Wuthering Waves 2.0 Review

Wuthering Waves, or as it’s now being called; Wuthering Waves 2.0, for its supposed overhauled experience, is a game I’m deeply conflicted about. It’s a title that feels like two distinct games stitched together: one that frustrated me to the point of abandoning it and another that captivated me enough to reconsider—even if the good parts came frustratingly late.

When Wuthering Waves was first released in May 2024, I didn’t give it the time of day. Everything I’d heard—coupled with my own initial impressions—painted a picture of a game that was incomplete, rough around the edges, and lacking the polish and uniqueness of its contemporaries. I found myself drawn to games that came out later, like Zenless Zone Zero (for its smooth combat and manga-esque storytelling) and Infinity Nikki (for its addictive platforming and stylish motifs), because both simply felt like they had gone through some QA before release, both seemed to have more of an identity, and both were frankly more fun to play.

The two games I mentioned honed in on one or two standout aspects that set them apart from the sea of Genshin Impact clones and Mihoyo-inspired titles—and that’s exactly where I felt Wuthering Waves faltered. (Keep in mind that everything I will mention from here on out is still in the game but diminishes in volume as you move towards the 2.0 update content)

Unlike the focused approach of the other two games, Wuthering Waves aimed for the stars. It pitched itself as a fast-paced, Devil May Cry-inspired action RPG set in a desolate, empty world—like Death Stranding levels of desolate-ness (the very game that inspired its bleak atmosphere). On top of that, it tossed in Pokémon-esque monster-capture mechanics, letting you collect creatures called Echoes to augment your anime-style characters with extra attacks and stats, which is cool—but it’s not without its caveats..

The game even throws Vergil and Dante-like sword-and-pistol characters at you early on, as if to say, “Look, we’re fast-paced and stylish—just like Devil May Cry!” And honestly? I was sold at first because of that core combat setup. It had potential, but the problem is that there wasn’t any meaningful or impactful content to back up the multiple selling points of its gameplay design (as well as how grindy it was to utilize Echoes as a real edge in battles).

Let’s first talk about the main sales pitch of any gacha game—the characters. Wuthering Waves does excel at making each character look and feel unique, with elemental attributes, weapon types, and abilities that activate in all sorts of creative ways and situations, whether it’s parrying, timing combos, or pulling off charged attacks; there’s a lot of depth here for players who love to dig into the mechanics and experiment with the characters they enjoy. On top of that, players can capture Echoes or monsters in the wild and add them to their team, and they bring so much to the table—healing, attacking, or even transforming your characters into creatures like birds or dragons. 

It’s not just about filling gaps in your team’s weaknesses or boosting elemental damage; it’s about making combat feel fresh and exciting every time. Plus, it gives you a real reason to explore the world, hunt for materials, and just lose yourself in that satisfying loop of getting stronger through world exploration and experimentation with various team setups.

It doesn’t feel like the game is pushing you to grind with your time or rely on gacha luck only to get the tools you need to progress (sort of).

The Echo system in Wuthering Waves is an incredibly frustrating and grindy system because it’s not about getting an Echo and sticking with it like how you love and raise your favorite captured Pokémon. The Echo system is overloaded with RNG—whether it’s stats, substats, or rarity, getting a really good Echo feels like pure luck. You’d have to farm the same enemies over and over and gain tons of world-level experience to improve the quality of the echoes you can get, and there’s no way to really know what echoes you’re going to get and where (not to mention the resources you’ll need to upgrade those echoes and the need to farm these too). 

Also, the limited inventory space had me constantly managing and discarding echoes, which added to the tedium. It was like the system was rigged to make me waste my time doing the same thing for no other sense of accomplishment than fighting monsters and collecting those Echoes until God knows when. I am aware that the same issues of RNG and inventory management exist in other games like Genshin, but it doesn’t make it any less frustrating. 

Thankfully, those who are looking to go only through the main story content can enjoy it without obsessing too much with perfecting their characters and echo stats (some quests also adjust your level so you wouldn’t be too underpowered for the mission at hand). But even if you were eager to become the Son Goku of the Wuthering Waves world, there simply isn’t enough incentive to actually pursue that strength or even pay attention to the repetitive and directionless main story missions. 

The narrative keeps hyping you up as the “chosen one” with secret powers in a dystopian, mythology-meets-sci-fi version of mainland China, but it’s all so hollow—there’s no real decision-making, no need to pay attention to the dialogue for clues or hints, and no meaningful character conflicts or interesting NPCs or complicated dungeons to make the journey engaging. The monsters feel like generic Kingdom Hearts Heartless or Nobodies, with no real tactics or counters to your DPS beatdown attacks. Even the one or two bosses who introduced fun gimmicks weren’t that memorable because they lacked meaningful revelations or twists or even voiced lines and a reason to exist in your path—they’re just there to break up the monotony of the most infodumpy story I’ve ever experienced in JRPGs.

The story in Wuthering Waves is so info-dumpy and dull that I found myself skipping cutscenes for the first time ever in a game, which says a lot for a JRPG fanatic like myself who has been playing 100-hour Japanese games for more than 20 years. The game even seems aware of how boring the writing is and offers a detailed skip system with scene summaries and the option to jump straight to Act 2 even if you don’t complete everything in Act 1 or the 1.0 content, as if pleading, “Please stick with us until it gets good.” And while it does improve eventually, the road to that point is such a slog that it’s hard to stay invested if you don’t know what lies ahead.

The fog of boredom dissipated when I reached Rinascita, the Italian-like city that was introduced in Wuthering Waves 2.0. Unlike the original Jinzhou map, which felt like just another generic hub city with a surrounding breath of the wild endless greenery, Rinascita actually made me want to stop and explore every corner. It’s vibrant, alive, and full of little details that make it feel like a place worth getting lost in, and the developer knows, and so they included a new gliding mechanic specifically for your pleasure instead of the hover-down glider you had before.

I don’t want to spoil the story beats too much, but I want to say there’s an actual conflict here, and you (the main character) aren’t the main focus of everything like the early beginnings. And the characters have a real presence whenever they appear, both outside and inside battles, and they function in a drastically different way from their 1.0 predecessors.

It’s vibrant, alive, and full of little details that make it feel like a place worth getting lost in.

For example, there’s that painter Zhezhi who attacks with a painting brush, but her movements are so fluid and elegant that it feels like I’m dancing through the battlefield with every button click, not just attacking and parrying. The presentation and variety of the attacks extend to other characters like Carlotta, who’s an explosive pistol user that feels like she would break the TV screen itself with every special attack (maybe they hired new animators and artists for this, and it honestly shows). 

The bosses also feel now like proper challenges, with attacks and phases that force me to think on my feet. It’s not just mindless button-mashing anymore—I actually have to strategize and think before I attack and take a step, and it makes going through 80 pulls to get characters worth doing to be able to experience these fights with these characters (something I’d never say about many other gacha games if you ask me for my honest opinion on gacha gambling).

There’s more to this update, of course, like the quality-of-life improvements. Being able to craft materials on the fly, teleport directly to bosses and quests, and actually glide properly (instead of floating down like a sad balloon) makes the whole experience so much smoother. There’s even a music player so you can enjoy a break. The grind for echoes never stops, of course, and the endless pulling for good characters, but at least there are good signs the developers are listening and improving in a way that deserves respect and attention.