Wuthering Waves (simplified Chinese: 鸣潮; traditional Chinese: 鳴潮; pinyin: Míng Cháo; lit. 'Sound Tide') is a free-to-play action role-playing game developed and published by Kuro Games. It was released on May 22, 2024.
| Wuthering Waves | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Kuro Games |
| Publisher(s) | Kuro Games |
| Engine | Unreal Engine 4 |
| Platform(s) | |
| Release | iOS, Android, Microsoft Windows May 22, 2024 |
| Genre(s) | |
Being an open world gacha game, Wuthering Waves has been compared to other titles of the genre such as Genshin Impact, but aims to place greater emphasis on its combat system compared to its predecessors.[1]
Synopsis
Wuthering Waves is set in a futuristic post-apocalyptic world after a catastrophe called the Lament wiped out most of humanity and caused unknown beings and monsters, called Tacet Discords, to appear. Humanity adapted to the threat and over time rebuilt civilization. The story follows the amnesiac Rover, who has awoken from a deep slumber and sets out to explore this new world.
Gameplay
Wuthering Waves is set in an open world.[2] The player controls the protagonist Rover, as well as recruited allies called Resonators, which are split into 4-star and 5-star rarities.[1] The endgame content features modes where characters can be used in a series of combat challenges.[3]
The game's combat system features Intro and Outro skills; Intro skills are triggered when the characters enters combat and Outro skills are triggered when the characters leave combat. Both abilities (skills) are triggered when the characters are switched.[4][5]
The game's gacha system features banners known as Convenes, where Resonators and Weapons can be obtained. There are three types of Convenes: novice, event, and standard. A pity system guarantees that 5-star items are obtained within a set amount of pulls.[6]
Characters may equip Echoes, granting them abilities which summon or transform characters into monsters briefly.[4]
Development
Wuthering Waves was revealed on May 23, 2022, on Kuro Games' social media accounts. It was announced for iOS on March 25, 2024.[7]
The game underwent two closed beta tests, with the second concluding in March 2024. After the first closed beta test, the story content was largely reworked in response to player feedback that it felt "uncomfortable".[3]
On March 29, 2024, it was announced that Wuthering Waves was to be released on iOS, Android, and PC via the Epic Games Store in late May.[8] In May 2024, it was announced that Wuthering Waves will be available via the Mac App Store in the future.[9]
Reception
Wuthering Waves had over 30 million pre-registered users from over 100 regions and initially launched to a mixed reception with some positive feedback.[10][11][12] While some players pointed out some issues at the game's launch, others praised the game saying it had the "best gameplay" among gacha games.[13] Within its first week, it became the most downloaded in 100 regions.[10] Some players were able to access unreleased content by changing the system clock.[14][15][16] Other bugs included animation errors, such as issues with character movement.[17] Some players who attempted to launch the game from the Epic Games store were met with a screen that read "Fatal Error", with a guide later being published on how to fix the issue.[18]
At the same time, critics said that the generous rewards in Lustrous Tides made up for these bugs.[10] On May 23, 2024, Kuro Games issued an apology to players and promised that players would receive in-game rewards as compensation for the game's issues.[19] When patch 1.0.19 released on May 27, 2024, in an attempt to fix the game's bugs, players found that the patch had removed all music from the game, and guides were released on how to fix the bug.[20][21][22]
Despite the rocky launch, critics and the overall playerbase praised Wuthering Waves for its "refreshing" combat system, open world, and movement mechanics alongside its "forgiving" gacha system.[11][12]
TouchLevel and DataEye believe that the overall design of Wuthering Waves is comparable to that of Genshin Impact, and that Wuthering Waves will need to differentiate itself from Genshin Impact in future releases. Game Da Guan observed that the poor experience in the early stages of the game's beta testing resulted in tens of thousands of players leaving messages under the official Bilibili account of Genshin Impact after experiencing Wuthering Waves, apologizing for their previous criticisms of Genshin Impact. Gaming View believes that it will be difficult for Wuthering Waves to surpass Genshin Impact commercially, and that it will probably be in the same tier as Arknights and Goddess of Victory: NIKKE.After the release of the 1.1 patch which brought out new story to the game and new characters to chose as resonators, Jinhsi and Changli, the game is constantly increasing in popularity.[23]