Wuthering Waves

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Wuthering Waves is a single player and multiplayer casual role playing game. It was developed by KURO GAMES and was released on April 28, 2025. It received very positive reviews from players.

Wuthering Waves is an open-world action RPG where you awaken as Rover, embarking on a journey to recover lost memories alongside unique companions called Resonators. Explore a post-apocalyptic world rising from silence and destruction, facing enemies, uncovering secrets, and harnessing new powers. Your choices shape the unfolding adventure in a vast realm of limitless possibilities.

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90%

Audience ScoreBased on 21,755 reviews

story2.4k positive mentions

optimization159 negative mentions

The gameplay is praised for its fluid mechanics, engaging combat, and satisfying exploration, making it a standout in the gacha genre.
Character designs are stunning and unique, contributing to memorable gameplay experiences and emotional storytelling.
The graphics and atmosphere are widely acclaimed for their stunning visuals and immersive world-building, enhancing the overall gaming experience.

The game suffers from significant optimization issues, leading to performance drops and frustrating gameplay experiences, especially on lower-end systems.
Many players find the gacha mechanics and monetization model to be predatory, with increasing pressure to spend money.
The story can feel bland and repetitive, with some players expressing dissatisfaction with character development and pacing.

story
6,780 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
35%
59%
6%
The story of "Wuthering Waves" has seen significant improvement since its initial launch, with many players noting that it becomes much more engaging after the early chapters. While the beginning can feel slow and filled with exposition, the narrative picks up in later patches, particularly from version 2.0 onwards, offering emotional depth and well-developed characters. The game is praised for its cinematic storytelling, beautiful visuals, and the ability to skip less interesting parts, making it accessible for both story enthusiasts and casual players.
- “The story is intriguing and emotionally heavy.”
- “Very good storytelling... great characters and amazing world and visuals making it absolute cinema.”
- “The story gets really good after the first region, the sound design is great, visuals are some of the best I've seen, and the gameplay can be really fun.”
- “I'm tired of seeing every new character having a somewhat romantic scene with Rover, holding hands, blushing...etc. Also, the stories of these characters don't have anything interesting to give; I couldn't sit through any story of these characters after 2.0 because it felt like a nothing burger.”
- “The story is too bland and repetitive. It feels like characters don't speak to each other and have a 'life'; every time you play a character's story, it's focused somewhat on Rover, and it's becoming boring and irritating.”
- “The story is a confusing mess that tries to be 'deep' but I honestly didn't care about any of the characters after the first couple of hours.”
gameplay
2,565 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
54%
3%
The gameplay of "Wuthering Waves" has been widely praised for its fluid mechanics, engaging combat, and satisfying exploration elements, making it a standout in the gacha genre. Players appreciate the depth of character abilities, including dodge and parry mechanics, which add a layer of skill to encounters, while the open-world design encourages thorough exploration. Despite some criticisms regarding gacha mechanics and pacing, the overall experience is described as rewarding and enjoyable, with many players noting significant improvements in gameplay and story over time.
- “Exploring the world is very satisfying, boss challenges are fun and rewarding, and the fight mechanics have a perfect rhythmic flow.”
- “The combat is still the biggest highlight for me; the dodge, parry, and character swap mechanics make fights feel fast, skill-based, and really satisfying even after long playtime.”
- “The gameplay is incredibly fun, the world exploration is just peak.”
- “The gameplay is a league of its own and it by no means disappoints.”
- “The gameplay loop has you doing a lot of similar encounters, but so far, I haven't felt sick or bored with the combat.”
- “The gameplay is very dynamic, and late game modes can become really challenging, turning it from the usual 'wallet' issue into a skill issue.”
graphics
2,004 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
62%
37%
1%
The graphics of "Wuthering Waves" have received widespread acclaim for their stunning visuals and detailed character designs, often compared favorably to AAA titles. Players appreciate the game's vibrant environments, fluid animations, and the overall aesthetic quality, which enhances the immersive experience. However, some users have noted issues with optimization, particularly on lower-end systems, which can lead to performance drops despite the high graphical fidelity.
- “The graphics and area designs left me agape several times from how good the environment and enemies look.”
- “The designs and graphics are actually insane and my PC is a potato, love this game.”
- “The graphics are absolutely stunning and the environment feels detailed and atmospheric, with beautifully designed characters and smooth animations that bring the world to life.”
- “The graphics are a big positive; characters, environments, and creatures all look great, though the latter is a bit generic.”
- “The game runs awfully from time to time since the graphics are so high quality, which makes it hard to play and stay immersed.”
- “The graphics quality has gotten worse, with more blur, and the game is disgustingly optimized; my laptop can withstand pretty high graphics, yet struggles.”
music
1,060 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
54%
44%
2%
The music in "Wuthering Waves" has received widespread acclaim for its emotional depth and variety, with many players noting that it enhances the overall gaming experience significantly. The soundtrack evolves throughout the game, starting modestly but becoming more impactful during key story moments and boss battles, often described as "top-tier" and "cinematic." Players appreciate the diverse range of tracks, which include orchestral and electronic elements, making it a standout feature that rivals even some AAA titles.
- “The soundtrack is outstanding, with a huge variety of tracks and incredible compositions.”
- “With its profound narrative depth, poetic writing, and cinematic framing, Kuro Games has delivered a world of breathtaking scenes and an epic soundtrack, making me sit in silence, completely immersed in the emotional afterglow.”
- “The music fits perfectly too, adding atmosphere whether you’re gliding through a valley or fighting a boss.”
- “The music is really weak and forgettable, even during intense moments, and that's too bad.”
- “The soundtrack is a mixed bag; some tracks are forgettable, but boss fights and major cutscenes are consistently elevated by strong compositions.”
- “The music is inferior to that of Genshin, mostly because they lack distinct melodies and feel truly like 'generic video game background noises'.”
optimization
793 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
15%
65%
20%
The optimization of the game has received significant criticism, with many players reporting persistent performance issues, including stuttering, long loading times, and frame drops, particularly after major updates. While some users note improvements over time, especially on higher-end systems, the overall consensus is that the game remains poorly optimized, especially for lower-end devices, leading to frustration among the player base. Developers are acknowledged for their efforts to address these issues, but many feel that optimization should be prioritized to enhance the gaming experience.
- “Kuro actually listens to the fanbase and constantly works on adding content and on optimization.”
- “The game is great, beautiful graphics, it's an open world, but the only downside is the optimization. However, if you know how to optimize the game with NVIDIA settings, you can play it at 60 fps on an old mid-range system.”
- “Despite being huge and unoptimized, this is one of my favorite gachas of all time.”
- “Garbage optimization, but overall it's really good game.”
- “The game's content is still good, but this is a massive problem that will be the main reason why many will quit this game for good if it isn't addressed, especially since they keep highlighting performance improvements on new patch streams despite nothing changing in-game.”
- “Even if I enjoyed the story and the combat, I can't in good faith recommend dealing with genuinely the worst optimization I've seen in a game.”
character development
579 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
57%
41%
2%
Character development in "Wuthering Waves" is widely praised for its stunning character designs and animations, which are considered some of the best in the gacha genre. Players appreciate the unique personalities and abilities of each character, although some critiques mention a tendency towards fanservice and a lack of diversity in character types. Overall, the game is noted for its engaging storytelling and continuous improvements in character design with each update, making it a standout title in the open-world gacha space.
- “The character designs are absolutely stunning, each with their own personality, style, and unique abilities that make them memorable.”
- “Wuthering Waves excels when it embraces bold and expressive character designs.”
- “The character designs are detailed and unique, giving each hero a distinct personality both in appearance and gameplay.”
- “The character designs are uninspired and basic, and the combat is just getting more and more overblown with flashy moves with no substance or meaningful mechanics.”
- “The 3.1 story was especially mediocre with a very surface-level concept and character development that was so predictable, I rolled my eyes.”
- “Character designs can be a hit or miss, and the way they put lots of work on a character is mind-boggling with how detailed they are.”
grinding
498 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
1%
8%
91%
The grinding aspect of the game is a significant point of contention among players, with many noting that it can be quite tedious and time-consuming, especially in the context of gacha mechanics. While some players appreciate the grind as a means to engage with the game and its characters, others find it frustrating, particularly when it comes to farming for echoes and materials, which can feel repetitive and heavily reliant on RNG. Overall, the game is described as grindy, but opinions vary on whether this grind is enjoyable or a chore, with some players feeling that recent quality-of-life updates have improved the experience.
- “Solid gacha game and the only one I recommend, no tedious grind, just chill and relaxing.”
- “Amazing game that isn't too grindy and really rewards players in the long term!”
- “I would also like to note that there is no tedious grinding here, unlike most gacha games.”
- “The game does suffer from some quests being tedious to do, especially for how small the reward can be.”
- “You need 1600 asterites to pull 10 times for resonators and their weapons, and to get them sometimes you have to complete quests that can take 20-30 minutes (assuming you don't skip the dialogue) for 20 asterites... to get hard pity you need to roll 80 times... so... yeah it can take a lot of grinding at times.”
- “The grind is so bad and if someone says that this game doesn't need grinding or that it is not that bad they are just straight up lying.”
emotional
261 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
96%
4%
The emotional aspect of "Wuthering Waves" is widely praised for its profound storytelling, character depth, and cinematic presentation, often leaving players in tears. Many reviews highlight the game's ability to evoke strong feelings through its narrative arcs, particularly in recent updates like 3.1, which are noted for their emotional weight and engaging character interactions. However, some players feel that certain story elements can be poorly structured or overly drawn out, which may detract from the overall emotional impact.
- “The story is engaging and emotional, pulling me deeper into the world with each update.”
- “The sheer aesthetic beauty of the world and its inhabitants, coupled with the immediate emotional resonance of the roster, makes Wuthering Waves an essential and enduring masterpiece.”
- “The soundtrack hits the right emotional beats, and the voice acting across multiple language packs is impressively well done.”
- “People will say that the story is good, when in reality it's a really boring story that is dragged out.”
- “I have dropped this game because of the boring story which blasted me with an avalanche of uninteresting filler text, and me being a masochist, I am not skipping the stories in the games; I just couldn't do it.”
- “I used to play Genshin, but its childish atmosphere and boring storyline eventually pushed me away.”
monetization
215 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
10%
71%
19%
The monetization model of "Wuthering Waves" is primarily based on gacha mechanics, which many players find to be predatory and reminiscent of other titles like Genshin Impact. While some reviews highlight that the game allows for a fair free-to-play experience without aggressive monetization tactics, others criticize the increasing pressure to spend, especially following recent updates. Overall, the game is seen as having a mix of generous and exploitative elements, making it essential for players to be cautious about in-game purchases.
- “The depth of the combat, the immersive world, the unique storytelling, and the respectful monetization model all came together to deliver one of the most enjoyable gaming experiences I’ve had in years.”
- “You can have a decent gacha monetization model that isn't FOMO-based and incredibly predatory, but I have yet to see one, and this game is no exception.”
- “Overall, the monetization is respectful, unobtrusive, and designed to reward both spenders and non-spenders fairly without turning the game into a cash grab.”
- “Ultimately, Wuthering Waves is still a gacha game, with all the associated monetization pressures and live-service uncertainty.”
- “The core problem with Wuthering Waves is the same one plaguing most gacha games: wasted potential buried under bloated systems, RNG hell, and monetization that actively fights the player experience.”
- “While Wuthering Waves has improved since its disastrous launch, its first anniversary and recent updates highlight a shift toward exploitative monetization.”
atmosphere
138 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
56%
42%
2%
The atmosphere in "Wuthering Waves" is widely praised for its stunning visuals, immersive world-building, and evocative soundtrack, which together create a captivating and emotionally charged experience. Players appreciate the game's ability to blend various themes, from post-apocalyptic settings to vibrant landscapes, enhancing exploration and storytelling. Overall, the combination of detailed environments, atmospheric effects, and a rich musical score contributes to a deeply engaging and memorable atmosphere that resonates with players.
- “The atmosphere was top-tier — from the bustling city streets to the serene spots filled with sakura trees and Japanese-style shops, it truly captured the essence of a modern Japanese metropolis.”
- “From the moment you step into its beautifully crafted world, you're enveloped in a hauntingly immersive atmosphere that perfectly balances beauty with melancholy.”
- “The soundtrack, an atmospheric mix of orchestral and electronic styles, adds a cinematic flair that enhances every major encounter.”
- “Honestly, no offense on this last part since gachas do it all the time, the thing that bothers me is that event with all this time spent together with these characters individually, their impact on the story most of the time is nonexistent. It's like they exist for their respective patch and then poof, they go into the atmosphere.”
- “The ambient sounds of the world—whistling winds, distant thunder, the rustling of leaves—immerse you completely in the game’s world, creating an atmosphere that’s impossible to escape.”
- “The game would have been way better if they had stuck to the post-apocalypse and sci-fi atmosphere from the first beta test and made more complicated combat features than just ladies in revealing outfits.”
stability
69 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
10%
2%
88%
The game's stability has been a significant concern among players, with many reporting persistent bugs, lag, and crashes, particularly following updates. While some users note improvements in performance over time, others express frustration with ongoing issues that disrupt gameplay, such as freezing, stuttering, and visual glitches. Overall, the game is described as a mixed experience, with moments of enjoyment overshadowed by technical problems that hinder its potential.
- “Weapons and attacks have near perfect hitboxes and actually seem realistic, with no glitches, asset teleportation, or hitbox errors.”
- “The devs clearly put a lot of effort into the graphics, and it runs great too.”
- “Beautiful game, fun mechanics and gameplay, runs great.”
- “Now the game is a buggy, laggy mess.”
- “The game was amazing in version 2.0 up until 2.5; after that, the devs have been releasing patches full of bugs. They do fix them, but you wait an entire month for new content, and they come out as buggy?”
- “The game is unplayable in Rinascita on Steam Deck/Linux due to freezes and crashes.”
humor
52 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is a mixed bag, with players finding comedic moments in character interactions, storylines, and even technical glitches. Many reviews highlight the game's ability to blend funny dialogue and absurd situations, while also poking fun at its own mechanics and design choices. Overall, the humor adds a lighthearted touch to the gameplay experience, making it enjoyable despite some criticisms.
- “And rover's (mc) emotions in cutscenes are always funny.”
- “The game even has a plethora of funny easter eggs ranging from all forms of media; who would've guessed a gacha game would reference Fire Boy and Water Girl.”
- “Characters say hilariously bad things before their special attacks like 'shape the shapeless' (lol what?) and 'the hour is upon us' but I have no idea what hour it is.”
replayability
30 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
23%
67%
10%
The reviews indicate a mixed perception of replayability, with some players praising the game's dynamic and fluid mechanics that encourage experimentation, while others criticize it for lacking long-term content and meaningful replay value. Many users express disappointment in the limited variety of characters and repetitive gameplay, particularly in gacha mechanics, leading to a consensus that the game falls short in providing substantial replayability despite being a live service title. Overall, while some aspects are engaging, the game struggles to maintain player interest over time.
- “Fluid, dynamic, and endlessly replayable, with intro/outro synergies pushing you to experiment with teams.”
- “But in all honesty, I can only recommend it if you're looking for a very good free game with immense replay value!”
- “Keeps you captivated for hours with plenty of replayability.”
- “But if you’re looking for real difficulty, deep endgame, strong social systems, or replayable content, it falls short hard.”
- “This game has very little replay value, and endgame burnout happens very quickly.”
- “The replayability of the game is very, very low.”