Zenless Zone Zero promises accessibility for all—not just hardcore action game lovers

The urban fantasy RPG Zenless Zone Zero is the next highly anticipated game arriving to expand HoYoverse’s already impressive roster.

In an interview with Dot Esports, the producer of ZZZ, Zhenyu Li, highlighted the upcoming RPG’s goal of drawing in new players who might not usually be interested in intense action games.

“What I’ve found is that lots of players find it too difficult and then they’ll end up never playing action games,” he said. “And I feel that really is a shame.”

ZZZ hopes to remedy this by offering an experience that is both easy to navigate for those entirely unfamiliar with this style of game, but also challenging enough to keep more experienced individuals engaged.

Games like Genshin Impact or Honkai: Star Rail certainly have a steep learning curve since there are so many distinctive moving parts and a wide variety of options when it comes to what you can do at any given point. ZZZ seems to be aware of this and might be the perfect game to start with if you’re interested in this genre but intimidated by all it has to offer.

The overall style and gameplay of ZZZ was designed to be approachable with the intention of creating “an action game that really attracts people who probably wouldn’t have played action games before” and one that provides “easy access” for all.

Because of this, what “really mattered” to the ZZZ devs was that they could “teach players gradually in the beginning stages” to get them to understand the functions of this type of game. Then, once players have the functions down, the hope is that they get to a point where they can move past being worried about it and can instead focus on exploring “what’s most interesting about the game.”

With this goal, the ZZZ team also had to balance ensuring that the game would be engaging enough to keep more veteran players entertained. HoYoverse’s other titles are massively popular, so there is already a dedicated group of players ready to follow wherever the team goes next—which is why the team has been keeping these players in mind too.

“It’s also important to not make it too easy throughout the game because otherwise, then of course, you will also lose players,” he explained.

He thinks it’s an “interesting process,” learning how to navigate a new game as a player who has no idea what to expect or as a highly experienced player who is ready to go, so ZZZ is all about finding a nice balance that does its best to keep all players in mind.

There is no official release date for ZZZ just yet, but previous speculation figured the game could launch sometime before the end of 2024. No updates have been provided though, so it might be quite a while before you can set off to explore the future and investigate the mysterious Hollows.