Zenless Zone Zero

HoYoverse built its name on sprawling open worlds like Teyvat, so Zenless Zone Zero is the odd one out in its lineup on purpose — a tight, stylish urban action game that trades exploration for some of the best combat feel in the gacha genre. If Genshin's pace is too slow for you, this is HoYoverse's answer.

Short version: it's a genuinely excellent action game wrapped around a gacha character system, with a real sense of style most live-service games don't bother with. The city-hub downtime between missions is a deliberate change of pace, not padding, and it mostly works.

Quick verdict: Zenless Zone Zero is worth installing if you want fast, combo-driven action combat with real mechanical depth and don't mind a much smaller, more contained world than HoYoverse's other games. Skip it if slower exploration and open-world scale are what you actually want from this developer.

Key takeaways:

• A free-to-play action RPG by HoYoverse, set in the walled city of New Eridu
• You play a Proxy, guiding playable Agents through monster-infested rifts called Hollows
• Combat is fast and team-swap-based, built around dodge counters ("Assist" evasion) and chaining Agents mid-combo rather than exploration
• Between missions, you run a video rental shop and hang out in New Eridu's neighborhoods, meeting a cast with a real sitcom-level sense of humor
• New Agents come mainly through the same kind of gacha "Signal Search" system as HoYoverse's other games
• Available on PC, PlayStation 5, iOS, and Android, with cross-platform progress on one account

What Is Zenless Zone Zero?

Zenless Zone Zero is a free-to-play action RPG developed and published by HoYoverse, released in July 2024. New Eridu is one of the last livable cities on Earth after a disaster left the world riddled with Hollows — unstable rifts that spill out monstrous Ethereal creatures whenever they open. You play a Proxy, someone equipped to guide teams of Agents safely through Hollows and back out again, aided by a small robotic companion called a Bangboo.

It's a noticeably different shape of game from Genshin Impact or Arknights: Endfield: instead of a continent to wander, New Eridu is a contained, densely detailed city, and the Hollows themselves are compact combat levels rather than open zones.

What Makes Zenless Zone Zero Interesting?

The combat is the reason to play. It's a fast, stylish action game first — think perfect-dodge counters, satisfying hit-stop, and team-swap combos where switching Agents mid-fight extends a combo rather than resetting it — with the gacha character-collecting layer built on top of that foundation rather than the other way around. Among HoYoverse's catalog, and honestly among gacha action games generally, it's one of the better feeling combat systems available.

The other half is New Eridu itself, which functions as a genuine hangout space between missions. You run a video rental shop, walk the city's districts, and talk to a cast written with a real sense of comedic timing — a deliberate tonal shift from the more sweeping fantasy-epic writing in Genshin.

Gameplay

Combat plays out in short, focused Hollow missions rather than an open map: pick a team of Agents, dive in, and fight through combat encounters using normal attacks, special skills, an Ultimate once meter builds up, and — critically — perfect dodges that trigger a slow-motion counter window. Team-swap mechanics mean the best players are constantly rotating Agents to chain combos and cover each other's cooldowns, closer to a character-action game than a typical RPG.

Outside combat, New Eridu is where the story and character writing live: shop management at your video store, hangout scenes with Agents, and side content that's more about character moments than mechanical rewards.

Building an Agent Team

Team composition follows a similar logic to Genshin's elemental system, just built around combat roles instead: Attack, Stun, Anomaly, Support, and Defense Agents each fill a different job, and a well-built team covers enough of those roles to both deal damage and control fights through stagger. Anomaly-focused Agents apply elemental-style status effects that can be detonated for burst damage, giving team-building a real strategic layer beyond "use your strongest character."

New Agents are earned mainly through the gacha "Signal Search" system, with Polychrome as the pull currency and a pity system that guarantees higher-rarity Agents within a capped number of pulls — the same broad shape as Genshin Impact's Wish system, so if you've weighed that trade-off before, it'll feel familiar here too.

Who Is Zenless Zone Zero For?

This fits players who want fast, mechanically satisfying action combat more than open-world exploration — if you've bounced off slower gacha RPGs because the combat felt like a side dish, this flips that. It's also a good fit if you like games with genuine comedic writing and a hangout-adjacent hub, not just cutscenes between fights.

It's a worse fit if a big continent to explore is what actually draws you to this kind of game — New Eridu is deliberately smaller and more contained than Genshin's Teyvat.

What You Should Know Before Playing

The Hollow-based mission structure means sessions are naturally shorter and more bite-sized than an open-world game — that's a feature for some players and a downside for others depending on what you're looking for.

As with any HoYoverse title, the gacha system is worth understanding before spending: Agent pulls are randomized with a pity system backing them up, and while free-to-play progress is entirely viable, getting a specific Agent quickly is not guaranteed on your first attempt.

Pros:

• Some of the best-feeling action combat in the gacha genre
• Genuinely funny, well-written hub content between missions
• Team-swap combo system has real mechanical depth
• Free to install with the story fully playable at no cost
• Cross-platform progress on PC, PlayStation 5, iOS, and Android

Cons:

• Smaller, more contained world than HoYoverse's other games — no open continent to explore
• New Agents are gated behind a randomized gacha system
• Hollow-based missions can feel repetitive in structure over long play sessions
• No Steam or Xbox release as of this writing

Is Zenless Zone Zero Worth Playing in 2026?

Yes, especially if you want combat quality over exploration scale. HoYoverse has kept the content pipeline running with new Agents, story chapters, and Hollow types since launch, and the combat system remains one of the strongest reasons to try a gacha action game if you haven't already.

The trade-off to go in clear-eyed about is the same one every HoYoverse game shares: character collecting runs through a randomized gacha system, and it's worth deciding upfront how much of that you want to engage with.

How to Start Playing Zenless Zone Zero

Zenless Zone Zero is available on PC through HoYoverse's official site and HoYoPlay launcher, on PlayStation 5, and on iOS and Android — there's no Steam or Xbox release. It's free to install on every supported platform, with progress carried across all of them on one account.

FAQ

Is Zenless Zone Zero free to play? Yes. It's free to install and play on PC, PlayStation 5, iOS, and Android, with optional purchases for the gacha Signal Search system.

Is Zenless Zone Zero available on Steam? No — it runs through HoYoverse's own HoYoPlay launcher on PC, not Steam.

How is Zenless Zone Zero different from Genshin Impact? Same developer, very different shape of game: Zenless is a contained, combat-focused urban action game with short Hollow missions, while Genshin is a sprawling open-world RPG built around exploration.

Is Zenless Zone Zero pay-to-win? No — the story and Hollow missions are fully playable for free, though spending can get you specific Agents faster through the gacha system.

Does Zenless Zone Zero have co-op? Combat is primarily solo, with limited multiplayer content rather than full open-world co-op.

Is Zenless Zone Zero good for players who dislike gacha games? The combat itself doesn't require spending to enjoy, but character collection is gated behind the same randomized pull system as other HoYoverse titles, so it's worth being comfortable with that structure going in.