Wuthering Waves Review

It’s hard to blame developers and publishers for wanting to chase hot gaming trends. In theory it makes sense to replicate what’s popular at any given time. Most of the hard work is already done and developers just need to put their own spin on it. However, there’s a reason only a handful of games dominate certain genres; the graveyards full of MOBAs and Hero Shooters can attest to this. Unfortunately, Wuthering Waves seems poised to follow this trend with its drip-fed content, dreadfully boring story, and lackluster endgame in an attempt to capitalize on the success of Genshin Impact.

Never have I wanted a skip button so much

When I was asked to review Wuthering Waves, I was actually excited. I rather liked Genshin Impact during the time that I played it, and Wuthering Waves seemed to be in similar vein but with a much more complex combat system. To be fair, that is essentially what I got. The combat in Wuthering Waves is honestly fantastic for a mobile game and it’s a shame that it attempts to stop you from enjoying its best parts for so long.

Initially, Wuthering Waves drop you right into the action. You just sort of wake up and are found by a pair of patrollers who help you through the movement and combat tutorials. Shortly after, you’re faced with a pretty tough boss fight all things considered. Apparently, this was even toned down from the beta tests and it made me hopeful for what was to come.

Unfortunately, while the tutorial dropped me straight into the action, it was a long time until the next interesting combat segment. The game spends hours holding your hand, explaining the lore, the enemies (Tacet Discords or ‘TDs’ for short), forcing you through ‘cooking’ tutorials, except most of the time you just need the required materials and to click a single button to produce the goods, and other back-and-forth small talk.

The worst part is that almost none of this conversation is skippable. The skip mechanic does exist, but for some reason, the developers have