Zenless Zone Zero developers promise further improvements, reworking of TV mode and early-game experience

In a special "Dev Face-to-Face" broadcast, the developers of free-to-play action RPG Zenless Zone Zero promised further improvements to the game, beginning with the upcoming version 1.2 update and extending through version 1.4 and beyond. The changes, which include a reworking and overall reduction of the "TV Mode" exploration gameplay and other changes aimed at increasing convenience for players, are being made in response to player feedback, according to HoYoVerse.

The broadcast took the form of an interview with Zenless Zone Zero Game Designer "Y," responding to various topics distilled from player feedback gathered by HoYoVerse via survey data and playtesting throughout the launch and version 1.1 update periods for the game. You can see it below, with English subtitles in the closed captions.

One of the first major topics of contention was the "TV Mode" Hollow Exploration gameplay. As detailed in our pre-release period impressions, the TV Mode consists of guiding the player Proxy around a maze-like area represented by an array of joined CRT TV sets. The developers said that though the gameplay represents their vision of how the player character does their work as a Proxy, some things did need fine-tuning, especially with regard to how smoothly and quickly it played. Despite improvements to the general smoothness of TV mode play, players still complained about the time commitment associated with Hollow Exploration and its excessive presence in the early game.

They committed to reworking the TV mode play as part of a larger process of redeveloping parts of the early story experience, and would be abandoning using TV mode play during main story updates, but retaining it in other respects, such as for side commissions. They said they plan to rework TV mode to retain more of its high points. In our preview, we appreciated the mode's ability to quickly reconfigure the stage and the quirky effect of some of its abstract storytelling approach. They expect that the work will carry on through the version 1.4 update and beyond it.

Other planned improvements target the game's "stamina" economy, address the need to repeat certain stages to obtain all rewards, and making it easier for players to obtain needed character progression materials from combat stages. Once a player's completed a certain commission, a timer-based "Auto-Explore" feature can be triggered to have the player's AI partner, Fairy, obtain any missed collectibles automatically. Ways to more directly purchase Notorius Hunt rewards using battery charge and in-game currency will be added, giving players more ways to obtain much-needed Core Skill materials. Further, battery charge (i.e. "stamina") can be banked in a backup battery, allowing players to build a stockpile of charge for use during longer gameplay sessions.

For Zenless Zone Zero's lengthy Hollow Zero mode, the "Blitz Operation" will be added as an alternative way to complete it. Blitz Operations are purely combat-focused ways to obtain Investigation Points and reduce the amount of time needed to complete the Bounty Commissions related to Hollow Zero, as well as to allow players the option to skip TV mode gameplay to a certain extent.

Regarding further plans, HoYoVerse intends to make more Agents playable within the game's non-combat city sections. The first receipients of the treatment are Caesar and Burnice, the key characters of the upcoming 1.2 update, as their story gameplay will have them operating directly in the city (version 1.1's Jane Doe also received an early version of this in her sub-story). Other Agents will gain "City compatible" animation sets over time. Agent interactions will also be improved, and eventually a system for allowing chosen agents to follow the player around as part of a meetup will be implemented. The developers didn't put a firm timeline on these changes, but asked players for patience as they await them, and more beyond.

Zenless Zone Zero is available on PS5, PC, Android and iOS.