List of Zenless Zone Zero characters
The cast of characters in HoYoverse's Zenless Zone Zero hails from the city of New Eridu. All playable characters are associated with a faction. Each character wields one of five attributes: Electric, Ether, Fire, Ice, or Physical. Additionally, each character adopts one of six combat styles: Anomaly, Attack, Defense, Rupture, Support, or Stun.
In special cases, a character can possess a special attribute, adding on improvements to their base attribute. Notable characters include Hoshimi Miyabi and Yixuan, who possess Frost and Auric Ink respectively.
Creation and design
According to Li Zhenyu, the producer of Zenless Zone Zero, there is no fixed process for designing a character; ideas for specific characters may come from the character design team or the scenario team. Li says that the development team has adopted a strategy of "backwards designing", where the character's movements and weapons were designed first, followed by the character design itself. By using this strategy, the design teams were able to more efficiently communicate with each other. Additionally, a character's design can be altered up until the last minute, and can even be altered after their physical appearance in the game. One major example of this was the design of Hoshimi Miyabi, in which her eye models were updated in Version 1.3, despite first appearing in Version 1.0.Characters in Zenless Zone Zero have different designs based on their faction; For instance, the design for Victoria Housekeeping characters is based on Victorian-era butlers and maids with tropes from horror movies. The development team created characters based on previously unseen design elements, and there is an emphasis for quality over quantity in regards to development of characters.
Compared to design of characters in HoYoverse's previous games such as Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail, Zenless Zone Zero took a different direction with its variety of playable characters; There are non-human playable characters such as Ben Bigger, a grizzly bear, Soukaku, a blue-colored oni, and Billy Kid, a cyborg gunslinger. During the planning stages, these non-human characters were not intended to be present in the game but the team did find them fun and later incorporated them into the game.
The development team cited Persona 5, Digimon World, and Street Fighter as influences for Zenless Zone Zero; influences from Street Fighter can be seen in combat animations for characters. Despite the similarities between Persona 5 and Zenless Zone Zero in terms of art style, the development team stressed that Zenless Zone Zero has its own unique style.
Prior to a character's official release in the game, HoYoverse promotes them by releasing teasers through social media. In addition to the main storyline, certain characters also have Agent Stories, which provide some backstory and personality traits that may not be fully explored in the main storyline.
Major factions
Random Play
Random Play is a video store where siblings Wise and Belle rent out VHS tapes while living on the second floor above their business. The staff room in the back of the store doubles as a base for their Proxy work.- Wise and Belle
- '''Fairy'''
Cunning Hares
- Anby Demara '''/ Soldier 0
- Billy Kid
- Nekomiya Mana Nekomata
- Nicole Demara'''
Belobog Heavy Industries
- Anton Ivanov
- Ben Bigger
- Grace Howard
- '''Koleda Belobog'''
Victoria Housekeeping
- Alexandrina "Rina" Sebastiane
- Corin Wickes
- Ellen Joe
- '''Von Lycaon'''
New Eridu City Administration
Criminal Investigation Special Response Team
The Criminal Investigation Special Response Team is an agency specializing in law enforcement. They are part of New Eridu Public Security.- Jane Doe
- Qingyi '''/ 01 Neo-Genesis VI
- Seth Lowell
- Zhu Yuan'''
Hollow Special Operations Section 6
- Asaba Harumasa
- Hoshimi Miyabi
- Soukaku
- '''Tsukishiro Yanagi'''
Obol Squad
- Orphie Magnusson 'and Magus /' Orpheus
- Seed '/ Flora and Seed Sr.
- Soldier 11 /' Harin
- '''Trigger'''
The Outstanding Paragons Alliance
Krampus Compliance Authority
The Krampus Compliance Authority is a group that oversees all activities in TOPS and makes sure it aligns with the rules and interests of the alliance.- Banyue
- Dialyn
- '''Zhao'''
Stars of Lyra
- Astra Yao
- '''Evelyn Chevalier'''
Sons of Calydon
- Burnice White
- Caesar King
- Lighter
- Luciana "Lucy" Auxesis Theodoro de Montefio
- Piper Wheel
- '''Pulchra Fellini'''
Mockingbird
- Hugo Vlad
- '''Vivian Banshee'''
Yunkui Summit
- Ju Fufu
- Pan Yinhu
- Ye Shiyuan
- Ye Shunguang
- '''Yixuan'''
Spook Shack
- Alice Thymefield
- Komano Manato
- Lucia Elowen
- Ukinami Yuzuha
- '''Yidhari Murphy'''
Angels of Delusion
- Aria
- Nangong Yu
- '''Sunna'''
The Exaltists
- Mevorakh '''/ Isolde
- Sarah Floren'''
Other significant characters
- Carole Arna
- '''Charles Perlman'''
Reception
Eurogamer reviewer Jessica Orr praised the design and intricacy of the backstories of the characters, writing that there's "a huge focus on individual characters in all of miHoYo's games, but the developer has never gone this far with letting you get involved with their everyday lives." Kotaku reviewer Willa Rowe wrote that Zenless Zone Zero's "high quality design extends to the rest of the game’s cast, each of whom is stylish and could very well be your new favorite character." Paste reviewer Jason Rodriguez praised the unique design and variety of characters while criticizing the perceived repetitiveness of starter playable characters.
Some reviewers have criticized the perceived oversexualization of certain characters. GamesRadar+ reviewer Austin Wood, when writing about the character Seed, highlighted the repeated emphasis on the character's feet, writing that Seed's animated teaser "is 18 seconds long, and in that time we see not one, but three shots of her feet." Polygon reviewer Ana Diaz wrote about the character Jane Doe, saying that "the studio known for being pretty horny has seemingly outhornied itself," referring to both Jane Doe's teaser trailer and character demo.
Additionally, the game has been criticized for having a disproportionate number of male characters compared to female characters, including reviewers from Pocket Tactics and Videogamer. Zenless Zone Zero producer Li Zhenyu confirmed in June 2025 that there will be more playable male characters in the future.