Zenless Zone Zero buries its best bits behind bewildering bunk

I’ve given up on trying to understand Zenless Zone Zero. In every other cutscene, I’m bombarded with in-game jargon about inter-knots, proxies, hollows, and w-engines that I just cannot keep straight. Meanwhile, my patience withers to dust as my eyes flit about the screen trying to make sense of the literal deluge of resources — dennies, polychromes, investigator logs, master tapes, and so, so much more — the game requires you to accumulate in order to progress. It is so overwhelming that the only time I feel a sense of peace is during the breakneck combat sequences filled with their own complicated waltz of combos, parries, and special attacks. It’s just too bad that those moments are few and far between.

Zenless Zone Zero is the latest...

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