With Lahai-Roi no longer threatened by Aleph-1, Wuthering Waves 3.5 sees Rover (Jane Jackson, Arknights Endfield) return to Huanglong to investigate the disappearance of their old friend Yangyang (Rebecca Yeo, WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers). Last seen outside Jinzhou’s sister city, Xuanfang, Rover finds the city and its robotic defenders in a perilous state.
There has been an easily overlooked tradition in Wuthering Waves‘ release cycle. Near the end of every update’s run, they send out a customer survey. Accompanying this survey is a letter written as if by Yangyang, touching base with Rover and seeing how their journey is progressing. After the survey is filled out, a reward is sent, accompanied by another letter from the character, written as if the player had responded to their previous message.
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This small but heartfelt detail is always eagerly anticipated. Yangyang is a very calming and supportive character, and her messages are always flowery and sweet, as she offers words of support and waxes poetic about the changing seasons and other aspects of life. Wuthering Waves 3.5’s opening stems from an in-game exchange of correspondence between the two, seemingly confirming that the letters we’ve received out of game are indeed intended to be happening within the narrative. This makes Yangyang the only character aside from The Shorekeeper with a continuing presence throughout the game’s story.
Players can engage with in-game messages at their own pace.
The plot begins to turn when Yangyang fails to respond to Rover’s latest message with her usual promptness. Concern quickly builds for Rover, and seeing how Lahai-Roi no longer needs protection, Rover and Abby agree to set off for Huanglong. Though not without one last hurrah with their friends.
The goodbye party the locals throw for their departing companion is wonderfully balanced. Everyone, even Chisa (Leader Looi, Black Myth: Wukong), gets their moment to say farewell. Some levity is also worked in through a montage of moments with the many personalities they’ve come to know. Once the main event is wrapped up, the devs had the good sense to keep much of the talking to the in-game messaging system, Waveline.
I like this decision because it lets the player engage with the messages when they want to. If you want to head back to Jinzhou immediately, you can, and the messages will be waiting for you when you want. And thanks to the strong voice work from the entire cast, as little sentiment as possible is lost from the absence of a visual element.
Wuthering Waves 3.5 wastes little time establishing the growing danger.
Once Rover returns to Huanglong, Wuthering Waves 3.5 wastes little time establishing the growing danger the region faces. Rover quickly catches up to speed thanks to familiar faces like Jinhsi (Anna Devlin, Arknights: Endfield), Zhezhi (Shin-Fei Chen, Lost Soul Aside), and even the elusive Xiangli Yao (Shaun Mendum, Crimson Desert), who, for many newer players, will be their first meeting with him. We also get our introduction to the series’ newest soon-to-be-playable character, Yangyang’s big sister, Suisui.
Suisui is the antithesis of her little sister. Outgoing, confident, and more than willing to play on someone’s nerves when it suits her, Suisui brings a dynamic and memorable presence to every scene she’s in. Her visual design, both in her physical look and in her combat animations, is as vibrant and impactful as her personality. And the plot uses her well within its narrative, while leaving her plenty of space to grow in later updates.
Wuthering Waves 3.5‘s intro is helped a lot by the decision to show rather than tell much of the setup. Instead of having the injured Chixia (Harriet Carmichael, Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake) recount to Rover her last moments with Yangyang before the pair was separated, the player gets to take control of Yangyang to live out the sequence. This will be the first of many times the player is separated from their default avatar in the story.
While not the first time the game has done this, the frequency feels higher here than in previous entries. And it’s a great choice. It allows the story a greater degree of flexibility, since more critical things can happen away from Rover, without the need to have a character explain everything that happened in long-winded exposition. Show is almost always better than tell.
Uncertainty within known elements makes Wuthering Waves 3.5’s story stand out.
Wuthering Waves 3.5 handles its branching narrative skillfully, with a special screen that showcases when things are happening, as well as where other people are at the same time. This way, players have a clearer understanding of what is going on simultaneously. Although not inherently necessary, the willingness to incorporate this mechanism shows that the writing team made sure everything worked properly. Another subtle sign of the thoroughness the devs bring to the game’s structure.
The narrative that players follow Rover, Yangyang, and Suisui through is one filled with a fair amount of twists and turns, several of which are allowed to linger as setup for the unfolding plot. What makes Wuthering Waves 3.5’s story stand out is the uncertainty within its known elements. The nature of key elements like Yangyang’s transformation is shrouded in mystery, creating a high level of tension and anticipation. And most key among the lingering mysteries is Hsin.
Mengzhou’s Sentinel, Hshin the Moon Fox, feels like a strikingly different flavor of guardian than Jué or Imperator. As is often the case with fox-inspired characters, Hsin plays the part of a sly trickster in her scene here. She looks to manipulate and outmaneuver with her words, leaving room for doubt about just what her goals are, despite not doing anything overtly bad.
This uncertainty is reinforced by the gorgeous way the character is present but not fully revealed in her big moment. While I’d be surprised if she turned out to be bad, it would be interesting if her methods or goals were to prove incompatible with Rover’s as the story unfolds.
While mystery is a central element to the unfolding tale, tragedy is also woven deeply into its fabric. The Lament, a long-running series of catastrophes that plague Solaris-III, has always lived in the background of the game’s narrative, but in Wuthering Waves 3.5, its history is pushed to the forefront. A 200-year-old war born from it connects to the present-day events with haunting beauty. The pain, tragedy, and hope of those in the past come to directly impact the present, culminating in one of the most beautiful and moving sequences in the game.
Augmenting the emotional side of the game is an incredible soundtrack. The score and music build up every scene’s focus, but shine through most brightly in the emotionally driven sequences. Use of in-world music is particularly well implemented, allowing the impact of the music’s biggest moments to hit the characters as much as it does the players.
Housing these dynamic characters and a compelling story is Xuanfang itself. However, calling it a backdrop or a stage for the narrative wouldn’t do it justice. The clockwork nature of this floating city nestled among cloud-shrouded mountain tops is so fully realized that it often feels like an active participant in the tale, rather than a setting for it.
Players will find plenty of reasons to continue exploring this breathtaking world, even after the main story ends.
How locations morph and rebuild themselves to guide the player through a quest is breathtaking in its elegance. The fusion of steampunk-style mechanisms and the Chinese aesthetic creates a truly breathtaking and original world for the player to explore.
Further enhancing Wuthering Waves 3.5‘s presentation is the plethora of visual styles it utilizes to tell its story. Cinematic sequences play out in a variety of forms, from ink-washed animation to paper figures and more. Just when you think you’ve seen everything Kuro’s devs have in store, the game brings out another jaw-dropping surprise.
Even once the game’s main story is over, players will find plenty of reasons to continue exploring this breathtaking world among the clouds. Many quests send Rover all around the new region, showcasing the visual design and creativity it houses. Investigation missions do this especially well, as they task the player with solving mysteries across Xuanfang.
Rover’s new electro form is easily the coolest yet.
For players looking for more action in their side content, Lament Recon: Tacet Crisis brings the top-down rougelite action back again. Tasking Rovers with fending off waves of enemies while buying upgrades and unlocking new characters, the mode delivers a fun iteration of the returning activity.
Speaking of fun combat elements arriving in Wuthering Waves 3.5, we have a pair of new forms for two of our resonators. Both Rover and Yangyang get new playable forms, with the former being unlocked through the story and the latter being the new premium gacha pull.
Rover’s new electro form is easily the coolest yet. As a sub-DPS, the character can pass along substantial buffs to other party members, making her a solid addition to many teams, especially free-to-play formations that need to fill in for a missing member. But the best part about the new Rover is when they go into their enhanced mode.
Wuthering Waves finally arrives on Xbox Series X|S.
When enhanced, Electro-Rover gains a special attack string. When used, this string cycles through all of Rover’s elemental abilties, allowing the character to implement the quick swapping elemental tricks they’ve been doing in the cutscenes since 2.2. It’s gorgeous and takes the gameplay one step closer to making in-game combat feel like the cinematic version we see.
Yangyang is a havoc main-DPS, who focuses on utilizing the Havoc Bane status effect, as well as heavy attacks. This makes her a great character to pair with previous resonators like Chisa and Iuno, as well as Rover’s newest form. Her animations are stellar, as the bird-inspired elements of her design are brought to life in her animations, frequently seeing the Midnight Ranger taking flight in battle, swooping in and out of combat with grace and poise.
With the release of Wuthering Waves 3.5, the game finally made its long-awaited Xbox Series X|S debut. I jumped in to see how the game is doing, and everything seems to run smoothly. The game looks gorgeous, despite some of the higher-end visual elements being absent.
Wuthering Waves 3.5 delivers the most emotional opening chapter we’ve yet gotten in the game.
Happily, everything that isn’t there are things you wouldn’t miss unless you’ve been playing the game on a high-end PC before trying it out on the console. No jarring pop-ins or long load times during my hours with it, allowing me to enjoy the stellar story without complaint. A great step up for anyone who’s only been able to play on mobile so far.
Wuthering Waves 3.5 delivers the most emotional opening chapter we’ve yet gotten in the game. The powerful handling of Xuanfang’s history, how it weaves into Yangyang’s story, the bountiful mysteries it lays out, and the gorgeous implementation of both visual and audio elements all promise to leave players eager to learn what comes next for Rover and their friends.
Wuthering Waves is available on PC, PlayStation, mobile devices, and Xbox Series X|S.
