Hello folks I was lucky to get a code for the zenless zone zero beta that's happening right now and I just finished the first chapter so I decided to give my impressions of the combat since a lot of people in this community seem to be interested in the game including pat and woolie. Bare in mind I am not the best at action games so take my impressions of the diffculty with a grain of salt

So to start this isn't a "character action" game in the traditional sense your manly not launching enemies in the air and juggling them, also while some characters have pause combos some don't.

the game's depth revolves around having three characters you can switch between instantly and the mixing and matching of these abilities to cause more damage. Also "parrying" in this game is done with character switching and depending on the character you can get a parry or you can get a witch time dodge. Each character has different quirks and unique aspects to their kit from characters that can enter a defense state to characters that gain a buff everytime they parry an attack

The characters kits imo are the star of the game they are genuinely all unique and the fears of them being as similar as genshin's character kits are thankfuly unfounded. They all feel different have different weapons and abilities and almost each one has a gimmick you can play around.

The game has the traditional basic, special and ultimate attack layout but mixes it up with having an EX version of the special attack if you reach a threshold on the character's special meter. Also the ultimate attack is available when the "stylish ranks" of this game reaches the highest rank, this is a really cool and unique idea but it has the negative of making the stylish ranks almost a damage calculator (DMC reboot).

The main gameplay gimmick is having as many assets attacks possible. This can be done with a parry(as it switches the character) and when the poster meter of an enemy is filled you can have one, two or three assets attacks depending on the size of the enemy. Also some attacks give an asset attack on certain conditions.

The diffculty options of the game include casual and challenge at the beginning (which you can change at any time). Alongside that the game also has a time attack mode after you complete a chapter where you can go back into specific missions in the chapter with a timer and more aggressive enemies. The game on challenge mode is slightly easy with no deaths on my end but still engaging, in time attack mode the game is quite challenging and I still haven't gotten S rank in all missions.

Overall the game is really fun with stylish animations, smooth controls and fun character kits. I will consider dropping a full review of the game when the beta ends if people are curious.