Unlike Genshin and Star Rail, however, choosing one sibling to represent you doesn't cause the other to unceremoniously drop out of the story. Just as in Genshin Impact and Honkai Star Rail (and any number of gacha titles), players can select the gender of their default avatar, in this case by choosing from Belle or Wise, the two siblings operating together as the legendary New Eridu Proxy 'Phaeton'. Zenless Zone Zero makes a strong first impression. In the shadows and behind the authorities' backs, 'Hollow Raiders' and other factions explore Hollows on their own, using the guidance and navigation skills of a special class of gig economy professional known as a 'Proxy'.

Now, Hollows are exploited to fuel the city's growth, controlled and monetized by the city government. Only the metropolis of New Eridu survives, thanks to miraculous technology that turns the Hollows into valuable - if dangerous - places to extract precious resources from.

These spherical portals to other dimensions grow and engulf inhabited areas, corrupting those within to turn them into 'Ethereal' monsters. Zenless' premise is a typical one for a live service title: Civilization has been destroyed by a supernatural calamity: the 'Hollows'. The only things missing are ways to actually buy currency and the battle pass-like reward ladder. The beta build features roughly what one might expect out of a launch: Two relatively long main story quest chains, a number of side quests and character-focused quests, what feels like the full suite of core progression and combat mechanics, and a roster of 14 playable characters (so far). The Zenless Zone Zero second beta - called the 'Equalizing Test' by HoYoVerse, seems to be the version of the game that the company feels is ready for more public scrutiny (though the test itself is closed and invite-only).

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