Wuthering Waves, the new open-world action RPG from Kuro Games of Punishing Gray Raven fame, starts in some well-worn territory. The player character, Rover, seemingly severed from a mysterious individual, descends on the world in chaos.
They emerge from an upside-down sea and awaken into the world of Solaris-3, the so-called “third planet from Sol” ravaged by a post-apocalyptic event. Everything is unknown since they’ve lost their memories – it’s all they can do to traverse the environment and press forward. After acclimating to the controls, they arrive at The Cliff, a narrative hallmark meant to showcase the world and cement your emotional connection to it.
Except that’s not how Wuthering Waves chooses to introduce you to the world. Instead, the Rover is awoken by two characters, Yangyang and Chixia, the former a member of the Midnight Rangers and the latter a Patroller in Jinzhou City.
“It may seem like the excess of information is the problem, but it’s the lack of a compelling plot or story in the early going that hampers the introduction.”
They’re questioned about most things – their name, how they got there – and it’s a consistent stream of details about Tacet Discords, the Sentinel, Resonators, the Waveworn Phenomenon like Tacet Fields (which you arrive upon to meet another character), the Retroact Rain etc. There is some action when a powerful Tacet Discord called Crownless manifests, but after that, it’s yet more exposition, with the magistrate of Jinzhou, Jinhsi, making her presence known, extending a welcome, giving you Tokens to explore the meaning of, etc.
It may seem like the excess of information is the problem, but it’s the lack of a compelling plot or story in the early going that hampers the introduction. Some monotonous English voice acting (Yangyang and even the female Rover come to mind) doesn’t help either. The localization feels off in places; some dialogue choices feel indistinguishable; certain lines cut off before they’re complete; and grammatical errors are present in the script. It’s not surprising, given a game of this magnitude, but it still doesn’t make the best first impression.
Stick with it, however, and Solaris-3 emerges as a compelling mix of sci-fi and old-world culture. Long story short, the Lament has wiped out most of humanity, and only the emergence of Resonators, who possess special abilities due to their ability to manipulate surrounding frequencies, is enough to stop them. The Lament has led to various natural disasters and even the formation of Tacet Discords or TDs, ranging from wild creatures to imposing entities like the Crownless. When defeated, TDs leave behind Echoes, which can be absorbed with the Resonators’ tech to utilize their abilities.
The Rover is special, naturally, because they directly absorbed a TD, that too an Overlord-class like the Crownless, with their hand. The emergence of Scar and Fractsidus, a group that wants to merge humans with Tacet Discords for the sake of evolution, is where the story settles in comfortably. Qichi Village is the first interesting story to emerge, showcasing the darker side of humanity without outright spilling everything. It also doesn’t hurt that Scar’s voice acting is easily some of the best in the game, while the character capably flows from charismatic and rational to over-the-top and megalomaniacal.
“The open-world activities, puzzles, and challenges may require some suspension of disbelief, but they’re still fun to engage with.”
The story picks up from there as you finally meet Jinhsi and learn more about the imminent crisis facing Huanglong. Some cliches and the plausibility of certain occurrences crop up, so be prepared for some inaneness. As is usually the case, you must increase your Union Level before progressing through the story. On the one hand, annoying level-gating, but on the other, it also opens up the rest of Wuthering Waves, its side stories and the larger open world as a whole.
Though I didn’t delve into many basic side quests, the companion story with Lingyang paints an interesting picture of beasts and the Waveform Phenomenon’s effect on them. Another side quest sees the Rover venturing to the Sea of Flames for a showdown with the Infernal Rider. What began as busy work provides a unique array of challenges, a fun boss fight and a pretty cool ending with a unique mechanic.
The open world is a whole other thing, but it’s also where the exploration shines. By this point in the story, you have access to a grappling hook, not-so-subtly similar to Monster Hunter Rise’s Wirebug, and a glider. You can also wall-run for a limited amount of time, and thanks to the generous amounts of stamina – with overworld sprinting not consuming any as long as you’re out of combat – it’s a joy to venture through environments. There’s nothing quite like seeing a cliff face or building and sprinting up it to reach a location. Chaining grapples while gliding or through the specific hooks in the world is also nicely responsive.
The open-world activities, puzzles, and challenges may require some suspension of disbelief, but they’re still fun to engage with. There’s the simple (shooting targets to cause a chest to appear) to the average (hit some posts in the order that the butterflies follow them) and the somewhat challenging (lighting up all the panels in a location with a handful of beacons that transmit light in set directions). You may also encounter some Domains with platforming challenges that shift to a side-scrolling view (and feel somewhat awkward at first but fun overall).
“While perfectly dodging enemies, you can initiate counter-attacks to lower their stagger gauge. However, it’s also possible to parry, leaving them stunned briefly for more attacks.”
All this only scratches the surface, as you’ll be transforming into flying creatures to pass through hoops, hacking consoles or repairing terminals, battling other powerful bosses, clearing Tacet Fields and much more. That leads to the best aspect of Wuthering Waves without exception – the combat. Though it starts simple – basic attack, heavy attack by charging, Resonance Skill (which has a short cooldown) and Ultimate (known as Resonance Liberation), it quickly blooms into something much more.
While perfectly dodging enemies, you can initiate counter-attacks to lower their stagger gauge. However, it’s also possible to parry, leaving them stunned briefly for more attacks. Then there are the Intro and Outro Skills. Since you play with a team of three Resonators, they can be switched in and out when the situation demands it. Trigger some special conditions and then switch to them for some cool effects.
For example, when switching to Mortefi, he’ll immediately trigger a Fusion attack, which builds up his Resonance Bar significantly, allowing you to unleash a more powerful version of his skill. Switch him out at the right time, and the next character gains 38 percent increased heavy attack damage for 14 seconds. Intro Skills can also parry incoming attacks if timed correctly.
Furthermore, not every Resonator falls into the category of “use basic attack, use skill, use Ultimate, repeat.” Danjin’s Resonance Skill doesn’t have a cooldown, but it reduces her health. Charge the Resonance Bar at least halfway, and a heavy attack will restore some health (while also benefiting from Mortefi’s Outro Skill). You also have Calcharo, a broadsword-wielding damage dealer whose Resonance Skill can be performed three times before its cooldown, each adding a stack of Cruelty. Accumulate three stacks, and the Resonance Skill changes – use a heavy attack to consume the stacks, and you’ll gain Resonance and Concerto Energy in return.
“Between fighting bosses, clearing Tacet Fields, exploring new regions and discovering new fast travel points, partaking in other challenges, and solving puzzles, you can also rematch against certain story bosses for rewards.”
It’s a lot to take in initially, but all flows incredibly well, especially as you perfect damage rotations. Adding even more spice to the combat are the Echoes. They’re not just spirits that add more to your stats and provide set bonuses upon collecting several of the same types. You can summon an Echo to provide aid, whether it’s unleashing an attack on the field or transforming into the Echo to deal damage. They even have alternate attacks – mash the summon button with Infernal Rider for a combo or hold it down to ride on the flaming motorcycle, which can also be useful for exploration.
The Echo collection makes up a pretty solid activity for Wuthering Waves since you can farm several of them – including Overlords – without having to dip into the daily stamina. Echoes also have different rarities, which can receive tuning to add substats on top of leveling up.
Between fighting bosses, clearing Tacet Fields, exploring new regions and discovering new fast travel points, partaking in other challenges, and solving puzzles, you can also rematch against certain story bosses for rewards. This is on top of the usual activities to gain materials for upgrading characters, Fortes and weapons. Kudos to the developer, though, as it’s easy to get lost in the world and hop from one battle to the next, one activity to another.
On top of all this are the end-game activities – Tower of Adversity and Depths of Illusive Realm. The former is your standard challenge of various floors, each with different level requirements, and taking advantage of unique buffs. Complete the fights within the set time, earn rewards, and challenge the next tier.
It’s the Illusive Realm, which I found to be far more intriguing. The rogue-lite game mode involves progressing through a specific instance with varying paths, each holding different encounters, from defending an objective to light platforming followed by some combat. Choose your buffs (known as Metaphors) after each room, spend your currency on items and defeat the boss. Higher-level instances can go for longer and present more boss fights.
The twist is that you choose a single character in a run, including limited-time event banner characters like Jiyan, and select buffs that alter their moves in interesting ways. You can have Rover send out three swords with a combo, activate Jiyan’s Liberation skill immediately after using it the first time, and more. Then there’s the main Echo selected at the start.
Summoning Crownless for an attack is cool, but how about playing as them for a short period? This is done by selecting certain Metaphors with the corresponding elements, which adds even more strategy to runs. Do you enter doors with buffs to increase the potency of your Echo or stick to unlocking new skills for your Resonator? You can also select another Resonator or two to assist in combat for even more fun builds.
“If Genshin Impact proved that a triple-A open-world action RPG was possible on mobiles and the general free-to-play sphere, then Wuthering Waves shows that some solid competition can emerge.”
The Illusive Realm could use a few more unique encounters aside from straight combat, especially given the sheer array of challenges everywhere in the game. Nevertheless, it’s a great start and incredibly fun to delve into, not to mention offering a gorgeous dream-like aesthetic and an intriguing tale regarding its existence.
Speaking of aesthetics, Wuthering Waves is a pretty good-looking game overall. Environments may start looking typical but open up into gorgeous chasms, detailed cities and surreal structures. While the character designs may not resonate (pun not intended) with everyone, they animate well overall. Though I didn’t face any performance issues, some players have faced their fair share.
Furthermore, there is plenty of polishing work required for some issues, like enemies getting stuck or cats seemingly walking in place. There have also been a fair number of bugs, like the Skip button suddenly not being selectable on the controller, which has since been patched. The camera can also become uncooperative in some places, though it doesn’t happen too often.
As impressive as the visuals can be, the soundtrack doesn’t quite warrant the same praise. Don’t get me wrong – it’s not terrible, and the tracks are serviceable enough while exploring and fighting. Yet I struggle to remember anything beyond the login menu theme. Maybe it’s just the mood that Kuro Games is going for, and while it’s not a dealbreaker, seeing Punishing Gray Raven deliver tracks like Narwhal, To The Limit, and Lamia makes this feel somewhat disappointing.
On the whole, Wuthering Waves is an experience that necessitates some manner of patience. The combat carries the experience significantly yet some praise is due for the exploration and traversal. As it stands, being able to unlock a free standard 5-star and target 5-star weapons and characters of choice is a pretty nice feature. Otherwise, many of the usual gameplay mechanics – from grinding out materials and completing dailies to tuning Echoes for the ideal substats – are as you’d expect.
If Genshin Impact proved that a triple-A open-world action RPG was possible on mobiles and the general free-to-play sphere, then Wuthering Waves shows that some solid competition can emerge. Though it has some way to go, both in terms of overall polish and story-telling, there is potential here and a world worth delving into further.
This game was reviewed on PC.
