Wuthering Waves is an upcoming free-to-play action role-playing/gacha game developed and published by the Kuro Game. The game was released on May 23, 2024. Download is available on PC, mobile, PS4, and PS5. In case this is the first time hearing about it or you want to know more about it, you’re at the right place. I’ll be going over all the things that are known about the game.
Introduction
Let’s start with the most obvious one and get it out of the way. Yes, it does look like Genshin Impact to some extent. Even if I might compare these two games on occasion, I’ll try to keep it to the minimum, with emphasis on the try. After all, we are here to talk about Wuthering Waves.
Story
The game’s story unfolds in a futuristic post-apocalyptic open-world scenario, where a mysterious disaster has wiped out most of the population. Now, the world is inhabited by various monsters and other entities, and it’s at this point that the main protagonist, Rover, awakens from a deep slumber.
We’ll follow him on the journey as he discovers a newly shaped world.
Graphics and audio
Regarding the game’s graphics, I find Wuthering Waves beautifully designed. However, I sense that the colors are somewhat toned down. That may be the way they’re trying to paint the whole post-apocalyptic scenario. The game also features a playing game in 120 FPS. Which makes it an amazing option, especially when it comes to boss fights. The graphics rendering and resolution offer a very extensive range, and if set to maximum, I doubt any phone that I know could handle it. And when it comes to the sound design of the game, I’ve got nothing bad to say about it. There is chill music while you explore different regions and there is heavy EDM when you fight bosses, which is the best music for boss fighting as we know.
Summons
Now for the most thrilling part of any gacha game, let’s talk about summons. It’s a very similar system to the Genshin Impact. You’ve got your usual shebang where you have the option to summon all the characters and the results are random or you have the option to summon on the specific banner and get a featured character. And of course, there is weapon summoning, which is pretty much the same except for the “all weapon” summon, you can pick which weapon you want to target. The prices are also very similar to Genshin if not the same. The only things that are slightly better are the summon rates( with an emphasis on the slight). One last notable point is the implementation of a pity system for summoning. After 80 pulls, the game guarantees players a 5-star character or weapon. Knowing my out-of-this-world bad luck, I’ll need that pity even lower.
Echo system
The Echo system is a very refreshing take on the whole artifact/equipment system. Every monster in the game has a chance of leaving a fragment of itself behind when you kill it. If that happens then you can absorb it and that’s how you get echo. There can be 4 types of rarity: Common(Green), Elite(Blue), Overload(Purple), and Calamity(Yellow/Gold). The value of the base stats and how many times it can be upgraded depends on rarity, marking the beginning of the grind. You can equip up to 5 echo’s and if done properly, you can activate set bonuses. The top equipped echo possesses a specific ability assigned to Q, which players can use in battle. The way it works is once you press Q, you transform into the echo and it does whatever attack/effect that echo has. It’s a very cool feature that makes this game stand out.
Final thoughts
Wuthering Waves came in with high expectations—and it definitely made waves. Whether you’re here for the fast-paced combat, the exploration, or just testing another gacha title, this game has more going on than most give it credit for.
Now that the game’s out in the wild, we’ve spent plenty of hours digging into the full experience. If you’re wondering how it actually holds up, bugs and all—check out our full Wuthering Waves review here.