to explore and offers scenic views.
- The game offers multiple challenging modes that test player skills, including boss fights and the Tower of Adversity. These modes cater to both casual and hardcore players, providing a variety of content to engage with, including endgame content.
- The game features optional co-op events, but it is primarily designed as a single-player experience. The co-op mode is limited and not essential for enjoying the game.
- The weapon banner in the gacha system guarantees a drop, avoiding the 50/50 chance associated with character banners. This is a positive aspect of the game's monetization.
Performance:
- The game supports advanced graphical features like ray tracing and DLSS, enhancing visual fidelity and performance. Ray tracing is now available for a wider range of graphics cards, including the 20 and 30 series. Some users are requesting updates to FSR for AMD cards.
- The game's optimization has significantly improved since its initial release, with many players reporting smooth performance on various hardware configurations. However, some players still experience occasional stuttering, especially on mid-range systems. An SSD is highly recommended for stable performance.
- The game requires decent hardware to run smoothly, and an SSD is essential for playable performance. While some players report smooth performance even on older systems with adjusted settings, others struggle to maintain stable frame rates, especially with ray tracing enabled.
- The game features a soundtrack with melancholic melodies and epic themes that complement the game's atmosphere. The English voice acting accurately conveys the intensity of the dialogues. However, some reviewers find the soundtrack unremarkable compared to Kuro Games' other title, PGR.
- The game has good controller support, especially on Steam.
Recommendations:
- Many reviewers highly recommend the game, especially for gacha fans or newcomers to the genre, citing its free-to-play nature, quality, and potential. Some consider it the best gacha game available, surpassing competitors like Genshin Impact. Reviewers suggest trying it to form your own opinion, ignoring negativity.
- The game is praised for being very free-to-play friendly compared to other gacha games. It offers guaranteed character banners, generous currency, and allows progression without spending money. Some reviewers highlight that it respects the player's time and wallet.
- Many reviewers gave the game high scores, with many scores of 9/10 or 10/10. Some reviewers state that the game is "peak" and their current #1 game. One reviewer stated that the game changed their perspective on the quality that 'garcha' games should offer.
- Some reviewers advise caution regarding spending money in the game, recommending players only spend what they can afford and avoid gambling. Some reviewers advise against playing if you are anti-gacha or can't resist spending.
- Some reviewers recommend pulling for characters based on personal preference or account needs, and not being swayed by negative expectations. Some reviewers state that the game requires a specific mindset and a bit of forgiving due to its jankiness and gacha elements.
Miscellaneous:
- Many reviewers have extensive experience with the game, often playing since launch and spending money to support it. They appreciate the developers' commitment and look forward to future story updates, suggesting a positive outlook on the game's ongoing development.
- The game features a pity system where 5-star characters and weapons are guaranteed within 80 pulls, with soft pity starting at 66 pulls. Weapon banners guarantee the featured weapon, and players receive Afterglow Coral for duplicate characters/weapons, which can be exchanged for pulls or character dupes.
- The game's release on Steam allows players to make in-game purchases using their Steam Wallet and track playtime. However, the primary benefit is Steam's payment processing, as some players may prefer using standalone launchers or other platforms.
- The game is compared to Genshin Impact but is not considered a clone, with some reviewers noting similarities to Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Players who may have been traumatized by Genshin in 2020 may miss out on one of the best ARPG combat systems in recent years.
- The game's community is a mixed bag, with many helpful players but also some elitists and haters. Despite occasional controversies, the overall vibe leans positive, and the developers are generally receptive to community feedback.
