Zenless Zone Zero has really ‘Come Alive’ with Version 1.4

People wanted to see more varied combat challenges and interactions with Agents in New Eridu itself and the studio delivered on both fronts with several new permanent game modes and the brand-new Quality Time Events, which allow you to stroll around town with an Agent at your side, as if you were on a date.

It took a while, as is natural, but ZZZ 1.4 is finally the version of the game that a majority of fans really want it to be. I can’t say if it’s still the game producer Zhenyu Li and his team envisioned, but I hope they’re still enjoying working on it despite all the pivoting that was necessary to bring players on board, because I dare say the efforts were worth it.

ZZZ 1.4 is the best state the game has ever been in and it’s a fantastic way to wrap up its first grand story arc, tying everything we’ve experienced since 1.0 together in a neat, epic manner. If there’s one blemish to the update, it’s the fact that some voices are missing in the English dub, but that’s not HoYoverse’s fault.

What I like most about Chapter 5 of the story is that it builds on what’s become ZZZ’s greatest and defining strength: the interactions between different characters and factions. Version 1.4 got all of them together and it wasn’t immediately all rosy — The Cunning Hares being willing to take on Section 6 to protect Phaethon was intense and badass, the twins being forced to come clean about their identity to the two law-abiding factions, especially Zhu Yuan, was actually emotional, and Phaethon forming a bond with Miyabi over the course of the adventure despite initial adversity was great. Oh, and there was Caesar being the best girl and not hesitating to take on the final boss with us for a nanosecond.

Look, “Avengers, assemble” moments are the tropiest of tropes, and they fall comically flat if they come without the necessary preparation – Wuthering Waves 1.0 is an example for that. HoYoverse did take the time to prepare, though. We had four versions of the game, nearly six months, to bond with the factions that came together to support us in this final battle, so when the inevitable “Zenless Zone Zero, assemble” moment came, it did not miss. Heck, even the good old “Play the theme song during the boss battle” trope came and hit hard – I loved it when Miyabi channeled her inner Acheron and cut not only through Bringer’s final attack, but also the Hollow itself, with ZZZ’s first theme song – the oh, so aptly named “Come Alive” – kicking in. To borrow another common internet phrase: peak cinema.

On the topic of bad guys, we knew that Bringer was suspicious, of course – I feel like there’s a 90% chance in any media that a hero who’s gone into politics has either become corrupted or was never a hero in the first place. But ZZZ 1.4 revealed a different kind of corruption. Bringer didn’t want political power for the sake of it. Him and Sarah seem to belong to the cult that brought down the old capital, which worships a “Creator” and believes that the Hollows and its Ether energy are the future of humankind.

“May the Creator refine me,” Bringer exclaimed before injecting himself with a transformative serum. “May the Creator… refine him,” Sarah said before shooting him with an injection dart containing the same stuff. This “Creator” is someone we hadn’t heard about before, but the cultists are loyal to him unto death – Bringer would rather blow himself up trying to kill Belle and Wise instead of divulging information to them.

Speaking of our protagonists: ZZZ 1.4 gave them a stage to shine on as well – Belle and Wise risked their lives several times and showed their mettle without the support of Fairy. This story really sold the idea of them being this absolutely legendary figure. At the same time, they are at the center of some of the brand-new lore questions this version brought up.

When confronting what’s left of Bringer, Belle and Wise survive an explosion that went off right next to them, their ocular implants glowing menacingly. Earlier, Belle suffers severe corruption inside a Hollow when her implants aren’t working, but she seems to shrug off the effects with ease as soon as they run again. What exactly are our protagonists? Are they actually humans, or some sort of experiment created by their mentor and mother figure, Carole Arna?

Arna herself, of course, is an enigma. She seems to have been blamed for the old capital’s fall, but the twins insist that a giant white hand – which we now have to connect to the Creator – took her during the disaster. Is she still alive, converted, forced to work for the Creator?

As always with a HoYoverse story finale, we are left with more questions than answers and I, for one, am more invested than ever to go and find the truth.

Now is probably the best time to check out ZZZ, since you can claim free S-Rank Agent Asaba Harumasa and tons of in-game currency to pull for Hoshimi Miyabi.