Wuthering Waves May Beat HoYoverse to the Punch With One Mechanic

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As a seasoned gamer with over two decades under my belt, I can confidently say that the upcoming 2.0 update for Wuthering Waves has piqued my interest more than any other game release this year. The rumored gender-swapping feature is a game-changer and could potentially catapult Wuthering Waves to the top of the gacha RPG genre, surpassing even the mighty titans like Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail.

Wuthering Waves is a fresh, no-cost-to-play role-playing game with gacha mechanics, developed by Kuro Games – a lesser-known Chinese studio also responsible for games like Punishing: Gray Raven and Twin Tail Battleground. As a subsidiary of the global media giant Tencent, Kuro launched Wuthering Waves on iOS, Android, and PC earlier this year. Despite some initial problems due to bugs and faulty updates, it quickly gained popularity. In fact, Kuro Games revealed that over 30 million people worldwide had pre-registered for the game, making it the most downloaded mobile game in over 100 regions. This remarkable success places Wuthering Waves alongside giants of the gacha RPG genre, such as Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail.

Kuro Games intends to draw in even more enthusiasts for the game Wuthering Waves with its forthcoming 2.0 update, scheduled for release on PlayStation 5 on January 2, 2025. This eagerly awaited update is packed with an array of fresh elements, such as five new Resonaters (characters you can play), a new area called Rinascita, and numerous new storylines. However, what Kuro Games has shared about the 2.0 update so far seems to be merely the tip of the iceberg, as there are reportedly additional unannounced features planned for inclusion in the game next month. One such rumored addition is the option to change the gender of playable characters, which, if accurate, would give Wuthering Waves an edge over its contemporaries.

Wuthering Waves’ Rumored Gender-Swapping Feature Could Put It Ahead of HoYoverse’s Games

Rumors Suggest that a Gender-Swapping Mechanic Will Be Added to Wuthering Waves in Update 2.0

A trustworthy insider known as Sleep recently shared an image of an unfinished build of Wuthering Waves‘s 2.0 update, which clearly depicted UI elements for a gender-swapping feature. The leak also revealed that said feature would have a 24-hour cooldown period. In other words, once players pick a new gender for their protagonist, they will not be able to revert their change until they wait an entire day. The ability to change genders mid-game is, as previously mentioned, not something that Kuro Games has officially confirmed but, assuming these leaked images are legitimate, update 2.0 may give Wuthering Waves a long-requested feature that’s sorely been missing in other recent gacha RPGs.

HoYoverse’s Games Do Not Allow Players to Change Their Genders Mid-Playthrough

In my gaming experience, I’ve noticed that most anime-style gacha games, even those from powerhouses like HoYoverse (creators of Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail), don’t offer the option to change the gender of my protagonist within a single playthrough. If I fancy playing as a male character instead of a female, or vice versa, it means starting the entire RPG adventure from square one. For instance, Genshin Impact, which is a trailblazer in the gacha genre, lacks this basic feature that many other games have, like Tower of Fantasy developed by Hotta Studio. The same goes for Honkai: Star Rail; HoYoverse hasn’t given us the freedom to switch between characters like Stelle and Caelus mid-game.

HoYoverse deserves credit for allowing character gender customization in their latest release, “Zenless Zone Zero”. However, it’s important to note a limitation: The playable characters fall into two categories – Agents and Phaethon siblings. Players can control the Agents during combat, while the Phaethon siblings are utilized outside of battles. There are over 20 Agent characters in the game, some male, some female, but only two Phaethon siblings are available.

In the opening of a fresh adventure within Zenless Zone Zero, gamers are presented with an intriguing choice: they can select either Wise or his sister Belle, two characters who steer clear of combat, as their main protagonist. The character chosen will play a more significant role in ZZZ’s narrative. Meanwhile, the other sibling serves as a navigator. Although players have the freedom to switch between protagonists while exploring the Overworld, they are limited to using the Phaethon sibling they initially picked during quests and story events, which appears somewhat restrictive. It would be great if Kuro Games implements a gender-swapping feature in Wuthering Waves’ 2.0 update; if so, I hope HoYoverse also incorporates this functionality into Zenless Zone Zero and its other titles.

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2024-12-10 21:56