Wuthering Waves Review (PS5) | Push Square

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Genshin Impact has changed the console gaming landscape. Once solely the fancy of smartphone gamers, free-to-play gachas have become big business on PS5 and PS4, with many of the format’s most played titles subscribing to the business model.

Wuthering Waves is the latest contender to launch on Sony’s system, an anime-inspired open world adventure which first deployed on PC and mobile last year. It’s, in many aspects, a direct clone of HoYoverse’s biggest hit, with many of its systems replicated wholesale.

But with Teyvat feeling a little long in the tooth these days, Kuro’s made meaningful improvements in all the right areas – especially in its v2.0 quest line, which this version of the game has launched alongside.

You play as Rover, an amnesiac who can be male or female, depending on your preference. The top-level storyline subscribes to the worst of these Chinese gacha games, as it’s infested with nonsensical naming conventions and lore so dense you’ll need a PhD in its various proper nouns to extract any meaning at all from it.

The writing is by far the worst aspect of the game, although its opening chapters are particularly slow and tedious. After completing the first few missions you can skip directly ahead to the new Rinascita environment, which is inspired by the architecture of Italy and the colourful carnivals of countries in South America.

While the script slumps to the same old problems, the mission design is vastly superior. Throughout the 15-hour story, you’ll perform a heist, learn to dance as part of a performing troupe, and witness dozens of impeccably animated cutscenes. It’s such a shame the whole escapade is undone by the writers’ reluctance to hire an editor to dial down their bullsh*t.

If you can get past the obnoxious script, the gameplay is superb. Genshin Impact has gradually been trying to evolve its archaic traversal with new environment Natlan, but Wuthering Waves is already lightyears ahead. Movement is fast and fluid; climbing is speedy