Wuthering Waves is a story-driven gacha RPG that immediately captivates with its unique blend of swords, guns, and mystical spirits. Driven by a fast-paced combat system and exhilarating parkour-like movements, this game comes alive with action and strategic depth. However, while its battles shine brilliantly, Wuthering Waves falters in aspects like storytelling and some gameplay elements.

Dynamic Combat System

Wuthering Waves excels in crafting engaging and nuanced combat experiences. Each character in your three-person team brings a unique element and weapon type to the fray. Special intro and outro skills activated when swapping characters add a strategic layer, making battles more than just a button-mashing affair. Successfully dodging and parrying enemy attacks charges a separate skill gauge, allowing for powerful follow-up attacks.

The combat's complexity grows with unique combos for each character, which you can practice in dedicated tutorials. Mastering these combos can be incredibly satisfying. While it may take some time to memorize sequences for your favorite fighters, the game rewards you for the effort, creating an enjoyable learning curve.

Challenges with Elemental Types

Although combat is fun, the elemental system in Wuthering Waves falls short of expectations. The six elemental types – each represented by a different color – don't inflict the expected status effects. For instance, fire doesn’t deal damage over time, and ice doesn’t immobilize enemies. This makes the element system feel somewhat superficial, as character movements are what genuinely set them apart.

Instead of focusing on elemental advantages, players will find more value in experimenting with different team compositions and skill sets. While not game-breaking, the elemental system's shortcomings do slightly diminish the strategic depth that could have been.

Echoes: The Unique Gear System

Rather than traditional gear, Wuthering Waves offers Echoes – animal-like companions that boost your characters' abilities. The strength of these buffs depends on how many of the same type you equip, challenging players to optimize the limited equipment slots available. The process of "tuning," unlocking additional random stats, adds another layer of strategy and resource management.

Echoes are not just about stats; they make the game world more immersive. Absorbing ghost-like shells of defeated enemies to convert them into Echoes encourages exploration and diversity in combat encounters. This system is intrinsically rewarding, prompting players to hunt for Echoes not just to strengthen their characters but to fill out their collection guidebook and battle pass.

Exploration and Environmental Interaction

The dynamic world of Wuthering Waves is further enriched by its environmental interactions. Players are motivated to explore thanks to the Echoes system, as finding new types of monsters can yield valuable new Echoes. This feature breathes life into the game’s overworld, making each playthrough unique and engaging, especially in the earlier stages.

However, this magic fades somewhat as players progress. After approximately 30 hours, the thrill of discovering new Echoes wavers, leading to a repetitive cycle of battling familiar enemies. Thankfully, the Echoes are farmable without daily limits, a refreshing departure from typical gacha game constraints.

Storytelling Shortcomings

When it comes to narrative, Wuthering Waves struggles. Despite a massive story overhaul before launch, it features uneven pacing and excessive exposition. The story begins with lengthy, puzzling dialogues filled with cryptic terms requiring additional reading, which detracts from immersion.

The primary plot follows an amnesiac protagonist with a mysterious past, a trope that can work if executed well. Unfortunately, here, it feels convoluted and poorly connected. The story becomes clearer later but introduces more characters too soon, preventing players from forming meaningful connections. The monotone voice acting further dampens the experience, especially when compared to the lively performances in games like Honkai: Star Rail.

Side Quests and Character Engagement

Side quests in Wuthering Waves are often lackluster, failing to draw players into the game's world. While some attempt to be more meaningful, such as a quest about a monster mourning its mate mirroring a researcher's loss, these instances are rare. The majority of side quests are text-heavy and can feel like a chore to complete, leading to players rushing through them for rewards rather than enjoyment.

At times, the hero’s sudden dialogue in otherwise silent moments feels jarring and breaks immersion. This inconsistency makes it difficult for players to remain engaged with the storyline, weakening the overall narrative structure.

Generous Reward Systems

One of the standout features of Wuthering Waves is its generosity in rewarding players. The game’s pity system ensures that players eventually receive high-quality rewards, needing only 80 gacha pulls for a guaranteed 5-star character or item. This is more generous compared to the industry standard of 90 or more pulls.

Furthermore, the game showers players with resources during the early stages, offering copious amounts of gacha pulls and high-quality characters. This allows new players to quickly build formidable teams, creating a satisfying and rewarding gameplay experience right from the start.

Technical Performance and Player Support

Wuthering Waves supports cross-progression, allowing seamless transition across different devices without significant issues. Though some players reported bugs that affected gameplay, these were not widespread. The developer’s quick response, providing generous rewards as compensation for any hiccups, demonstrates their commitment to player satisfaction.

Overall, the game runs smoothly on various platforms, with only occasional minor lag. This does not detract from the overall experience, especially with the substantial rewards provided to ease progression.

Conclusion

Wuthering Waves shines in its fast-paced, intricate combat system, compelling Echoes gear mechanics, and generous reward structures. However, it stumbles with its underwhelming story, repetitive side quests, and a less impactful elemental system. While not without its flaws, the game's strengths make it an enjoyable experience, especially for fans of action-packed gacha RPGs.