Wuthering Waves
Wuthering Waves is a 2024 free-to-play open world action role-playing game developed and published by Kuro Games.
First revealed on March 23, 2022, it was initially inspired by Death Stranding with the aim to create a post-apocalyptic world where players can experience the fusion of new and old civilizations. The game development also draws inspiration from various sources, including Punishing: Gray Raven for its combat mechanics, as well as the Pokémon games for its echo system. Wuthering Waves has been compared to other titles of the genre such as Genshin Impact, but aims to place greater emphasis on its combat system compared to its predecessors. The game was released for Android, iOS and Windows devices on May 23, 2024 followed by PlayStation 5 in January 2025, and macOS in March 2025.
Gameplay
Wuthering Waves is set in an open world. The player controls the protagonist Rover, as well as recruited allies called Resonators, which are split into 4-star and 5-star rarities. The endgame content features modes where characters can be used in a series of combat challenges.The game's gacha system features banners known as Convenes, where Resonators and Weapons can be obtained. There are three types of Convenes: novice, event, and standard. A pity system guarantees that 5-star items are obtained within a set amount of pulls.
Exploration
The game features a large open world on the planet Solaris-3, with traversal mechanics designed to support various forms of exploration. Players can sprint across open fields without consuming stamina, though it drains during combat, wall-running or climbing. Additional movement options include scaling sheer walls and cliffs with the grappling hook, performing mid-air dodges and parries, and gliding from heights.In addition, the game features region-specific traversal mechanics introduced in major updates. Version 2.0 introduced a flight module in the Rinascita region, featuring a dedicated stamina system that enables aerial movement such as ascent, descent, high-speed dives, and Ultra Flight Boost. The feature was later expanded to areas of Huanglong, including Jinzhou and the Black Shores.
In version 3.0, the Expedition Motorbike was introduced in the Lahai-Roi region as a primary ground vehicle, enabling high-speed travel, obstacle-jumping boosts powered by an energy system, adaptive grappling, and limited autopilot functionality on designated routes.
Combat Mechanics
The game's combat system features Intro and Outro skills; Intro skills are triggered when the characters enter combat and Outro skills are triggered when the characters leave combat. Both skills are triggered when the characters are switched.Echoes System
Resonators may acquire and equip Echoes from defeating enemies in the open world or in areas called Tacet Fields, completing quests, or participating in events, granting them abilities which summon or transform characters into monsters briefly and providing resonators with stats that increase their HP and/or damage.Plot
Setting
| Nation | Sentinels | Capital city | Heads of state | Governing bodies |
| Huanglong | Jué Hsin Five others | Mingting | Jinhsi | Not specified |
| Rinascita | Imperator | No Administrative Center | Fenrico Augusta | Order of the Deep Council of Elders |
The game is set in a futuristic, post-apocalyptic fiction|post-apocalyptic] world of Solaris-3. A catastrophe called the Lament wiped out most of humanity in Solaris-3 and caused unknown beings and monsters, called Tacet Discords, to appear. Over millennia, Solaris-3 underwent multiple Laments including regional Laments, and over time, humanity adapted to the threat and over time rebuilt civilization. Solaris-3 is divided into regions, with at least two nations introduced in the game: Huanglong, composed of seven cities each guarded by supernatural beings called Sentinels, and Rinascita, a confederation of city-states governed by competing governing bodies.
The story follows the Rover, an amnesiac wanderer who has awakened from a deep slumber and sets out to explore this new world. The player takes the role of the Rover, either the male or the female iteration depending on the player's choice, as the protagonist of the game. They would be shortly thereafter joined by a companion named Abby, a small, levitating cat-like being who regularly communicates with others as they journey throughout the world in search of their past and origins.
The game's main antagonists are the Fractsidus, a secret organization whose goal is to intensify the next and last Lament, which they call the True Lament. They view the Lament not as an apocalyptic event but as a step necessary for the evolution and improvement of humanity all over Solaris-3. Owing to their own perspective regarding the state and the fate of humanity, the organization is responsible for multiple attacks of varying scale all over Solaris-3.
Story
The game's story revolves around the Rover who slowly uncover their past and origins as they travel across the world. Along the way, they meet allies and enemies while continuing their journey, affecting the story throughout the game.Prologue
The prologue of the game takes place in the outskirts of Jinzhou, an outlying province of the nation of Huanglong.Chapter 1
Chapter 1 of the game takes place in Jinzhou, an outlying province of the nation of Huanglong.Chapter 2
Chapter 2 of the game takes place in the nation of Rinascita.| Chapter | Title | Release Date |
| Chapter 2: Even When Divinity Remains Silent | Prologue: Through the Sea Thou Break | January 2, 2025 |
| Chapter 2: Even When Divinity Remains Silent | Act I: The Sacred Breeze So Often Breathes | January 2, 2025 |
| Chapter 2: Even When Divinity Remains Silent | Act II: Veils Off in Sun or Shadow | January 2, 2025 |
| Chapter 2: Even When Divinity Remains Silent | Act III: What Yesterday Wept, Today Doth Sing | January 2, 2025 |
| Chapter 2: Even When Divinity Remains Silent | Interlude: Old Man and the Whale | X |
| Chapter 2: Even When Divinity Remains Silent | Act IV: The Maiden, The Defier, The Death Crier | March 27, 2025 |
| Chapter 2: Even When Divinity Remains Silent | Act V: Shadow of Glory | June 12, 2025 |
| Chapter 2: Even When Divinity Remains Silent | Act VI: Flames of Heart | July 3, 2025 |
| Chapter 2: Even When Divinity Remains Silent | Act VII: Dreamcatchers in the Secret Gardens | July 24, 2025 |
| Chapter 2: Even When Divinity Remains Silent | Segue: Rust, Sword and the Sun | August 14, 2025 |
| Chapter 2: Even When Divinity Remains Silent | Act VIII: By Sun's Burning Hand | August 28, 2025 |
| Chapter 2: Even When Divinity Remains Silent | Act IX: By Moon's Fated Light | September 17, 2025 |
| Chapter 2: Even When Divinity Remains Silent | Act X: The Bygone Shall Always Return | October 9, 2025 |
| Chapter 2: Even When Divinity Remains Silent | Act XI: Dawn Breaks on Dark Tides | October 9, 2025 |
| Chapter 2: Even When Divinity Remains Silent | Segue: A Stranger in a Strange Land | October 30, 2025 |
| Chapter 2: Even When Divinity Remains Silent | Act XII: Stagnant Dawn on Wastelands | November 20, 2025 |
| Chapter 2: Even When Divinity Remains Silent | Segue: Flowing Starlight in the Iris | November 20, 2025 |
The Rover learned that the residual energy of the Threnodian Leviathan still remained in the waters of the world through information provided by the Black Shores and Cartethyia. During their investigation, they met Fenrico who offered his help. When the Rover refused owing to past events, Fenrico throws them into the sea, only to end up in a mysterious area beneath it, finding that they were saved by a greatly injured Phrolova who explained that Fenrico actually held the Threnodian's residual energy. Phrolova proposed that they cooperate since they both intend to retrieve the Threnodian's residual energy while being chased by members of the Order of the Deep, and the Rover relented. As the two venture together, Phrolova is suffering from having to inherit the thoughts of those who died in the past while killing her fellow Fractsidi along the way and leaving her greatly injured, before reaching the Lost Beyond where she says the Threnodian's residual energy was stored inside and where Common Echoes were made. She reveals that their alliance with the Order of the Deep was annulled thanks to Fenrico who betrayed and plotted against her, forcing her to temporarily seal the Threnodian's energy inside the domain, leaving her vulnerable and nigh-powerless. When asked by the Rover why the Lost Beyond was created, Phrolova explained that apart from its purpose of creating Echoes and storing the frequencies of those who died in the past, it also holds something special for her.
As Phrolova recovers rapidly whilst in the Lost Beyond, the duo continued on their search when they accidentally triggered a security system which forces them to split into two, and she hands her own baton to convince the Rover that she will not betray them. The Rover finds a piece of sheet music belonging to Phrolova which Abby warned them that it contains strange frequencies before being ordered by the Rover to go back to the Tacet mark, and realizes that Phrolova once tried to use the Gem from Fenrico in an attempt to fuse Tacet Discords with human consciousness only to fail. Meanwhile, Phrolova encounters the Grand Architect of the Fractsidus, taking the form of her deceased sister, who ordered her to trap the Rover to secure the Threnodian's residual energy and keep it trapped inside the Lost Beyond while turbulences on the seabed are still ongoing. After more opposition and difficulty, the Rover then finally learns the reason for Fenrico's betrayal: he actually intends to store the collective consciousness of Ragunna's inhabitants at the event of the Dark Tide invasion by using the Threnodian's residual energy and the Lost Beyond. They also learn, through Phrolova's own flashbacks, that apart from the Order of the Deep butchering their collaboration with the Fractsidus over disagreements on how they should go on with their Divinity project, the Lost Beyond was also a way for her to revisit the souls of her family who died in a Lament long ago, the loss of which still embittered her into joining the Fractsidus, and it was finally revealed that she and the Rover used to be close friends playing music together before the Rover supposedly "broke" their promise to her, furthering her resentment. The present Phrolova showed up, only telling the Rover that the present cannot be changed.
The duo finally found Fenrico, now under the spell of Leviathan, and the Gem under his possession, and they together beat him in a fight and secured the Gem. With the Rover chastising Phrolova for her fantasies over bringing the dead back and Phrolova continuing her intransigence, the two fight over the possession of the Gem. Just as Phrolova managed to secure the gem, the Rover attempts to throw their sword towards the Gem, only to accidentally stab and kill her in the process before she drowned into the sea. A dying Fenrico explains to the Rover that the Threnodian's residual energy isn't the problem and he needs the Rover's help in saving Rinascita, leading them to stop searching for it. After the fight, the Rover sees a portal to the Lost Beyond with red lily flowers, and with Abby reminding them that Phrolova's consciousness has already merged with Lost Beyond, he enters the portal, finding Phrolova in her frequency form along with her family, where she told them that she deserved all the hate over her actions.
Chapter 3
Chapter 3 of the game takes place in the nation of Lahai-Roi.| Chapter | Title | Release Date |
| Chapter 3: To the Stars Yet to Shine | Prologue: When the Unknown Thrums | December 25, 2025 |
| Chapter 3: To the Stars Yet to Shine | Act I: What Burns Beneath Frostlands | December 25, 2025 |
| Chapter 3: To the Stars Yet to Shine | Act II: Ode to the Second Sunrise | January 15, 2026 |
Development
Wuthering Waves is developed by Kuro Games. It is directed by Solon Lee. It was first revealed in May 2022 via cinematic and teaser trailers. It was announced for iOS on March 25, 2024. Development happened at Kuro Games's recently opened facility in Hong Kong, instead of its main studio in Guangzhou.The game underwent two closed beta tests, with the second concluding in March 2024. After the first closed beta test, the story content was largely reworked in response to player feedback that it felt "uncomfortable".
On March 29, 2024, it was announced that Wuthering Waves was to be released on iOS, Android, and PC via the Epic Games Store in late May. In May 2024, it was announced that Wuthering Waves will be available via the Mac App Store in the future. On March 21, 2025, it was announced that the game will be released via Steam on April 29, 2025.
The PlayStation 5 version was released on January 2, 2025, with version 2.0, and the Mac version was released on March 27, 2025.
Reception
Wuthering Waves had over 30 million pre-registered users from over 100 regions and initially launched to a mixed reception with some positive feedback. While some players pointed out some issues at the game's launch, others praised the game saying it had the "best gameplay" among gacha games. Within its first week, it became the most downloaded in 100 regions. Some players were able to access unreleased content by changing the system clock. Other bugs included animation errors, such as issues with character movement. Some players who attempted to launch the game from the Epic Games store were met with a screen that read "Fatal Error", with a guide later being published on how to fix the issue.At the same time, critics said that the generous rewards in Lustrous Tides made up for these bugs. On May 23, 2024, Kuro Games issued an apology to players and promised that players would receive in-game rewards as compensation for the game's issues. When patch 1.0.19 was released on May 29, in an attempt to fix the game's bugs, players found that the patch had removed all music from the game, and guides were released on how to fix the bug. On the same day, a bug was found that caused the game's audio to become delayed or be removed altogether. Guides were later released on how to fix both bugs.
Despite the rocky launch, critics and the overall playerbase praised Wuthering Waves for its "refreshing" combat system, open world, and movement mechanics alongside its "forgiving" gacha system.
Commercial Performance
In a September 2025 interview at Gamescom, Tencent senior vice president Steven Ma highlighted the game's sustained success, stating that Wuthering Waves was one of only six new titles from the preceding year to surpass Tencent's internal "Evergreen Game Revenue Line" benchmark. Ma identified the six games as Zenless Zone Zero, Wuthering Waves, Love and Deepspace, Helldivers 2, Black Myth: Wukong, and Delta Force.He explained that Tencent monitors approximately 70 global evergreen games meeting strict criteria for long-term viability. Around 5 to 6 titles drop from this list annually. This recognition from Tencent indicates Wuthering Wavess achievement of sustained commercial performance in a competitive live-service and gacha-dominated market.